Nurse sees worst, best of profession during daughter's ER visit

i think that this writer/educator could tell the differance between overworked, pushed to the wall nurses and those who were sitting around gossiping on the cell phone
item which caught my eye was the statement she made about floor nurses which she said she knew which nurses were incompenent and she refused to have them care for her dtr
what about the lay person who comes and wants/deserves the best of care, give him the dumbox?

Well since we were not there we should not judge. But based on finite resources someone is going to have to wait. For example my ER has 33 beds, with the hall spots we can squeeze safely based on staff maybe on a good day another 10 for a total of 43 beds.. SO when on a busy night there are 60+ pts I guess someone has to wait, and sadly often that wait won't be comfortable.

As far as the staffs behavior sadly that happens. Unfortunately with the volumes we have to deal with telling us to take it to the break room or do it elsewhere and actually being able to are two entirely different things. Give me 2,3,4,5,6, more nurse and I might be able to do it. Then again we will have 20, 30, 40 more pts.

Though there is no excuse for the cellphone use at all. And as always once you are in a room no excuse for poor care. Also don't think we are not doing anything often we can't do something until the doctor sees you, yes we have protocols and yes we do follow them. But after that we cannot do much and often we may be sitting on our hand waiting on them.

RJ

Yea, the ER wait sucked. Yea, her daughter was in pain. Yea, they talked on their cellphones and ate some food.

The bottom line is, her daughter is fine. That's kind of the goal of being hospitalized, right?

It sounds like this nursing instructor is taking out her frustration of having a sick daughter by writing an article about it.

God, can you imagine having your mom forcing you to get up out of bed and walk around after an abdominal surgery? Leave that stuff to the RNs.

The only thing I didn't like about this article was there was no resolution to it. No "Hey we can make this better by doing XXX." It was pure and simply a rant.

Having been on both sides of the stretcher, I understand this nurse who is also a mother's frustration. I have been a patient in the ER of a local hospital where I have recieved great care, and a patient in another hospital where my triage nurse left much to be desired. The excellent care I recieved happened as a result of a dog bite (I was a vet tech prior to becoming a nurse), and the ER I went to had a "fast track" for non critical patients where I saw a PA, got my wounds cleaned, prescriptions for antibiotics and pain meds, and was out the door in under two hours. It was obvious to the triage nurse that I wasn't going to die as a result of the bite, and I was fully prepared to wait longer than I did to be seen.
The not so great experience was when I was having new, acute chest pain, and my fiancee rushed me to a closer hospital (run by a different company). After signing in, I sat for close to two hours before triage even saw me (meanwhile I was terrified, since I had never felt like this before), and I am convinced that the only reason the nurse called me was because my fiancee finally went to her and reiterated that I was having chest pain and trouble breathing. With that, she called me to the cubicle, and then proceeded to tell me how rude he was to her and that she knew that I was not "having a heart attack", at which point I started to cry since I was terrified and could not get my breath. I said to her "He is worried about me, can't you see that? I have never had a problem breathing before." Her attitude was that since I walked in on my own two feet instead of on a stretcher, I could wait.
I hate to say anyone of my profesion is incompetent, but I work now on a cardiac unit, and anyone having chest pain, or difficulty breathing is top priority.
Luckily, I just had a bad case of bronchitis, but if the nurse had taken the time to tell us that my VS were stable, etc, etc, then I wouldn't have been so scared, as well as kept her opinions about my fiancee to herself, and mabye had a little compassion when he spoke up because he was worried about me.
As a nurse, I now try to put myself in the patient's position, as well as the families. I then try to show compassion, and caring, even if they are upset. Most times I am able to turn a bad "customer service" situation around just by spending the extra few minutes explaining what the plan is, whats happening, what to expect, etc.
I have had family members yelling at me, not because they think I am incompetent, but because noone has taken the time to explain to them what is happening, that later will hug me, and thank me for caring for their loved one, because I didn't take it personally, and took the time to talk to them, and get past the anger, and show them I care.
Had a pt the other night who came in for chest pain, was put on telly, and twice I ran to her room (scaring the hell out of her and her family) because the monitor showed she was in V-fib. Each time, I printed out the strip to show her, and explained that although she was fine, her strip showed she was not (she was A-paced and if she threw a PAC, her pacer would increase her heart rate and it would show as V-Fib). I joked with her about it, and teased her that because she was watching the college b-ball finals, she was getting excited. She told me on discharge, that I was her favorite nurse there because I took the time to show her why I was concerned, and explain to her what was really happening (PM malfunction). She went home today, and told me if she neede to come back, she would make sure to request me specifically.
I am by no means a great nurse, I don't know everything, but I became a nurse to help people and make a difference, NOT for a big paycheck.
If the nurses in this persons experience had taken the time to talk to them, it may have been a completely different situation.
Amy

This is how to do it right. Communication. Timely, kind, simple, quiet, informative communication. Not taking offense when someone is really just scared. Remembering that being afraid of dying is often uppermost in the minds of so many ER patients and their family. Putting ourselves in their shoes. This is how to do it right. It's what we ourselves would want. I wish schools or employers had role play exercises.

Since when will a ruptured appendix NOT kill you, if not treated promptly?

The key is to communicate these things to the patients/family. Let them know that "We are grabbing our dinner here because there is no time to go to the breakroom. We need the nourishment to have strength and think clearly.