raksha

It is good to see so many people behind handwashing. As a relativly new CNA at a LTC facility i was horrified to see how few of the staff ever wore gloves or washed their hands (even with purell). I was routinley mocked by nurses and other aides for my "addiction" to purrell and gloves! Writing people up is one option, but may cause hard feelings. Something that worked for me at getting other aides to wash hands was simply to mention it "Oh, i left the water running for you!" or "Here have some of my sanitizer" or simply handing them the gloves before reaching the patient. It's not a perfect solution since it only works when your in the room with them, but might help some.

Since I was 11 years old (23 now) I have been a severe asthmatic. I refuse to go to the ER for any reason due to the callous and just plain cruel treatment i receive from nursing professionals there. The way my ashtma works is that i get enough oxygen, but i cant expel the CO2 in my luings. Several sources, including RT's and docs have confirmed that many asthmatics have this problem, and with these types of athsmatics it's very common for them to get 100% + reading on a pulse ox. More times than i can count I have had a nurse tell me that I'm just making up my breathing difficulty and they think i should just go home. If my mom was not a nurse these incidences would have caused me to lose all faith in the nursing community. Nobody wants to feel like they are dying only to be told that the people who are supposed to help them don't want to help them because they beleive the illness is being faked. Btw, I'm not attacking nurses in this, just trying to give my perspective from when i was a patient, and the traumatic experiences i had.