MSNBC: Hidden dangers in hospitals

VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN · May 17, 2002

The Health Department says Mt. Sinai "did not have... personnel sufficient to meet patient care needs." That was also one of the Steins' main complaints.
"I should be here just holding my child, helping him through it," says Caroline Stein, Toby's mother. "I shouldn't be responsible for the breakdown of equipment. Nurses should be here more often."
What is worrisome is that Mt. Sinai has a national reputation as a good hospital, and what is happening there could happen anywhere. An Institute of Medicine study says 98,000 Americans die each year from medical mistakes, more than in car crashes.
At Mt. Sinai, the hospital says it is cooperating with the state investigation following the death of an otherwise healthy liver donor. The Health Department suspended Mt. Sinai's adult live liver transplant program for six months, citing among other things, lack of staff.
The other five transplant wards in New York state have one nurse for every four patients. Mt. Sinai had one nurse for seven patients.
"The thing that we were more worried [about] was not the technical capacity of the surgery being done in Mt. Sinai," says New York Commissioner of Health Antonia C. Novello. "It was the after care that was worrisome."
It is a hidden danger that families like the Steins never expected at the hospital that cured their son's cancer, but could not, they say, keep him alive.

I think that about says it all.

fedupnurse · May 17, 2002

Anyone who works in a hospital knows how scary the care has gotten. I looked at the site above and almost chuckled when they said the doctors beat his cancer but he died from infection. Newsflash: If he didn't have the cancer he wouldn't have had the infection. We have an oncologist who blatantly lies to his patients about their prognosis. When patients bone marrow results come back that they are now aplastic, he says "No more cancer cells!!!!!" He never adds that there are NO CELLS. Oh if the public only knew how suits divert money to pay their huge salaries and cut back on the clinical side of things and how far too many doctors lie, they would never set foot in a hospital. That is until we open Allnurses Hospital!!!!!

-jt · May 17, 2002

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Right.... So what does this mean... the Doctors are the only ones who took care of that child? The Nurses are the ones who get blamed for his death?..... and the hospital STILL denies it has a problem with staffing. Its not fair to us - we get left holding the bag - we get preceived as being the problem because we cant get to the pts room more often. We are human - we can only be in one place at a time. The nurses have been fighting that administration to correct the problem for many months now & the hospital is fighting back - claiming the staffing has little impact on pt care & is not a problem. The familys anger should be directed at the hospital that refuses to put more of us there at all.......

layoffs at Mt Sinai have drawn fire from union nurses at the facility, who plan an informational picket in protest to what the NYSNA is calling "a threat to patient care".... NYSNA nurses at Mt Sinai are currently in contract negotiations and are attempting to develop solutions to the hospital's staffing problems but the management refuses to acknowledge any staffing dilemmas and continued with its plan to cut an estimated 450 positions as well as eliminating vacant RN positions....

***hospital leaders said the workforce reductions would have a 'MINIMAL IMPACT on bedside caregiving' and would enable the hospital to save approximately $25 million per year.***

The facility also said the action would 'provide savings that will significantly reduce the hospital's current deficit and help meet Mt Sinai's long-term goal of achieving a strong financial platform'.

The workforce reductions include management and staff, the hospital said, and were made in response to recommendations by the Hunter Group, a healthcare financial consulting group retained by the Mt Sinai Board of Trustees in 2001 to help the medical center address financial shortcomings."

(Advance For Nurses - NY/NJ edition)>>

"Nurses Dish The Dirt On Mt Sinai"

March 31, 2002

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/44701.htm

fedupnurse · May 17, 2002

We had a case in my area where a child with cancer died. The doctor wrote an order and forgot to put the decimal point in. The TWO pharmacists filled the order without questioning the dose and the nurse that gave the drug (no I am not saying she was right!!) was the only one fired. TYPICAL!