On the other side of the bed pan.....

Specialties Geriatric

Published

Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

So here I am as a patient on a med surg floor of the local hospital. My CNA tells me I am the only patient on the floor who is totally alert and oriented...and I gather the only one younger than 80.

The DPH surveyors would have a field day in here. Luckily I have a private room but the nurses talk so loudly that I know that the lady in 2730 is being discharged to a SNF today and the guy in 2729 had to have a fleets. It's amazing...and talk about names(see the other post)...I hear sweetie, dearie,honey,sweetie pie,lovey...so..no HIPAA, nicknames,noise, food served cold,pain assessments done with no carry through...

Got to the admissions area. They asked my how tall I was and how much I weighed. Can you imagine if we did that in LTC?!? I asked them to write down that I am 5'9" and weigh 120(In my dreams). And last night the nurse was complaining that they only had 4 nurses for 20 patients....they've all been very kind to me, but they'd never make it in LTC.

I sure hope I can go home tomorrow.

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Wow, sorry you had such a bad experience at the hospital. Last year I had surgery for the first time in my life and had the best hospital care ever imaginable. The nurses were excellent, they helped me survive such a scary time in my life, kept me medicated so I never felt pain, they were always there at my bedside before I needed them, and the CNAs were so professional. Oh, and the food was hot and delicious.

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Specializes in sub-acute.

I think I know exactly what hospital your in. I feel sorry for you. I won't go into my experiance there as a student, but here is one small example as a pt.

The 1st thing i remember hearing when awakening in the recovery room after knee surgery was a nurse telling me to "Shut up! You have asked that question already."

As if i knew what I was saying, lol.

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

yep--we don't have much choice on this peninsula do we? My blood pressure was running in the 80's/40's. The nurse came in with my diovan/hctz. Hellloooooo....that's for HYPERtension..do y'all think I need it? She looked surprised and then said she'd have to ask the doctor. Ask away I wasn't going to take it. But, at least they were all kind and left me alone for probably 21 out of 24 hours. So glad I'm home.

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Congratulations on getting home in one piece and, I hope, feeling better. Your description of your stay almost mirrored my recent experience. I only wanted them to stay out of my room and keep their unprofessional conversations to themselves. I never did get all the treatments that were ordered. With all due respect, the only people who acted like they really cared were the nursing assistants. That was uplifting! Anyway, hope you are up and about and in good spirits.

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Glad you're feeling better. Believe me, I totally understand. I was recently in the hospital overnight for observation for chest pain. I went to the hospital straight from work, so no shower.

I was scheduled for tests late in the morning and I wanted to clean up a little and change my gown. I rang twice, once around 6am and once around 9am, for someone to help me change my gown, since I was afraid I would accidentally disconnect my heart monitor or worse pull out my IV. I made it a point to say whenever someone has a chance I'd like to change my gown before my test at 10:30 and I would need help doing so because of the wires. From 6:00 to 11:00, when they came to get me for my test, no one came in to help me change my gown. I know it's just a little thing but geez, there were only five or six patients on the whole unit, at least three nurses and a CNA that I saw, and in five hours no one could help me with a five minute task? For the record, that's the only thing I rang for my entire stay.

This is the second time I've had to stay in that hospital and both times I felt like they considered me a nuisance. It wasn't any one thing, just the general attitude. Like you knew in your gut that they were rolling their eyes when they left the room.

As a patient I go out of my way to do for myself and not ring the call light a lot, treat the staff politely, and just try to not be the kind of patient I deal with at work every day. I take care of ten or more residents a day in LTC and I feel horrible when I have to tell someone I'll have to come back to do____. I make sure I actually make it back and do it asap. I just kept thinking man, no one at my workplace would dare dream of being like that.

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Capecod - most of the time when I've been in the hospital, it was the hospital where I worked - so I was afforded somewhat of a 'celebrity' status.

I remember one evening, my family was there, and this young LPN came in to do an assessment - I wasn't paying a lot of attention to her, as I was listening to my family, but she stood at the side of my bed for awhile - I finally looked up at her, and she says 'I feel so funny trying to assess YOU.' (I worked in ICU) Her face was red and she looked really uncomfortable - I told her to assess me like she did any other patient - I wasn't there as a nurse!;) We got along fine the rest of the night.

Their food is good, for the most part, and they go out of their way to try to please everyone's tastes.

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