Is nursing "care" a thing of the past?

[AnneBlunnRN]

I have been tossing up whether to vent or not about this, but I'm sick of having it go round and round in my head so here goes...

A friend and colleague recently underwent major knee surgery in a private hospital. her post surgery care was absolutely atrocious and very concerning.

No PCA post op and due to persistent vomiting did not receive any relief from oral meds day 1 post op until 10pm that night when she was finally given one shot of s/c Morph. at one point she was so desperate she truly consdered asking for her vomit bowel back so she could retrieve the meds.

she was left for 3 days with out a wash and her husband had to change her vomit stained gown after >24 hours. the only time a washer came near her was when her husband was there to do it- and once when she insisted they wash her back when the badpan overflowed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Other colleagues and I have encouraged her to write a letter of complaint but she is now so "over it" she just wants to put this humiliating experience behind her.

I i wish I could say this was an isolated incident but my mother was a patient in the same hospital and was left on a commode, day 1 post major hip surgery, without access to either toilet paper or a buzzer for more than an hour. After calling out for attention she tried to get herself back to bed, upsetting the commode in the process. Being of "that generation" she did write a letter of complaint, but given my firends recent experience, it didn't make much of an impact.

What is going on? What has happened to basic nursing care? What about respecting the patients dignity, comfort? I am distraught!

for those of you of my generation you may remember a "film" we watched during our training... "Mrs Jones wants a Nurse". Whilst this was in many ways a parody of the demanding patient, the values and practices that it encouaged us to embrace will always be valid, as patients are still, most of them anyway, human beings with the same fundemental needs!

Are we now in a situation where all Nurses have to go through an operation themselves whilst training. ala William Hurt in The Doctor, to understand the importance of good nursing care and value the importance of the basics like mouthcare, post op washes and adequate pain relief? What has happened to empathy and compassion? Is this symptomatic of the "academisation"(is there such a word?) of nursing. Enough of Nursing theory and a little bit more of the Practice. Something I have alwys kept in the back of my mind is how would I feel and what would make me feel better?

How would you go about making sure that this does not happen again?

[ZippyGBR, BSN, RN]

So now you know. Hospital administrators could care less that you were dissatisfied with the care. They only care if your dissatisfaction affects the bottom line.

which demonstrates yet another reason why the US system is failing and how the absence of the 'earner' vs 'cost' divide in UHC systems allows for a fuzzier system where quality of all aspects of care is important

[Music in My Heart]

which demonstrates yet another reason why the US system is failing and how the absence of the 'earner' vs 'cost' divide in UHC systems allows for a fuzzier system where quality of all aspects of care is important

Reading comments like these from the Brits, Aussies, Kiwis, Canucks, etc always make me chuckle because whenever the topic of a single-payer system or some form of universal coverage is brought up, we're inundated by the Righties with horror stories of how awful is the care available in these countries and how their residents are lining up to come to US hospitals for their care.

Odd how I've never heard that claim from the nurses on these forums...

[BrookeeLou_RN]

Yes, my whole life I have heard nothing but horror stories about UHC and how people come to USA to get help... Yet since being on A.N. all the nurses are saying the opposite. I even posted a direct question once about dialysis care.. I wonder if US Hospitals are leading all these horror stories to keep USA from thinking we might want UHC?

[Music in My Heart]

Yes, my whole life I have heard nothing but horror stories about UHC and how people come to USA to get help... Yet since being on A.N. all the nurses are saying the opposite. I even posted a direct question once about dialysis care.. I wonder if US Hospitals are leading all these horror stories to keep USA from thinking we might want UHC?

Not the hospitals... they would stand to benefit from a single-payer plan. Rather, the insurance companies, the cReeps, business groups, and often the unions whose members have typically stood to lose out on what have traditionally been gold-plated health-insurance packages.

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

What I have learned is that I no longer trust medical personnel. I will be at the hospital with anyone I care about and that death is not a bad thing.

Can I get a hell yah?

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

can i get a hell yah?

you've almost taken it as far as me. as far as family members go, its their choice if they want to seek treatment or not.

for me though...........eh, forget about it. i'll stay at home and suffer. i'm going to be one of those really old, nasty old guys who dies and is found months later because i'm more content staying at home and suffering.