Lack of Care with my Child

[alotascruggs]

Hello All,

I have been watching this forum for quite some time and thought about becoming a nurse but today, I'm not so sure.

First, I have a disabled daughter. She went to the the emergency room with pneumonia and I TOLD all of them that she was a difficult stick. They proceeded to stick her about 20 TIMES. She is the size of a 2 year old!! At one point, they had 3 people trying to stick her at the same time! Finally they gave up and that is when I became furious since it was OBVIOUSLY not needed. I have taken pictures of all the bruises on her tiny body from the stick.

After she was released from PICU, she went to the floor. I understand that they are understaffed and that the parents really need to be there to help out, but my husband works nights and my other children are ill with the flu, vomiting and running temps so I really believe it would not be prudent to bring them up to my daughters room during the night.

I go in around 1pm until 5pm then my husband visits from 6pm till 9:30pm and goes to work. He calls and tells me that when he got there, my daughter had pulled her oxygen away and wrapped it around her neck, her g-tube feed has completely leaked all over the bed, her diapers is soaked with urine and coming out all over the bed and that her alarm is going crazy. He proceeds to take the oxygen completely off, clean her up, put a new diaper on (btw, her little bottom is bleeding from sores).

What can I do? Can I demand that she be released? Can I go in there in the morning and bring her home? She's on room air now and I have full time nursing at home to assist? Should she had been stuck that many times?

Sorry...just ranting and very concerned.

Thanks

[Sweet Pea 1]

First let me say that I hope that your daughter gets better.

I do agree that several things seems to have been handled wrong.

I have a son who has been in the hospital several times and while in the PICU a parent did not have to be there but once released to the floor a parent had to be there all the time because with kids things can and do happen fast and there just are not enough nurses to have one in each room. I understand that you have other children that you have to attend to, you said that at home you have nursing staff all the time, could one of them not stay with your daughter?

[alotascruggs]

Thank you all with your advice and concerns. Reading back on my post, I realize that I wrote quickly without explaning some things.

The sores happened the day before and I just asked if someone could at least change her diaper more often to keep them from bleeding and becoming infected.

What I did not write down correctly is that I got home at 5 so I left at 4:15, my husband left home at 6:30 which means that he did not arrive in the room until about 7:30. (Sorry thats about 3 1/2 hours). That was when he noticed her dirty bottom and other items. When he called, I told him that they were probably doing a shift change and to call the nurse at the front station.

Assuming everything went alright, I did not get a call from my husband until he already left the hospital to go to work. He told me that a nurse never came from the call and that the only person that ever came to the room was a RT for my daughters treatment. He called again for an update but no one came. So, I from 4:15 till my husband left at 9:15pm a nurse never came to check up on my daughter.

What scares me is that if my husband couldn't have gone up there, my daughter would have been inthe same mess for a few hours until the RT found her.

I did call the head of nursing and she apparently went up to my daughters room and talked to the nurse in charge. The nurse then called me and said she did look in on Shannon at 7:00pm and then again at 9:00pm but that my husband must have left the room at those times. (Pretty shady to me).

Anyways...I will be talking to her doctor this morning and asking for her to be released asap and let him know why. As for having my private nursing go there, they can't. My daughter is on SSI and therefore paid by Medicaid and Medicaid says no.

Again...thanks so much for your help.

[Eirene, ASN, RN]

argh! i know how frustrating this is!

my son (6) also has multiple disabilities. he's only 33 pounds, but full of piss and vinegar. he's been admitted to columbus childrens often and it wears on his little soul.

before nursing school (i graduate in 18 weeks!), i didn't understand a lot of things. why were they sticking my baby boy so many times? why? but now, i understand. in our little ones who are already medically compromised, it is often a life and death situation. children's now has an iv team who take on these kids who are difficult sticks. remember to request one next time.

i know this may be unrealistic for you, but can you have someone come in and stay with your little one when you or hubby can't be there? it's hard, but me and hubby have never left our son in the hospital alone except for a quick shower or a cup of coffee. he either misses work (without pay) or i skip class. we have a teenager at home who is very responsible, thank goodness. it's hard; we struggle-- but it's a necessity.

we don't have private duty nursing care for our son, but maybe it's an option to have them come in? i'd check with your insurance company (nevermind-- i just re-read your post). maybe you could hire a college student on break to come in? do you know of any-- maybe someone who is in nursing school or has an interest?

also, at childrens, an rn has to document the child's iv every hour. that means they come into the room and have to look at it. you might want to check if such a protocol is in place.

i hope your baby girl comes home soon. please don't leave ama. give that sweet child a kiss from all of us who are rooting for her recovery.

if you need anyone to talk to, please im me. i truly understand.

always,

dani

future pediatric nurse!

[withasmilelpn]

I was a home care peds nurse, and it takes only seconds to have a complete mess with a GT that gets open, stomach contents and formula everywhere. Plus my little one even though I would check on her all night would stay dry and then let loose!

The O2 tubing is scary wrapped around her neck. I'm not sure what the answer is. As long as you have more than one patient, they have the potential to do that. It only takes a minute. But one patient's care issues, meds can take 20 minutes or more. Or the paperwork that makes us look like we are playing at the desk. Taking off orders, following through on labs and tests, and speaking with the physician are absolutely required parts of taking care of our patients, but again we are not at the bedside monitoring their every move. It is why being a nurse is so frustrating, because you can not be everywhere at once, no matter how conscientious you are. People don't understand that.

As far as the diaper rash goes, was she on antibiotics? Typically our patients would get particularly bad ones as a side effect (fungal) that happened despite one on one attention. They usually would clear up some time after the treatment course was over, but it took some time, and just didn't seem to be preventable.

Also, I tend to stay away from the phone as much as possible so I can take care of my patients. (I have 20 patients!) The more time I discuss my patient's care with you is the more time I am not monitoring my patient. So perhaps that's why the phone rang and rang.

Take a deep breath, try to see things from their perspective. Accidents can and do happen, healthcare workers are not superhuman. Ask yourself if this could happen at home.

Collaborate with them. Let them know you are leaving and that your husband will be in at such and such a time. Tell them about your experience with the O2 in a non judgemental way, like hey I'm leaving and I'm concerned that this could happen again, could you check on pretty frequently? So they know they need to be there more often. Ask them if they come in to update you in a few hours if they can.

Fear can overtake you at times like these, but try not to see these people as adversaries. It is important to work together to get your daughter healthy.

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

I am so sorry to hear that your daughter has been sick and admitted into the hospital. I think that you should speak to the nursing manager, administrator on duty, director of nursing and chief operating officer (in this order of succession) to see if any results are obtained. I love my son to pieces and would also be upset to see something like this happen.

I do believe that if three people were trying to start a line simultaneously, that would be traumatic for me as well as my child. If it happened, I hope that there was a critical reason for it. As nurses, when a doctor orders certain things, we get very frustrated for the patient if we have to struggle to get a patent line. We know they need the meds, (and sometimes STAT), and when we try and can't get a line, it is usually as hurtful for us, because we look like the enemy to the child. And, since they can't understand that it may be necessary, it usually ruins a positive nurse to client interaction/relationship.

Now, in terms of becoming a nurse, please know that it is NOT easy. There are times where several things are going on at once, and we can't be everywhere. This is not to say that your daughter should receive less than quality care. What I am saying is that when most of us hear about this, it tears us apart as well, because at times, we are distracted with either emergencies, or maybe even a stupid situation initiated by an idiotic supervisor, manager, physician or regulatory agency that is really drawing us away performing patient care the way we wish to. Maybe watching this experience will demonstrate some of the horrendous challenges that nurses face each day. It is not ER, or General Hospital. Think about it before you leap. Bottom line, I hope that your daughter gets better really, really soon.

[lpnstudentin2010, LPN]

I do not have any advise to offer but I wanted to say that I hope she gets better soon.