Community member complained about her care to me

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

I just got back from the supermarket. I saw a woman who I know back at her job after she had been off for awhile after her hysterectomy. She runs the plant dept there. I asked how she liked her time off. I had seen her at the hospital where I work when I floated to med-surg.

She was very upset at the care she received. First she told me that she didn't like that she was in the hospital for 6 days, and when I expressed surprise at the lenth of her say she started telling me about the bad care she got. She said that her abdomin was getting more distended everyday, and when she told the nurses they wouldn't listen and they told her that she wasn't supposed to have a flat abdomin at her age (early 50's and very fit). She kept telling them that it was getting worse. It turns out that she was bleeding internally and they had to open her up again. She also asked "What ever happened to bedbaths?" She didn't get a bath for 6 days.

I was pretty upset, frankly I left med-surg because there is a poor work ethic there among quite a few of them. There's a ton of ridiculous visiting at the nurses station, and lots of problems. I encouraged her to give feedback to the hospital about this. I told her who to call who follows up on these things, and assured her that this person takes her job very seriously. I said that the hospital does want this feedback and they have a special form to fill out. I told her that she can also talk to the person on the phone, to just ask for her when she calls the hospital. The hospital knows that unhappy customers tell their negative experience to 10 other people. She told me that she's told it to way more than that.

It discourages me because I know there's been inconsistant leadership at the hospital with temporary managers, due to very poor upper management leadership. I feel like we tarnish our reputation because of poor accountablity where it counts. It's frustrating. I like to feel proud of where I work.

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Specializes in Staff nurse.

I think you handled it well and professionally. Yeah, it is hard to be proud of where you work when there are consistant problems not being dealt with or not being dealt with properly. Hold your head up, even off the floor you were a patient advocate, jlsRN!!!

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.
I think you handled it well and professionally. Yeah, it is hard to be proud of where you work when there are consistant problems not being dealt with or not being dealt with properly. Hold your head up, even off the floor you were a patient advocate, jlsRN!!!

Thanks for the kind words. It really upsets me to hear this. We are a fairly well staffed hospital. Also, how can anyone not take seriously when a patient is concerned about something? She said her blood count was dropping, and her abdomin was swelling up and she kept telling the nurses. She said that they had nicked an artery during surgery.

Whenever I see a swollen abdomen I always ask the patient if that's how it normally is. How can anyone assume that a 52 year old woman should have a distended abdomen? She also told me that a lab tech told her to quit whining when she complained about a difficult lab draw. She described the woman and that lab tech doesn't have a very good bedside manner, but how can you tell a patient to "quit whining"? I can't imagine saying that to anyone.

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If any lab tech talked to me or my family that way, I'd slap the livin' hay out of them. :devil::angryfire:angryfire Not really but I would be on the phone to Admin in a heartbeat. At the very least, I'd have a free hospital stay out of it and might file some sort of lawsuit. That is so completely unacceptable.

And the "nurses" who forgot to assess or how to assess their post-op patient - they'd be named to the Medical Director, the DON, the state Board, etc. Dates, times, all of it. No bath? Same deal. Patients need to raise hell because this is very, very dangerous "care".

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Specializes in Cardiac Care, ICU.

It really burns me when I hear these types of incidents b/c it totally undermines every nurse who is working hard and trying to get better staff ratios and working conditions. :angryfire

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.
If any lab tech talked to me or my family that way, I'd slap the livin' hay out of them. :devil::angryfire:angryfire Not really but I would be on the phone to Admin in a heartbeat. At the very least, I'd have a free hospital stay out of it and might file some sort of lawsuit. That is so completely unacceptable.

And the "nurses" who forgot to assess or how to assess their post-op patient - they'd be named to the Medical Director, the DON, the state Board, etc. Dates, times, all of it. No bath? Same deal. Patients need to raise hell because this is very, very dangerous "care".

I agree. I told her that she needs to report this, she said that she'll do it on her next day off. She's a pretty tough woman, no push over, she's a hardy woman, not a weinie. She told me that she will never go back to my hospital ever again.

It really burns me up to think of the nurses there who visit endlessly at the nurses station and have better staffing than any other hospital I've heard of. :angryfire grrrrr :angryfire

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.
It really burns me when I hear these types of incidents b/c it totally undermines every nurse who is working hard and trying to get better staff ratios and working conditions. :angryfire

Grrrrr, me too :angryfire I'm hopping mad. Our QA lady will look into it thouroughly I hope. She's pretty serious about her job and she's good at PR.

This is awful, expecially since we DO have good staffing ratios. :angryfire

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Specializes in ICU, telemetry, LTAC.

Good staffing ratios aren't there so we can visit and yak. They exist so that when postops go bad, someone can HELP get them ready to go back to the OR. They exist so people can BATHE their patients at least once every 24 hours, so a reasonable amount of call lights can be answered, so people can get their pain meds when they need them.

W-O-R-K is indeed a four letter word. It isn't spelled "lollygag."

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Specializes in Cardiac Care, ICU.
Good staffing ratios aren't there so we can visit and yak. They exist so that when postops go bad, someone can HELP get them ready to go back to the OR. They exist so people can BATHE their patients at least once every 24 hours, so a reasonable amount of call lights can be answered, so people can get their pain meds when they need them.

W-O-R-K is indeed a four letter word. It isn't spelled "lollygag."

Which leads into a whole other discussion - how do you teach work ethic? Usually I would say model it but these days there are whole units staffed w/ burnouts and new grads precepted by burnouts that there is no one to model it.

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Specializes in ICU, telemetry, LTAC.

Sadly, I don't know how to teach work ethics. If I did, I would patent it and become a millionaire.

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Specializes in ICU;CCU;Telemetry;L&D;Hospice;ER/Trauma;.

Is it any wonder that malpractice attnys. are making a fortune??

This story is not unique....I have heard the same....It makes me ashamed of those who stand and chit chat, when a pt. light goes on and they ignore it...or if a pt. complains of pain that doesn't get addressed, etc...

This is why JCAHO has incorporated some of those issues into the framework of inspections....pain delivery, safety, etc....because 100,000 people a year die in this country from hospital workers and doctors who make bad judgement calls....

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink....

The only way to teach a good work ethic is to begin at home, with your own children....start when they are toddlers, old enough to pick up their own toys....and then on up from there....

One can only assume that these clods are under the false assumption that they should just get a paycheck because they simply arrive with a pulse....

Many came from homes where they grew up believing that they were "entitled" and feel no conscience about their co-workers or the patients they are entrusted....

This spirit of selfishness is born out of people who have just never learned what some of us have, and that is that the patient comes first...

for many of us, nursing is not just a job, it is a part of our being.....

this makes us separate from the rest of the herd....

we are the cream of the crop....we take our charge seriously...

It's a doggone shame that this kind of low-brow lazy-butted nursing care is in this world, and that we are doomed to have to work alongside it....

I am glad you spoke with this woman, and gave her a place to unload her bad experience....by doing so, you may well have given her at least some further steps toward healing, because you listened....you made such a difference....think how much more we could do, if everyone of us carried that same spirit of healing and giving in their practice!! crni

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Specializes in ICU/PCU/Infusion.

I think you handled yourself and the situation entirely professionally. I'm so sorry she had a bad experience with incompetent staff! How horrific that no one addressed her concerns with her. After all, who knows better what their abdomen looks like "normally" than the patient? That's one of the first things I ask when I notice something that *may* seem off to me. I ask, "is this out of the norm for you?" If the answer is yes, I get to fact-finding, immediately. That may mean looking at labs, ordering xrays, CT scans, etc. (of course, all with physician approval).

This lady isn't going to go away, and I'm glad of it. :)

You're a good soul. I know how hard it is to listen to the complaints of people while they are IN the hospital and we're caring for them, much less while we're out in public!

Good job! :)

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