Been a hospital patient yourself?

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how many nursing students have actually been admitted previous to nursing school? I had several admits, and in my first semester at school, I remember thinking, "Care plan?! No one ever came and told me about any care plan!" Just seemed like my care was much different from what I was learning...

RGN1

1,700 Posts

Specializes in med/surg.

aint that the truth!!!!!!!!

iHeartNICU

293 Posts

Specializes in NICU.

Yeah, I have been a patient numerous times before nursing school. It's so weird knowing what goes on on the other side, both as a nurse and a patient. I just had surgery on August 10th and because this was my first time as a nursing student and a patient at the same time thought I would look at the experience much differently but I was so out of it from the pain meds and the Reglan I was receiving I don't even remember the names of nurses I had or anything that happened to me. Still weird though. And care plans, I never heard mention of those until NS either.

GratefulHeart

171 Posts

Yeah, I'm not a very patient patient - have to get up out of bed and move around before the nurses feel that it's safe. But I guess that runs in my family. My 80yo dad had a kidney removed in the Spring and after being discharged was back in the hospital within a few hours. When he got home, he tried to do some pushups, which burst all of his incisions. He then had to hold his bowels together while my mom took him on Mr. Toad's wild ride back to the ER. Why the pushups? --He said he was feeling too tired and thought some push-ups would help him regain his strength and vitality.

abbythetabby

110 Posts

I've been in the hospital a couple of times. I've had some great nurses and some gosh darn awful ones. A good nurse makes all the difference between a good hospital experience and a bad one. I remind myself of this every time I'm in the clinical setting and my instructors have commended me for always treating patients with respect.

Laura77598

80 Posts

OH YEAH!!!!!

I've been a patient in the hospital before...

I've had 2 babies and also brain surgery!! The nurses really made a huge difference in my hospital experience. I had brain mapping done in 1992 to relieve the effects of epilepsy. That was an experience I'll never forget. the nurses and other staff made all the difference in my stay! I had to stay in bed for 2 weeks hooked up to an EEG readout. I was video taped and hooked up to machines for 2 whole weeks. THAT WAS AWFUL! but the staff took such good care of me, and now my life is do very drastically different! I hope to work in brain mapping some day. You have NO IDEA how drastically different a surgical procedure can make a person's life. I would love to help someone else as they prepare and recover from that. You go in as one person, and you come out as another. INCREDIBLE!!!!!

mrscurtwkids4

108 Posts

Specializes in med/surg, telemetry.

oh yeah I've been in the hospital. Had 5 c-sections and a hysterectomy done like a c-section also. I always tried to be a good patient anyways. I never asked much from the nurses except for some pain meds for the first couple days. Otherwise they didn't have to do much of anything for me...lol. Hope I end up getting patients like me...LOL!!!

Trauma Columnist

traumaRUs, MSN, APRN

88 Articles; 21,249 Posts

Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Yikes - I have to have oral surgery on Thursday and I called the office today to see who was ACLS certified and when the last time someone was intubated at the office. I also asked about oxygen, the meds used, reversal agents available, suction availability and how many cases did they do a week?

Haven't received a call back from them yet!! Hmmm lol

romie

387 Posts

Specializes in Not specified.

I spent the night on a telemetry unit when I was admitted with atrial fibrillation. I was the youngest patient--I'm only 28 and I am sure I was a dream patient. I didnt' require any personal care at all and the whole thing was really a waste of time and money. Performed all of my ADLs without any assistance or any difficulty at all. In the end my bill was over $14,000 for about 24 hours of EKG monitoring and a few lovenox injections. I converted spontaneously to normal sinus rhythm on my own without medication or electrical stimulation about 14 hours after onset and tolerated the a-fib quite well. I used my call light only once the entire time I was there and that was to inform the nurse that I wanted to be discharged and didn't want to spend another 14 grand to stay another night. At this point I had been back in normal sinus rhythm for about 8 hours. Fortunately for me and the hospital I have great insurance that paid for everything--easy money for the hospital if you ask me. The nurses and other clinicians were super nice and kept asking me if I was a nurse based on my knowledge of my condition.

EricJRN, MSN, RN

1 Article; 6,683 Posts

Yikes - I have to have oral surgery on Thursday and I called the office today to see who was ACLS certified and when the last time someone was intubated at the office. I also asked about oxygen, the meds used, reversal agents available, suction availability and how many cases did they do a week?

Haven't received a call back from them yet!! Hmmm lol

You know Trauma, when I went for my wisdom teeth, I had Diprivan in the oral surgeon's office. I actually didn't study up too much for it - didn't get any of the anesthetic details ahead of time, just knew they were going to 'put me out.'

As the oral surgeon was injecting the stuff, I asked him what he was using. He told me, 'Propofol, Demerol, and...' I distinctly remember that there was a third drug, but it was too fuzzy to make out, then I was gone.

I know there's a huge debate about Propofol and non-anesthesia providers, but all I know is that Propofol is some good stuff. :)

One thing I did notice was that the BVM in the procedure room looked like it was made in 1962. I decided that this was actually a good thing, because they must not have many people arrest. :)

EricJRN, MSN, RN

1 Article; 6,683 Posts

I grew up as a 'problem child' - was a patient who underwent many, many surgeries as a child. Does anyone else notice how hard it is to keep that all in perspective sometimes? I mean I think my patient experiences help, but when I've been at work for 12 hours and I still have 18 things to do, sometimes I'm just as rushed and cranky as any other nurse.

LoriAlabamaRN

955 Posts

I've been an inpatient many times...

1. Had surgery for an osteochondroma on my right humerus. Stayed overnight at the military hospital where the surgery was performed (my father was a colonel in the Army). Horrible experience, mean, nast nurses. When I was crying from pain after the surgery and couldn't answer the nurse's questions in PACU, she actually snapped "Shut up and listen!!!" I was only twelve.

2. Hospitalized twice for +4 tonsils that were badly infected. Had tonsillectomy afterwards, no more problems.

3. Hospitalized with back pain, was revealed I had a broken back.

Actually, I had no bad experiences except for the first one. That was a nightmare.

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