Bad experience - is this typical?

Specialties Emergency

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  • by keikei
    Specializes in public health.

You are reading page 5 of Bad experience - is this typical?

keikei

28 Posts

Specializes in public health.
Goodness, woman! ...just don't pick up a knife by the blade again! Problem solved.

yes, exactly - I've learned my lesson for sure :) I was always taught to hand the knife by the blade, handle towards the person so they're not grabbing the blade either but it didn't work out so well this time. And it was a new knife.

The timeline for the unbeliever: The injury happened Sunday evening. I finally got home late Sunday/early Monday (around 11:30 or midnight). I was given 16 sutures in the hospital & told that I needed surgery because the cut was too deep & needed a hand or plastic surgeon because of the nerves, arteries, veins, tendons, etc.

Monday -went for the consult with different surgeon that our insurance company suggested because the surgeon who consulted with me via the surgical resident was not covered on our plan. He would have been had I gotten surgery that night because it was an emergency, but since he was already tied up with the other person, I would have had to wait. They said I could stay overnight if I'd like, I declined.

Tuesday - arrived at other hospital, had surgery on my rt index finger. He was able to repair the tendon, the nerves but not the arteries, he said they were too mangled (his words). I had general anesthesia and it lasted 4 hours. So forgive me if I've gottne the days confused, I was thinking today is Wednesday. This is really disheartening to be attacked this way over minor details when I was just asking a question and was hoping for some answers from some professionals in the field.

keikei

28 Posts

Specializes in public health.
I do have the names & times. They're on the records they gave me this morning. How is that unusual? I'm also one of those patients that fills out the comment cards that because a nurse friend told me that when those get read at the end of the month, they get rewards & sometimes gift cards or some special thing and I want the people who take good care of me know that I appreciate them. So whatever, if that's weird, troll-like, unbelievable, etc I guess I don't know what to say.

Names and times are not ever included in any records routinely given to pts, such as discharge papers. They would be included in whatever parts of the chart that were requested by the pt. However those requests are made through medical records and can take a day or two.

Not sure why you've posted here, but you are correct in one regard. My posts were mean and sarcastic. For that I apologize. I have no excuse. Please forgive me.

Yes, it is the chart that I have, not the discharge papers and I did get them from medical records, I picked them up today so it has been a few days. I'm not sure why I posted here either - I originally just wanted to find out if what happened to me was normal and typical and standard because it felt very wrong. And I've just been accepted into a nursing program, after that experience it made me really think hard about if I want to do that, everyone seemed so disconnected & like they were all separate from one another, not a team and that isn't what I'd like to do either. I suffer from a chronic and painful illness, I thought maybe I could bring a different type of care to patients from my own experience, maybe I could relate to them or something. But I don't know, maybe not because I didn't fit in here very well. :( I accept your apology.

Specializes in LTC Rehab Med/Surg.

Sometimes human behavior is simply indecipherable. Reading through the posts by the OP I cannot possibly imagine the why of posting here.

keikei

28 Posts

Specializes in public health.
I take it back. I think this did happen. I think you cut your finger, it was bloody and scary, you went to the ED expecting a certain sequence of events to occur, and when your expectations weren't met, you got upset.

A finger lac is not a high acuity complaint. It does not require labs to be drawn, nor IV insertion. The typical sequence of events would be that you are triaged, roomed, and seen by a doctor. The doctor will examine the laceration and determine the course of treatment. If it is a clean wound, antibiotics are not necessarily given.

If the doctor determines that specialized intervention is needed (i.e. the hand surgeon), then the doctor calls/pages the specialist. The specialist consults over the phone with the doctor and comes to examine the patient in person if needed.

The specialist determines if immediate intervention is needed, or if the intervention can be done at a later time.

The patient is then discharged or admitted to the hospital, depending upon the specialist's determination.

All of this happened in your case. Five hours start to finish isn't too shabby, really.

I don't believe that you nearly bled out or went into hypovolemic shock. I do believe that your wound continued to ooze, and that this was anxiety provoking to you, that you expected the staff to behave differently than they did, and that was disappointing to you, and that things didn't happen quickly enough for you, and that this was frustrating to you.

But overall, you received appropriate medical treatment.

That's all pretty accurate. Except I was not oozing, it was squirting out with each heart beat unless I kept pressure on it. Had it only been oozing, I would have waited and gone to my regular PCP or something the next morning. The five hours part wasn't so bad. It was the five hours bleeding heavily (not oozing) that was bad. The surgeon (well, the resident that left surgery to come see me & report back) asked if I'd stay the night so I would be ready for surgery in the morning IF they could get me on the schedule and I asked him if there was a temp solution so I could go home & just come back, that's when he told the PA what to do. The squirting of the blood is what distressed me. I am not a freak-out person by nature. But when it kept going on for 2, 3, 4 and then 5 hours, I was worried because it didn't clot, that I was feeling faint (clammy, cold, teeth chattering, BP and temp dropping) - I didn't even consider shock, I was more worried that it would put stress on my kidneys and I didn't want anything to jeopardize them. That was the only reason I started getting anxious, especially before the new shift came in (they all seemed to like each other, work together well, felt like a team, etc.). I don't know how else to explain it....I am just usuallly an easy going person and this just threw me for a loop. Sorry to bring all of this to your nursing website and cause any problems.

Specializes in LTC Rehab Med/Surg.

To the OP:

Directly and without malice, are you going to sue the hospital?

Is this what this whole thing is about?

casi, ASN, RN

2,063 Posts

Specializes in LTC.

So um, how did a couple of loose stitches stop an arterial bleed?

The thing I find really suspect is this is the only thread the OP has posted on since joining AllNurses

PinkRocksLikeMe

122 Posts

One thing I keep thinking about: If a nurse FILED A COMPLAINT about YOUR care, why would that same nurse ignore your obvious stated signs of shock while you were there? I am SMH here....

Jenn

OhioITNurse

42 Posts

OP, I'm really sorry that your ER experience and this forum are examples you've come across of how nurses treat others. I just want to say in my admittedly somewhat limited experience that this is NOT the norm. As they say an anecdote does not a pattern make. Also, I'm sorry you feel the need to have to explain yourself here.

But, WOW! Witch hunt! I can't believe the nit picking going on! Although I did see the thread a previous poster mentioned where someone made up a story and came clean by the end of the post, so I can see why people can be suspect, but really?! If you really suspect someone is not telling the truth, why not just stop responding to them? Do you really need to try to "call them out" and potentially scare someone away from the profession entirely? What purpose does that serve?

PinkRocksLikeMe

122 Posts

I would think that when you post here the nurses are going to question things that make no sense in their opinion, it is their :twocents: which the OP is asking for by posting here....Right?

Jenn

psu_213, BSN, RN

3,878 Posts

Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
So um, how did a couple of loose stitches stop an arterial bleed?

The thing I find really suspect is this is the only thread the OP has posted on since joining AllNurses

In addition to that, I find it really insulting that the OP has the gall to say: "Nursing Specialty: E.R., renal (as a patient only)." No matter how bad (or good) your experience with a specialty of nusing, that does not make it you specialty.

Specializes in LTC Rehab Med/Surg.
OP, I'm really sorry that your ER experience and this forum are examples you've come across of how nurses treat others. I just want to say in my admittedly somewhat limited experience that this is NOT the norm. As they say an anecdote does not a pattern make. Also, I'm sorry you feel the need to have to explain yourself here.

But, WOW! Witch hunt! I can't believe the nit picking going on! Although I did see the thread a previous poster mentioned where someone made up a story and came clean by the end of the post, so I can see why people can be suspect, but really?! If you really suspect someone is not telling the truth, why not just stop responding to them? Do you really need to try to "call them out" and potentially scare someone away from the profession entirely? What purpose does that serve?

The OPs story changed from start to finish of this thread. Which would lead one to believe parts of it was untrue.

People come to this site for professional opinions and insight. To allow the OP to post such a story about nursing, without a challenge, maligns every nurse here. That is partly why I responded. I did not believe her which is my prerogative.

As to "scaring people away from this profession", well................

wwfd

15 Posts

Specializes in CVICU,ED,ICU,Nursing Supervisor.

It was a really bad decision to read this long very dramatic posting after working a 12hr shift in a level 1 trauma ED. I tried to hang in there with the OP, i tried honestly,but i can only suspend reality for so long and then i have to cry foul. I agree with most the points my fellow skeptics have posted here....bleeding "with every heartbeat" for 5 hours? and still able to be discharged home? nah...cold clammy losing consciousness and no IV or fluids? nah.....a nurse from the er filing a complaint on her behalf? where was this angel of mercy when this tragedy was unfolding? watching from the sidelines to see if the poor bleeding almost in shock pt actually bled out? sounds reasonable to me....

several things in the OP followup postings lead me to believe that she has spent quite a bit of time in ers. "always have an iv started first thing" friends that work in ERs, an ER doctor that is a friend......makes you wonder i guess.

okay blast away but at least i am going on record here with saying No Way this happened the way the OP laid it out.

okay i feel better

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