Glen Beck's hospital experience

END GAME RN: That was a very powerful post, thank-you. Even though I think most nurses are compassionate and knowledgable, the bad one's really make the rest of us look like dog poo.

In 13 years of nursing and 18 years total of working in hospitals, I have never (and I mean never) seen a nurse tell family members that their loved one is dying and to 'get over it.' I have worked with many, many dying patients, and the first question that is asked in report is, "Does the family know, and how are they dealing with this?" I know that most of us have prayed and cried right along with the family members in these cases.

I've also had quite a few family members die, or almost die in the hospital. My family was never treated like our loved one was a burden, because the nurse felt his or her efforts were 'futile'.

I have also never seen a male nurse insert a foley in a female patient without having a female witness in the room- and I have worked with tons of male nurses over the years. They are usually more sensitive to the needs of female patients and their privacy than we female nurses are at times.

I think that most of us care, and have the capacity to empathize with the majority of our patients. We are not always perceived as being caring at times when our focus may be more clinical, but I can say that the vast majority of nurses (male and female) that I have worked with have been extremely considerate people, and they do care about their patients. We couldn't do this job for long otherwise.

There's a fine line between being able to put yourself in a patient's shoes, and in keeping enough of a distance to make hard life-and-death decisions for that person you are responsible for. Some may vacillate back and forth before they're able to find that fine balance, but I think that most of us do strive for it.

I think it's awesome that all the people here are compassionate, and want to err on the side of showing too much caring! We're lucky to have you in the field.

On the other hand, I think you have to look at Glen Beck's personal tirade on a deeper level. His histrionics are typical behavior for someone on a 'crusade', and when someone is on a crusade 'think the inquisition', you polarize the situation and attack the entities on the other side (in this case 'people who don't care') when the reality is that he is the one who doesn't care.

The nurse and the doctor and the surgeon in the ER aren't stupid people. They clearly saw a guy come into the ER with pain way out of proportion to the exam or the clinical situation, and instinctively knew he was faking it (he probably was a horrible actor). For someone to take a fentanyl patch, IV morphine, and long acting morphine you are dealing with someone who is a regular narcotic user, and as far as I know he has no reason to be on narcotics long term. He also 'demonizes' the fentanyl patch, and this is typical behavior for someone who doesn't want to look in the mirror at his own flaws AND someone who is campaigning for a dilaudid injection (which comes with the biggest high apparently). That's not to say asking for dilaudid is a queue for drug seeking behavior - it's often used for cancer pain when the others don't work. But when the picture of a patient encounter fits, 9/10 times you are going to be right with your instincts.

I'm not judging Glen Beck, I'm just saying that it appears based on the convoluted story he presents, that there is probably another side of the story to this, and if it is true that he has a drug addiction, that is nothing against him as a human being, it just means we have to figure out how to address his spirituality.

Think of a senator who goes on a campaign against gays and get caught in a restroom soliciting for gay sex. it's the same old playbook my friends.

Peace and may you continue to be light to the world

Baptized By Fire, thank you for your response. it proves that these events are the exception and not the rule. I agree, the vast majority of us are decent and kind, caring people, Uh, but not those who posted such nasty comments regarding Glenn Beck.

I love my co-workers with a passion, I would fight for them as they would for me. We as an ICU represent the best of nursing, at least in my opinion. I have met, socialized and taveled with other nurses from other health care settings, of both sexes and 100% of them are just normal, caring professionals. Then there are those who simply give our profession a bad name. All professions have a few of those.

Yes, our family was told to "get over it" regarding my brother. The other issue with improper administration of blood products should have elicited some commentary as well.
Not speaking to us, his family, this deserves attention as well. complaining about missing his break?? that was a big one also.

Yes, I was straight catheterized in a small room with only this nurse, as described in my previous post, and one of the ambulance crew members who I clung to since I did not want to be alone with the other man. Yes, my friend Bonnie, who was waiting just outside the door to this small room was refused entrance and had the door closed firmly in her face. She later told me that she walked around asking other ER staff to find out what was going on. She called her husband to come to this hospital as she wasn't getting anywhere with ER staff. I was also dumped onto another stretcher onto the external fixator bars and yes, staff observed this and lowered their heads and turned away as this nurse made the comment that he bet that "that hurt." One of the ambulance crew members who was assisting the nurse told this guy to back off and went to look for another nurse to take over.

These things do happen, in my case for each event there were multiple witnesses who spoke with administrators about these events (never getting out to the local media and we never thought of retaining an attorney) and I was not present for any of these discussions as I was still hospitalized and unable to walk at that time. Our goal was simply to bring awareness to management that there is a problem. I do not use drugs nor partake of alcohol, never have nor never will. Just because you have not observed some of these cruel behaviors on the part of a nurse or other health care professional does not mean it cannot or does not occur.

Every day I walk in my patients shoes and don't regret doing so. I never make life and death decisions for any patient. That is inappropriate. My responsibility is to provide love, support and education. My role is to assess the needs of a critical patient and the family and friends and to try my best to meet those needs. I do go above and beyond and yes, my personal experiences influence my care, but I do have an off switch, I do set limits, and I control our relationships and I still provide the best care I can.
See my article "Beginnings and Endings" this is just a small part of what I do each and every day. One other article I wrote "Who Knew, the dark side of nursing" was pulled from this forum and it had already been toned down considerably before I posted it. These are thoughts and feelings and reports of my experiences, past twenty-eight, 29th year ongoin, as a critical care nurse.

Again, thanks for your post. Take care!!

EekaEndGameRN

Hey Moseisley;

I have yet to meet anyone posting as kind, caring ,compassionate and nonjudgemental like you. Keep up the good work!!!

Leave politics out of this. We could trade barbs back and forth with pointing out the flaws of politicians on either side of the isle.

Have a great day, and I hope and pray that no one judges you as harshly as you have done to one man, then a political party without knowing all the facts of the case, Glenn Beck, not the sleezebag soliciting sex in a (OMG) bathroom.

Sticks and Stones my friend.

EekaEndGameRN

Let me say that I am very sorry that this happened to you.

And this may be a bit off topic, but as an ICU nurse, I'm going to assume that you work from protocols on your unit. That being said, you do use your clinical judgment to make life or death decisions regarding your patients every day, and are trained to do so. If it was only your job to provide love and support- well your hospital wouldn't be paying you. Your patients can get that for free from their family members. There is a large clinical component to nursing- especially in the ICU. I think too many nurses downgrade that, and then wonder why we get pushed down as a profession.

I think that when we as nurses are either in clinical mode, or if we're trying to think about what's best for all of our patients as opposed to just one at times, we are perceived by the one who wants our attention as being uncaring, because our focus may be on another who immediately needs our attention.

I refuse to point the finger at Mr. Beck's nurses. I wasn't there, and I don't have their side of the story. Unfortunately, they don't have a national media forum at their disposal to take up for themselves.

EndgameRN, thanks for pointing out the mistake. "Republican Senators" should just read senator. Fixed . And yes we should keep politics out of this, and just look at the individual.

I'm not trying to judge Glen Beck, but I am trying to get to the heart of the issue here. People going to the ER for drug seeking behavior is a huge problem and is what desensitizes some nurses and doctors to those in pain. That said, since none of us truly know the truth here, I would extend my post by saying that if Glen Beck has a recurrence of narcotic addiction, that he should be taken care of in a holistic fashion. Perhaps he is in spiritual distress.

You are wise and polite EndgameRN

Actually now that I think of it, we should teach in nursing and medical school what 'narcotic addiction' typically presents as (doctor fishing, filling at numerous different pharmacies, not accepting anything but dilaudid or allergic to all the others), and then offer treatment for it when we make the diagnosis because in a way it is a cry for help. The problem I see though is that if you label someone with that diagnosis - when they really are in pain, they may not be taken care of (boy who cried wolf). Perhaps instead of ever diagnosing someone with a narcotic addiction - just recommend holistic care for everyone in pain, win win. I learned something from this discussion.

Hello,

After seeing Glen Beck's video and reading many comments, I feel compelled to add my input as a non medical person.

First I would say that I easily disagree with Glen Beck on >90% issues.
And, I would state that his video's accuracy and intention can be questioned.

But, he does raise a very relevant issue for me personally.
A few years ago, I had very severe case of food poisoning and my wife drove me to the Washington Hospital, in Fremont, CA. 11:00PM at night.
I had fodd poisoning before, but this time I was convulsing so much that I was getting delirious, and losing consciousness once in a while.

The Emergency Room nurses there refuse to see me, while a parade of characters (my wife can see that many of them are claiming to be seriously ill, yet they still had the ability to speak, stand, etc.) were getting to see nurses and doctors.

Because my wife told them I had food poisoning, we guess that the nurses assumed that I would recover eventually. But, I did suffer very severely. I had lost my body control that I was shaking and could not even sit in a chair.
Even after seeing my condition from their vantage point, the nurses still refuse to even examine me, while several nurses were just chatting or filling out paper work.

I thought i would die.
At around 1:00AM, we were sick of waiting and my wife decided to drive me home. the nurse even had the audacity to try to force my wife to sign that we waived treatment.

if i had a gun at that second, i would definitely have put a bullet right between that nurse's eyes. ( i was so ill, that i thought i was going to die.)

To conclude, Glen Beck's motives can be questioned, but he raises a good point for the poor quality of care that patients sometimes receive.

I would also add that it's a good thing for me and those nurses that I didn't die. if I did, my parents would gladly sacrifice themselves to revenge the death of their child. I would do the same for my child.

Any comments.

Yeah, I do.

I think you're sick.

Greetings Baptized By Fire;

Way off topic, just wanted to address your post.

Just got home from one of our farms. Pregnant mare with an issue and expected due date this coming week. We are doing blood DNA collection on some of our foals and their parents on Wednesday after which I have to Fed Ex the specimens to New Mexico, first stop with the final journey ending in Spain. It would not be far from the truth to tell you I work 24/7 and am on call year 'round for our farms. My mental health break. Nursing leads one down many many roads.

You are correct!! My clinical judgment and how I act on my assessments are of primary importance when caring for this patient population. My education, my experiences and knowledge, communicating my findings to our surgical teams, our ICU attendings and nurse managers and who ever else needs to be aware of what is happening to my patients are invaluable when providing a high level of nursing care.

As for protocols..I consider them a guideline..giving me a lot of room to act quickly on a changing critical situation. I initiate all necessary interventions that I determine are appropriate to whatever situation is occurring. From A to Z I will do what I know is right and stabilizes the patient until someone from one of our teams arrive on the scene. I do not wait for a physician. I order stat lab work, Chest x-rays, other neurological changes that go along with treating a severe brain injured patient with cerebral edema, contusions, traumatic IVH, name it..I order a portable plain brain CT scan stat. Since I am friends with pretty much everyone in our level 1 facility I get what I want when I want it. My reputation is such that I am not questioned when I tell these other services what is needed. When someone from our trauma team or ICU team arrives, I give a quick report of all of the above interventions and give a filled out physicians order sheet for everything that we did...Uh...it is signed without question after it is first reviewed. By this time our medical /surgical teams arrive and continue on with the care of the patient with all of us now participating, controlling the situation as best we can, and yes, some of us will go to the family or friends of the patient providing information and a supportive presence.


In this way and in other situations I do make life and death decisions for my patients. I don't wait for a warm body to show up and tell me step by step what needs to be done.

I am careful and never make an uneducated decision when I finally choose the the intervention/s most appropriate to the patient's changing status. I am fortunate to work with a great group of nursing professionals. We offer each other support and educated input when dealing with a rapidly changing situation. At times it seems as if we work as one unit, knowing without speaking who is doing what and why. Freaky I guess.

I have always been unable to separate clinical professional assessments and interventions from the psychological support I offer unconsciously, I simply do this while I perform clinical assessment and the interventions required. I will in certain situations ( not during a major life-threating crisis ) include family members: inviting those who are interested and willing to participate in the patient's care when the patient's condition allows this. I encourage them to ask questions, take notes when appropriate, and advise some family members to utilize the internet to help them understand a patient's condition and interventions initiated by nursing and medical, surgical teams.

I don't feel any pressure when working, interacting with my families since I initiate our relationship from the moment I meet them. They get my cell phone number and I give them the times they may call me. I tell them not to call me to the telephone in the nurses station since this requires me to actually leave the patient. Many times the families that I work with, (two patients and 100 or so visitors for each patient..multicultural community) develop a relationship with each other since they are "sharing" me..as I have been frequently told.

In the end, you are right, but I was tooo lazy to write this in the last posting. Thought I'd do so now. I realize that there is more to nursing then love, caring and support. Some of our clients have no one else to support them during their hospitalization and surgery..whatever...so its something we all do for those patients who fall into this category.

Education, experience, my relationships with all of those who provide care to our patient population and a passion for this profession is what carries me through my day.

I like you..take care

Eeka End Game RN