trytounderstand

Thank you for treating your patient as a human being. Everyone has a right to know all their options and to make their own decisions even if it may not be what the operating room or doctor or a family member thinks is expedient and or what needs to be done. In the past I have had experience with hospital staff attempting to rush the patient to make a decision and to do what is most expedient for the hospital and staff to be able get their job done. Not every situation is life threatening. You have scared, confused, drugged, and possibly uninformed human beings laying on the bed before you. Sometimes there are options, and the patient should be aware of all options whether it be surgery, type of anesthesia, and whether he/she wants a specific test done. Once a patient makes an informed decision it is their decision. As we all know, at times it does have to be done quickly to save a life, but once the patient says "stop" in whatever form it is said. Then it is stop, take a breath, and make sure the patient understands and is making the correct decision for them. Once it is done to a human body there is no going back and changing it.

Although there are circumstances and patients who would fly off the handle and react in inappropriate it is their body and their medical records. They do have a right to view any report or notes and ask any questions they feel are necessary for their care. As far as patients not being able to see their records until the doctor has had a chance to talk with them. There are instances when the patient having the report in front of them when they visit the doctor has prevented unnecessary surgery or treatment plans. A second opinion was requested after the patient politely listened to what the first doctor wanted to do as far as surgery was concerned which ended in a totally different treatment plan. With less chance of surgery complications. Have also witnessed doctors trying to give a patient the bum's rush and talk them into treatment and tests that were not appropriate for their situation.

If the situation was as the poster wrote and he made a comment this is not a spectator sport, then he did speak out. The nurses although they may have been affected by the comment should have explained again exactly what was going on and respected his dignity. If he tried to cover himself and the prep nurse did not cover the area that at time did not need to be exposed then he was speaking out. But again no one here can fix this. The poster and her husband need to take it on up the chain and report the situation and their feelings. All patients and nurses deserve to be treated with dignity.

So a patient who is alone, embarrassed, under the influence of drugs makes a comment that hurts a nurses feelings he/she then should be treated in a manner that only makes the situation worse. That is the matter you need to bring up to the patient advocate. The nurses may not have responded in a professional manner. You have had responses and no one on here can make the situation any better. To bring this back around to the topic, what if the situation had been reversed and it was a female patient with male nurses? Would this have occurred and how would management handle it?

This is very important whether the patient be male or female. Communication from both sides. If you are truly uncomfortable about a situation the patient needs to speak up. Although the nurses are very busy and sometimes running to put out many fires just a few seconds can make all the difference in the world to a scared, confused patient. And actually will make the experience better for the nurse in the long run. But as others have said no one here was in on this particular experience. Many have stated their feelings and even commiserated with the poster. Many have given good advice. At this point the event cannot be changed, but perhaps if they speak with the patient advocate it will not happen to the next patient.

Your point has been made here. Yes guys usually don't ask the right questions and they usually will not speak up when they are embarrassed. A lot of women do the same thing, let's just get this over with. You have received sympathy and some good recommendations. This has happened and your husband was upset. Which in turn, has upset you. The only thing you can do now is to take everyone's advise, get your ducks in a row, and talk with the patient advocate or manager. You may never know what the outcome is but something will be done. Keep this in mind if someone wants to send you or your family member to this facility and request to be sent somewhere else. Then talk it over with the doctor and the nursing staff beforehand.

I did not see this part so he was expecting to only have one nurse assigned. That does make a difference. Please go to the meeting take a copy of the email you received and calmly and quietly explain what happened and how your husband felt. If possible have him with you or at least a written and signed account of what the occurrence was and how it affected him. The management may not this is happening to their male patients and need to be made aware so they can rectify the situation.

The thing is and I know coming on here and expressing your upset may be a way for you to get closure. But remember 99.9% of the folks on here would not purposely embarrass and try their best to protect patient dignity. You have come upon an institution that a member of their staff is not respecting their patient. From personal experience, there are a few who have no compassion for the fact that the patient is embarrassed. But speak up. In this situation yes she should have realized he was embarrassed and covered him as much as possible. As I have stated before there are some facilities that I have found their nurses not respectful and I just will not use those facilities again if at all possible. You have to contact that facility and realize you may never know what the outcome is. For future reference talk respectfully with the nursing staff request that they provide scrub pants, tear away shorts, and take it upon yourself to do such things as when going for a ct scan you wear clothing that does not contain metal....yoga pants, sports bras...which will help preserve your dignity. For male or female patients take your own gown to wear during physicals, if you find the little sheets they provide do not give you the coverage take your own. Talk with your doctor and nurse about how you feel and that you want better coverage and if they can provide it they usually will. I know it is a little late now to change what happened. But if you report this to the facility it may not happen to the next person. And you know now that you need to speak with your doctor or the facility about what will happen during your care.

If this is your true concern then the higher ups need to know. They need to be aware that at least one male patient felt uncomfortable being treated in this manner. As far as the shaving goes, sometimes you have to ask because to be honest nurses perform these types of preparations all the time so they become desensitized to it. If you do not ask the proper questions before hand and do not speak up he/she may not realize. Once he tried to cover himself, she should have realized that and just given him a towel to cover the area that did not need to be exposed, and if that is your concern then that does need to be reported. Now, that having been said, you will also have to realize that if they were busy there may be more one than nurse checking on the patient. They have to be sure before release that the patient is ready to be released with no problems. Sometimes there can be issues that have to be monitored before the patient can be released. For instance if you have abominable surgery your urine has to be monitored for blood. My other question is once they completed their examination did they cover the patient before they the left room and not left him there to be exposed to anyone else who may have come into the room. To be honest, I have had experiences at some facilities that I will not return to just because of what I perceived as insensitivity to my and other family members dignity. One comment made to a patient that was a little embarrassed was "We prefer you naked anyway. Makes our job easier." Also with that having being said, no one on here can make it any better. You need to speak with the manager or patient advocate and hopefully this will not happen to another patient whether they are male or female. This prep nurse may also be upsetting female patients and no one has spoken up.

I agree to disagree too. As always there are exceptions to the rules. There may be valid reasons to shield the patient or family members. Also as I view any of my test results, I have common sense enough to know to wait until I can see my doctor with any questions. I also have common sense enough to know that in doing research you do not believe everything that read on the internet. I feel that if patients or family members should have the ability to reach out to a patient advocate. If the situation is becoming overwhelming for either the patient or the caregivers it can be mediated at the time. Perhaps with a better outcome for everyone....

If they do not have a role, they have no business being in the way. Trauma cases are life and death situations. The patient comes first not a student or any other onlookers...

So in other words keep the patient in the dark....recently know someone who would have had surgery if they had believed the first doctor they were talking to.....the reason why a question was raised by spouse was because they had received results from patient portal and knew what questions to ask.... While I agree that some patients and family members are over the top and many may pose a threat to themselves and others, keeping someone in the dark over their test results and findings is morally wrong and results in incorrect informed consent...Reporting someone as being argumentative or non-compliant because they do not want to take a medication that they know will actually make them physically ill is wrong...patients not having a system to request assistance from patient advocate is wrong....as in all things two personalities can clash in any situation and only having one side of the story documented and then to be able to hide those reports is morally wrong.... Patients or family members should have copies of the reports whether they understand them or not. They should be able to ask any questions that they have and have them answered honestly. They should have a list of medications that have been prescribed and be allowed to decline or request substitution without judgment. They are the ones who live inside that body and they should have the ability to make a choice. I do agree that at the time of the difference of opinion the patient maybe should not read what has been documented about them but there are always two sides to every story. If the patient or family is not allowed to add their opinion or ask for help with a situation they feel is detrimental to their care, are they receiving the best medical care? They should be able to ask for help without judgment and it should not affect the quality of their care...

But...perhaps they do remember but all they remember is they were chastised or told they were argumentative or non-compliant...patients should have the ability to read the nurses notes and question what is being said about their behaviors. At the time they were having bad behaviors it may have been out of anxiety, fear of what was happening, not understanding what was happening. I have witnessed nurses who have become upset and reported bad behaviors because a patient asked why or wanted to make their own choices about their body...reporting that patient was argumentative and non-compliant just because they denied a medication or questioned the need for the medicine or even asked for second opinion....This record may follow the patient for several days in a hospital situation and they should have the ability to explain why they were upset, why the did not want to take the medicine or why they wanted a pair of tear away shorts that somehow the nurse kept forgetting to bring and other caregivers made sarcastic remarks about the patient requesting such shorts. On the other hand yes you should report if the patient becomes threatening, calls names, is offensive in any way. No one should have to feel unease whether it be nurse, doctor, CNA or patient. Yes that should be documented but the patient should still have the ability to repudiate and defend themselves. Both sides of the story needs to be reported and kept on file. At the same time if there is real time access to medical records, there should also be real time access for patients to contact a patient advocate. Get someone in there to mediate a bad situation before it goes totally off the rails. If a patient feels that he/she is not being heard or advocated for, there should be a way for that patient to get a assistance while the situation is happening not days later after whatever is happening has already taken place. Perhaps bad decisions or outcomes on all sides....

For instance, myself I can be smiling, talking on the phone and having a nice conversation with someone even when in terrible pain. Too many years of customer service....my brain has been trained to push the pain away....the same as one person can be a 3 or 4 when actually there is something terribly wrong...but they have pushed what they are feeling away. Know of recent circumstance where patient had been having appendicitis symptoms for days refused to go to doctor, finally ended up in hospital. They refused morphine for the pain just asked for ib tablets to dull it and when examined screamed out in pain. Had to be rushed to emergency surgery....but as presenting with low temperature and expressing pain as 3 or 4 ER did not think it was acute....when it was almost to the point of having a burst appendix. So after all that having it recorded in your records does not necessarily mean you were lying or trying to use it to get extra pain meds...it could mean that you are good at doing customer service and hiding the pain...or it may be the patients coping mechanism...and nurses who follow up with care should be aware that the patient may actually be in pain.... Yes, we had this happen years ago....requesting the nurse contact doctor they would state they had...never got answers to questions. When questioning the doctor he swore up and down the nurses never contacted him. If we had seen the notes we would have known who to call on the carpet... This I believe is very important...to give informed consent a patient should be able to view all their labwork xrays etc...they should have the opportunity to ask all questions before giving consent to any treatment...its amazing sometimes how a second opinion can change a situation....say one doctor not letting the patient view the results giving a song and dance and the patient suddenly is in surgery...when the patient insisted on second opinion the story had changed....learned the hard way to always insist on seeing the actual results with report before agreeing to any procedure.... Also if a patient or a family member sees the nurses notes and sees that the patient is over the top which can happen in an emergency situation on both sides of the coin...whether it be the patient, the patient's family or the nurse involved because we are all only human and all may be stressed....the situation might be handled and mediated by a third party to get everybody on the same page as getting proper care for the patient, proper respect for the nurse, proper respect for family and make everybody a little less stressed....

Absolutely correct. If a patient has to have an IV or procedure or care done of course it has to be done, but to allow an inexperienced student to attempt more than twice was wrong.... If this is a true story and not a fabrication to get reactions, perhaps that is why the coordinator became angry...not because of not following orders, but because they got caught disrespecting patients and allowing student nurses to practice on someone who did not need an IV inserted. Which leads to the question of what else are they allowing them to practice that is not medically necessary on vulnerable, defenseless patients when no one is there to say "Stop!" Or ask why.... Case in point many, many years ago, I know of a patient who was in the hospital, when the bill was received charges for pap smears, gyno exams, and other tests that were made that the patient was not even aware had happened and she was not hospitalized for anything concerning gynecological issues. At the time she was being given medicine to help her relax and stay calm and a family member was not able to be with her. If it was in this day and age, I would be suggesting to that patient that they needed to contact a lawyer...