Just went with a friend to visit her dad in the hospital. i couldnt believe the conditions there, i was pretty disgusted. we walk in and there is a soiled brief on the floor, his gown is soaked in urine, we had to physically go to the nurses station and ask for someone to come clean him up. He told us he almost fell twice because he was ringing the call bell for help to go to the bedside commode and no one came both times. mind you, this is in an ICU. So I am assuming the nurse: pt ratio is 2:1, MAYBE 3:1 max.. And the girl who finally came in to clean him was wearing an ID badge that said pca, so they had at least one aide..
how is this acceptable? I've never been to this hospital before, and I have heard bad things about it, but seriously? I've never seen anything that bad in the hospitals I've done clinical at, especially on my ICU rotations. Those nurses were usually pretty anal about keeping everything clean, and answering call bells etc. And never have I seen a dirty brief left on the floor, thats just gross.
My friend was pretty upset by this herself. Shes upset enough that her dad is sick enough to be in the ICU, and then to see all this didnt make it any better..
Are we overreacting? sorry for the angry anecdote, just wanted to vent to some people who knew what i was talking about. I told her that if it is possible, she should see about getting him transferred to a better hospital. :heartbeat
OP, I'm asking you a serious question, as an experienced PCA:
It never occurred to you that your friend's father had removed his brief, in his confusion, and left it on the floor?
absolutely, but he was wearing one (that was soaked) when we got there.. so even if he did throw the one that was on the floor, someone had come in to put a new one on at one point and would have seen it..
she showed up today, i told her to text me if anything looked weird to her.. she said not as bad, but there were some dirty wash rags on the floor. i told her to ask for the nurse manager and just tell her everything, no update yet, hope it goes alright.
thank you everyone for your opinions. i really hope it was the case that there was something more important going on and that he wasnt in that state for a long time. i too like to give the benefit of the doubt to the nurses when i hear people complaining about their care while in the hospital. but i just had a weird feeling about it, just wanted to vent, and i did. thanks for listening!
Coming from an ICU nurse this is not the norm. I think there was some sort of an emergent situation going on, or it just resolved, or something like that. I believe you think that also because you stated how ICU nurses are typically neat freaks. As an ICU nurse, if you asked me why he wasn’t changed and I even mentioned how they was something emergent going on, I would get in trouble. The hotel train of thought is to never bring up unit issues but to make the customer believe they are the most important. Unlike what other nurses think, I would watch for a pattern. In some ICU’s the staffing is tighter and they don’t have aids. It’s not because they’re understaffed, it’s just the nature of the business.
Granted I can’t be at a patient’s bedside every moment of the day so how would I know if they pooped? I would have to smell it or check up on them, which in my ICU can be really frequent or like every 30 minutes. Maybe it happened in that time frame. It’s certainly happened to me. I was in a patient’s room, they were fine, I left and 20 minutes later they pooped and I didn’t know it. It’s not like a bell goes off when they do. I think other posters have taken for granted that it’s never happened to them- someone pooping or making a mess and them not knowing as it was happening- they need to cut others some slack.
Maybe I’m just a little bit jaded because I know of a *great* nurse who got in trouble because she was at the nurses station waiting for a very important emergent phone call from the doctor. A patient’s family complained that the nurse refused to help with a boost and a turn-even though she asked to wait for a minute.
If he was confused, perhaps he took the brief off himself and it ended up on the floor. Not making excuses...there are great nurses and there are ones that shouldn't be...but sometimes the story you get from the patient is not exactly accurate.
This is what I was thinking. He is probably the one that put it here, not the staff. I've never seen an ICU that bad. They may not be the greatest, but I suspect there is some piece of the puzzle missing.
The last time I was in the hospital, I was standing at the nurses station waiting on some paperwork for discharge and the nurses were all laughing about the patient they "forgot to bathe in 4 days"
I can't speak for anyone else, but at my hospital we have staff that cover codes and oddly enough still have staff for other patients.... And we are a severely understaffed charity hospital.
When I was a patient not too long ago, I asked multiple times for my pain meds. The doctor went to the nurses' station to ask that I get my meds. FOUR hours to get 2 pills.
BTW, no one ever asked me if I needed any help washing up.....
I always ask, to avoid the complaints and because some patients smell terrible even though they get baths daily at least. But do I have to ask the walkie-taklies if they want to get washed up ? Not assuming you were a walkie talkie and i know that most hospitalized patients (about 80% on my floor)are either a complete bed bath or at least some assistance is required. I have also had patients get offended when I ask them, " would you like help getting washed up?" Did you ever ask for help?
I don't bathe walkie talkies. If you can reach it, you can scrub it. I may get your back for you, or wash around a port or IV site if you're nervous about it, but I don't want to turn a previously self sufficient person into a "hospital invalid." If you're truly sick, on a vent, etc., that's one thing, and I will wash you from head to foot including your hair. But a walkie talkie? That's just...creepy.
i don't bathe walkie talkies. if you can reach it, you can scrub it. i may get your back for you, or wash around a port or iv site if you're nervous about it, but i don't want to turn a previously self sufficient person into a "hospital invalid." if you're truly sick, on a vent, etc., that's one thing, and i will wash you from head to foot including your hair. but a walkie talkie? that's just...creepy.
i completely agree. if you need something additional from our locked supply room, let
me know and i'll get it for you. it's so interesting to me to hear stories from nurses and medical professionals from other countries regarding nursing care. in other countries (i.e., india, columbia, the philippines) the family and friends are expected to provide the care (i.e., turns, baths, feedings) and medical professionals their treatments, medications, etc... i can't figure out where our health care system started the waitress type of care. granted there are benefits to nurses giving their baths and such, but there's a difference between being supportive and enabling.
i feel like when people get admitted into the hospitals, family members forget how to function. like i stated before i work within an icu, but we frequently receive overflow patients. a patient's daughter came to me because she needed immediate help. well i went running in and she wanted me to hold the tissue so her father can blow his nose. seriously? i educated her picking up the tissue and holding it under his nose like normal- there's nothing special we do. she seemed put off that i explained to her how to do it. i'm sure every nurse has stories- like putting a call light on to cover their loved one up to their shoulders with the blanket, that's already on their bed. but these reasons is why we become jaded as nurses and lead to longer time waits for people who really need help.
i completely agree. if you need something additional from our locked supply room, let
me know and i'll get it for you. it's so interesting to me to hear stories from nurses and medical professionals from other countries regarding nursing care. in other countries (i.e., india, columbia, the philippines) the family and friends are expected to provide the care (i.e., turns, baths, feedings) and medical professionals their treatments, medications, etc... i can't figure out where our health care system started the waitress type of care. granted there are benefits to nurses giving their baths and such, but there's a difference between being supportive and enabling.
i feel like when people get admitted into the hospitals, family members forget how to function. like i stated before i work within an icu, but we frequently receive overflow patients. a patient's daughter came to me because she needed immediate help. well i went running in and she wanted me to hold the tissue so her father can blow his nose. seriously? i educated her picking up the tissue and holding it under his nose like normal- there's nothing special we do. she seemed put off that i explained to her how to do it. i'm sure every nurse has stories- like putting a call light on to cover their loved one up to their shoulders with the blanket, that's already on their bed. but these reasons is why we become jaded as nurses and lead to longer time waits for people who really need help.
now i did the exact opposite. when my father was in the step down unit after getting out of icu he was laying in the bed looking uncomfortable... wellll, i decided "why bother the nurse i can move him". so i proceeded to move him, unfortunately there was some type of connection on him to monitor his vitals i guess. anyway, i knocked that off. i was standing in the room with the cord in my hand when the nurse comes running in. the monitor had gone blank, or flat line or whatever it would do if the connection was lost or the patient was. needless to say the nurse was comforted to see that i had just knocked the lead off, not the patient. go figure, and i want to be a nurse...
I left a hospital position this week, after less than two months. Hated it. Hated the patients, hated the families. Here is one nurse who knows she does not belong at the hospital bedside. There are many other places for which I am suited, but not that.
Sue, we all have our thing -- for me, ICU? Happy. ER? Happy. Peds? OMG. OB/GYN? *runs for the door* And sometimes, places just don't work out. It's the wise nurse who realizes they need to be somewhere else, instead of gutting it out and being miserable.
One more person tells me "bloom where you're planted," I'm gonna hit them with some Roundup.
My friends dad who the original post was about passed away yesterday. he ended up being transferred to a bigger university hospital d/t getting several super infections, and lastly pneumonia.
all i can do is sit and wonder that if his initial care had been in a cleaner, more caring environment, if he would be in a different situation today. of course its possible his disease processes would have done this to him either way, even if he was in the nicest hospital in the country, but it is just difficult to see someone WALK into a hospital 3 months ago, who didnt even know there was anything wrong with them, to going into a comatose state and dying when his wife finally pulls the plug on the vent.
i am thankful to have this personal insight of what it is like to be on the other side of things, and hope it will make me a more compassionate nurse in the future.
My husband's niece was in a very bad motorcycle accident about a week ago. She has 4 fractures in her leg and 11 in her hand. Today, her facebook post was about how "bad the staff is treating her." Making her wait until she is screaming with pain for pain meds. My suggestion was to her was to request a PCA for pain, if she didn't already have one, or to request that her pain meds be brought exactly on time.
Her friends were more combative: one wanted to go there and **** up some nurses" and others complained about how they hate nurses and docs. So I again posted, saying that simple courtesies, like please, thank you, I appreciate it, go a long ways to getting good positive attention and that acting like a crazy person, or having your friends act in a violent manner is not the way to get good care. I had to just back off from participating. Decided if I need to talk to her, I'll call her directly.
As long as there is one hand working well enough to post comments on FB, huh?
ashleyisawesome, BSN, RN
804 Posts
absolutely, but he was wearing one (that was soaked) when we got there.. so even if he did throw the one that was on the floor, someone had come in to put a new one on at one point and would have seen it..
she showed up today, i told her to text me if anything looked weird to her.. she said not as bad, but there were some dirty wash rags on the floor. i told her to ask for the nurse manager and just tell her everything, no update yet, hope it goes alright.
thank you everyone for your opinions. i really hope it was the case that there was something more important going on and that he wasnt in that state for a long time. i too like to give the benefit of the doubt to the nurses when i hear people complaining about their care while in the hospital. but i just had a weird feeling about it, just wanted to vent, and i did. thanks for listening!