keikei

Yes, you're probably right. My experiences aren't important, OP, I am very sorry to have hijacked your post & if I have made it more difficult for you to get the answers you were looking for. When I shared, I was thinking it might help if you knew you weren't alone and that what you experienced happens to other people as well and that there are others that are confused. I'm a chatty person sometimes and I apologize for sharing too much or annoying anyone. I will say one last thing: Many patients are sent to the ER by their PCP. So we are there because they told us to go. We're not trained medical professionals so we don't know what is serious and what isn't. So we call our doctors, describe our symptoms over the phone & they tell us to go to the ER. We are just trying to get care for a health issue & are following "orders". It's frustrating for the patient as well. With one exception, I've never been made to feel that I should have waited to see my PCP or that I didn't need to be there, they have instead said things like "it's a good thing you got here when you did". So I guess they felt it was the right reason to be there. What a doctor might feel is an emergency (for whatever reason) a nurse might feel it could have waited until office hours. We're caught in the middle. It's very frustrating. PS: maybe you're not familiar with the care involved with renal patients. There isn't a lot that is done at office visits, most treatment require hospital care. So there really is no need for her to be available more than once a week to see patients to do the routine things like lab tests, medication refills, weight check and to discuss the results of lab tests. Everything else requires clinic care so I don't really get what you mean by that. I don't know anyone else with my disease who gets treated any differently, we hope to stay healthy as long as possible between hospital stays for sudden issues that crop up, but there really isn't anything else to be done. If you know something different, please share.

very true - most people wouldn't dream of assaulting a flight attendant (whose job IS to bring you things to eat/drink and keep you comfortable) or swearing at a TSA for fear of being charged with a federal crime. Everyone knows the consequences are quick & severe. Why shouldn't there be some sort of protection in place for nurses, PCA's, etc? I don't know what the solution is but I do know that nurses & other caregivers shouldn't have to worry about their personal safety on top of all of the other job stresses.

I have no idea what you're talking about. I haven't lectured anyone or asked anyone to make anything about me. I didn't comment on a post you wrote or were participating in and yell at you for anything you wrote or felt, I don't even know you. I responded to the OP because I am dealing with similar issues, that's all. And like you, I was venting about some not-so-nice people (who sometimes are providing health care to me) that I come across in my life and it had nothing to do with you either. I honestly have no idea why you're so angry with me, but if I bother you that much, please just ignore what I write. My intent here was to discuss something with other people who are experiencing similar issues I am experiencing, to learn from those who have experience as a nurse to give me some insight into what I as a patient can do to make things better for both myself & the person caring for me and from those who are willing to be frank & honest with me about their job because I was recently accepted into nursing school and have gotten mixed responses on whether or not it's a good career choice or not. I've read a lot of things on here that have shocked me but as I said before, not because I'm judging anyone, but because I had no idea those things even happened since I'm new to all of this. The same as you probably felt when you were new at all of it. Really, just ignore my posts if they upset you so much, you're obviously stressed out & angry over something and I don't want to add to it.

Oh, I don't doubt that at all! My neighbor is a cardiac nurse. She works LONG hours and the stories she tells me are eye openers sometimes! When I said I was shocked about what I read on here, it wasn't mean in a judgmental way, I meant it as in "I had no idea things like that even happened, that people even act that way" sort of thing. I have a friend who is an ER doc so her stories are from a physician point of view, much different from nursing. She isn't much help when trying to decide if this would be a good career choice :) My neighbor offers a much different picture, but again, she's in cardiac care and most of her patients are very old people, so they die a lot. She has a very unique outlook on life and she says it's all because of what she does for a living, sort of like anyone who deals with things that most people never see. It's not bad or wrong, just different. I just like knowing as much as possible (yes, even the gross & nasty, the ugly & messy) which is why I ask a lot of weird questions and read a lot. I respect honesty and certainly don't judge anyone when I can tell that they've just been having a rough time of it and need to get it all out with people who can relate. It's helpful to those of us who haven't experienced those things yet too.

Because the "walls" and "doors" in the ER are curtains? Everyone can hear everything, there is no privacy at all and when you're lying in bed for 17 hours waiting for an IV to finish, you hear a lot of things. I am having a conversation on here with other people, what I was explaining made sense to me. Sorry it didn't to you. I can imagine it would be annoying if I were a nurse and someone tried to tell me that their issue was more important than other patient. But I hear it all the time. I imagine those are the same people out in public who think everything pertaining to them is more important than anyone else and their needs.

I agree - it's not my PCP, it's my nephrologist that does this. She only sees patients once a week because she is with a teaching facility which is also the same place as the ER where she sends me. They know I have a lot of kidney stones that are sort of lodged in there so they cause a lot of issues. Most of the time, I just deal with it. I told her I can live with 5 out of 10 pain and still function so that's sort of the agreement we have. But, there really is no option if I'm having severe pain from one of the stones & it happens to be a weekend, after hours or during a day when she is not in the office seeing patients, that's why she sends me to the ER to manage it. Sometimes, she just has me directly admitted & I don't go to the ER at all, but when it's for low potassium, she tries to have them manage it in the long-term ER department first, instead of admitting me. I don't know why, no-one in the ER seems to think it's weird so maybe they're used to it. Thankfully, it's not too often anymore, I've finally gotten in to a pain specialist, switched some meds around, I swim a lot more and that seems to help. I wish there were a way to just knock all of the stones out at once and be done with it, but it's not an option for me. I would completely agree with you if it were my PCP doing that!

....Oh, just venting in general... Even though I'm just starting this journey (and later in life at that), I feel that I've learned a lot just being a patient. I've gotten a unique view of what is going on in a hospital because I am usually there for a long period of time & once the nurses realize that I'm not "needy", they tend to let their guard down a bit and chat with me as a person, not a patient. When it gets quiet, I tend to be the patient the nurses come to check on and just sit & talk with, I listen to their concerns (without the violating another patients privacy), they tell me about their families or dogs or how long they've been there & how tired they are, etc. So even though I've never done your job and couldn't really ever know what it is like for you until I do, I am trying to understand and learn as I go along. I'm a very "thoughtful" person, meaning I like to consider all points of view when I'm making a decision and that's why I visit this site. I'll admit, sometimes I'm shocked at what I read, but I've also learned a lot as well. Thank you for you well wishes, transplant is scary, waiting is scary and all that goes along with being sick a lot is scary & frustrating but it's always nice to hear someone wish me well :redpinkhe

This is my reason for reading the posts on here, though I don't post much since I don't have any real nursing experience. I want to get a feel for what I'll be doing before I invest a lot of time/money into schooling for it. I want to make sure I have the right personality and that I would do a good job. But right now, my only experience with hospitals is from the view of a patient. I am in pre-nursing now (just finished up the STNA course, waiting to take the exam so I guess I did get a few hours of "clinic" time in). I am also a very compliant patient and it's interesting to me to see how you all think of us "chronic pain" patients. I'm actually the patient in room 35 who was called on her cell-phone while grocery shopping urged to IMMEDIATELY head to the ER because my nephrologist had just gotten my blood test back & my potassium was 1.7. I had no idea this was a big deal until I had arrived (I had been complaining of feeling very weak & exhausted to the point where I couldn't get up from the floor sometimes, but as it usually is, doctors tell you to just drink more fluids, get more rest, etc). So that's me in there, quietly writhing in pain because IV potassium is one of the most painful experiences I've ever had. And I had to have it for 17 hours while also being given Potassium pills and even bags of potato chips. Meanwhile, all around me I hear patients come in with gunshot wounds, stabbings, an old lady having chest pains, a 20 something girl crying very loudly because her stomach hurt (turns out she had gas, they sent her home after they gave her simethecone). But the most fun was the drug OD in the stall next to mine. She was ranting all crazy, calling the nurses, docs & anyone else in there horrible names and then when they'd leave the room, she'd get on her cell phone & chat away like she was at ClubMed. She was asking for some sort of pain med, they told her no so she fake fainted by lying carefully on the floor when they walked in (by now the gunshot had gone to surgery, stabbing person wasn't as bad as it seemed, he was stitched up and sent back to jail, fart girl had gone home so it was old lady chest pains, OD girl and me, potassium IV person. I never asked for pain meds or even a drink of water because I knew they were busy and didn't want to bother them. I was dying of thirst but I couldn't get up to get my own drink due to being tied to the IV pole and the heart monitor. At one point, the pain from the IV potassium got so bad it must have showed up on the monitor because someone came in to make sure I wasn't dead or something. So I'm sorry that patients like us, the chronically ill who sometimes have medical emergencies, are making you want to leave nursing. It's bad enough being relatively young and living with such a crappy disease that I have from no fault of my own. I'm a non-smoker, non-drinker, never taken street drugs, only take what is prescribed and exactly how it is prescribed, I'm the rare one who prefers NOT to take narcotics if something else will work. I'm pleasant, I try to be understanding, I don't complain, I DO fill out the Press-Gainey but with one exception, it's always been all positive as I made it a point to find the good rather than focus on anything that was bad. I know patients like me bring you down but what else can we do? I don't know where else I could have gotten this care but at an ER? Where else should I go for pain control when I'm passing one of the 15 kidney stones they've counted in my kidneys? When my potassium goes to low, where should I be treated, is that not an emergency too? From the way the drs and nurses acted it was. When I asked to go home, the brought in four different doctors to convince me to be admitted because they said I could walk out of the hospital & have a heart attack. What about the fact that I'm slowly bleeding 24/7 internally from one cyst or another on my kidneys or liver and that causes severe anemia (that isn't noticed until it shows up on a blood test. The only treatment for that is IV iron and the last time I had that, I went in to anaphylactic shock. (or maybe something else, I'm getting blood taken tomorrow & I have a feeling that anemia is back, I don't know how they'll treat it this time *nervous* So I come here and I read about what you all experience at your jobs and try to decided if and how I could fit in somewhere. I've had some excellent nursing care. To the point where I STILL remember their names and every once in awhile, I send over a treat of some sort just to let them know how much it meant to me that they cared that much. I have had nurses who have taken the time to put a cold cloth on my forehead (when I was in a lot of pain & they could see how much it must have been hurting) even when the place was being slammed and tell me "please let me know if there is anything at all I can do for you, ok? Just press the button and I will be here" That made me feel like it was all going to turn out OK. And that's they type of nurse I'd like to be for someone. Not that creepy one who tells me how nice my private parts look while she's putting a cath in me. So see, just as we need to understand what you are going through as nurses, sometimes the patient point of view is valuable too. And I hope while I'm on this journey from pre-nursing, to nursing student to finally becoming a nurse, I am able to find those good nurses that I know are out there who are willing to share the good, the bad & the ugly with me to help me be a better nurse one day too.

My doctor does call the ED and does have a pain management plan in place. It's all in my chart and she always calls in advance, tells them why she is sending me in, what she would like done, etc. And they are waiting for me when I arrive. This particular hospital has a separate unit in the ER for longer term patients - people who are sick and need immediate medical care for whatever reason, but avoiding admitting them if possible. The patient is allowed to stay for 17 hours and either be discharged or admitted. It's quiet, each room is private (with a curtain for a door, the nurse is sitting right outside of the door at her station) and the nurse/patient ratio is low. None of the nurses in this department have been cruel or made me feel like it is my fault I am in pain and that since I already take painkillers on a very carefully regimented basis at home, throwing a percocet at me isn't going to help in any way. Kidney stones are very painful and there are those of us who don't have any control over when they are going to form, when they will lodge & cause pain or how long before they pass (IF they pass). And it's not my PCP that handles this issue, it's my nephrologist who depends on her co-workers in the ED to take care of her patients when she isn't able.

I just wanted you to know that I do understand. I have huge kidney stones too, but they don't know how to treat them because I have PKD. So sometimes the pain from the stones flares up and it's seriously the worst pain ever. Or if a cyst starts bleeding. Like you, I have pain meds at home and like you, I am tolerant. I've also never drank, smoked or taken a street drug. It is very difficult the few times I've been sent to the ER (my dr sends me as she only sees patients once a week and that's the only place for me to get care outside of those times for my kidney issues) to tell the drs. it is NOT my gallbladder, but my kidneys and that normal painkillers won't work for me (and in fact, I'd rather not have them at all unless necessary). Patients like you (and myself) are what still draws me towards nursing. I want to be that one nurse that you meet that you know is really listening and really wants to see you feel a little better. They are out there, I've met them. Sometimes it's something as simple as them just bringing you a hot pad for your side or placing their hand on your head & smoothing your hair that makes ALL the difference in the world. Sometimes the painkillers don't work that well, but feeling a connection to another human being who you know has really listened to you & sees the "real" you behind the pain makes all the difference in the world.

I have a friend who is a nurse in that ER. She was at a wedding last weekend. She was not there. What is so odd about that? I also have a friend who is an ER doctor. She does not work at the ER. What is so strange about that? Why would I even mention that, neither has anything to do with what happened. I add things on because I am answering questions that you ask me. If I don't answer immediately, you all jump all over that too. I can't win. I was bleeding profusely when I arrived, that's why I was there in the first place. I wanted to stay home and wrap it up but my husband pointed out the amount of blood all over the kitchen, my clothes and the hallway. This all happened in under a minute. I kept pressure on it the entire way to the ER. When I arrived, they took the cloth off of my hand to see what was wrong and of course, it started bleeding again. Then I soaked through the pad, the tech came it and pulled it OFF of my hand to put another one on, it started bleeding again. Then the ER doctor came in, took the pad off so HE could look at it, it started bleeding again. The xray tech did the same thing telling me she couldn't take "the pictures" with the pad on. I didn't state every single thing that happened every single second I was there because I thought this is a nurses forum and that you would know what things generally happen. I wasn't the one that said I was practically in shock, I said that I was bleeding a lot and they took my vitals when I arrived, then I calmed down and the bad tech came in a took them again and they were low. I felt dizzy, clammy skin, felt like I was going to throw up. All of these things you are accusing me of is exactly my point - you keep pointing out all of these things that couldn't have happened or never would have happend because maybe in YOUR ER they would never happen. That was why I was asking if what they did was typical or not and if that is how you're supposed to treat someone with my injury. Is it how you would have wanted to be treated or how you would have treated a patient, that's all I'm asking. I can see that no matter what I say, most of you have decided I made this all up for whatever reason. I've answered every question the best I can. I'm not a medical professional, I haven't even started nursing school, I'm just a regular person who maybe doesn't know the technical &medical terms for things. That doesn't mean I'm lying or anything else. I had general anesthesia with my surgery on Tuesday & strong pain meds, I might not get every single detail exactly perfect. I'm just glad some of you are able to never be wrong about anything, it's pointless for me to even answer or clarify because you just call me a liar, crazy or some other insult and it's not making me feel any better or helping, which is what I was hoping for and that's all. I am a real person with feelings. I hope you all feel good about yourselves for the things you have said to someone just asking for help

There was nothing mysterious about it. The shift changed at 9pm and that was when this nurse came on duty. From what I could understand, the shifts were 4 or 12 hours, I could be wrong. The nurse that was supposed to be taking care of me said she had been there since "this morning" and she was not there when I was discharged which was close to 11pm. Or at least, a different person was sitting in the seat she had been sitting in. The one who filed the report was a supervisor. She told me that when she was talking to me about how long I had been there, discharge info, making sure that I didn't want to stay and be moved to a room, making sure I understood what the surgeon had said, etc. I don't know how she knew the info she knew, don't you know? Don't nurses, drs etc talk to each other and tell what patients they are looking after and why when the new person comes into work to take over? That is how I guessed she knew. And she specifically said she was the supervisor and it was her that was yelling at the others when she came into work. I don't know the exact time, I just heard her yelling about triage and that they didn't do it right and that you don't take care of a sore throat before a bleeding laceration. I know she talked to the er DR and the PA who sewed me up but I don't WORK in an ER, I was the patient so I don't KNOW how information is gathered. I just know what she told me and that was later confirmed when I picked up my records. If a Dinamap is a little machine on wheels that takes the temp & the BP and displays them on a screen, then yes, that is what I mean and yes, that is what my husband took a photo of. He got into the habit of doing that when I was hospitalized before and maybe someone didn't write down the info like they were supposed to and would ask me if I remembered what my BP was. Also, my kidney doctor asked me to keep a chart of my BP's (I take them at home with a wrist thing) because I have kidney disease and mine has gotten very low before because of a medication I take and I didn't know it was that low or how often it happened. The tech wasn't "sitting there", he was standing and had a folded paper in his pocket. He wrote down the BP & temp on the paper. And he didn't "let" him take a photo, my husband just took it when it popped up. Just like the new, good tech let him take a photo of my sutures before he wrapped them up and the PA let him take a photo of her suturing. Neither of them acted like it was unusual or weird and tech new tech even said that he himself had cut his finger the week before and took photos in the ER too. Who cares why someone does that? It helps me to remember and it was helpful to see that she put in 11 black sutures for the temp and when I came out of surgery, I have about 20 bright blue ones.

Thank you very much for saying this. My biggest concern was that it was something I did or didn't do that caused this to happen. I understand that ER's are busy, crazy places and that it must be very frustrating to have people come in who should have gone to urgent care or their family doctor. I've never had this happen to me before, but I've heard stories like this over the years. I'll even admit that sometimes I wondered if what they reported was as bad as they said it was. Until it happened to me. I've never said all nurses are bad, all ER's are bad or anything to that nature. I was just telling what happened to me and how upsetting it was. I considered leaving to go to another hospital (and heard another patient threatening to do so but she was upset because she wanted pain meds and they wouldn't give her what she wanted). I didn't know (nor did my husband) who to ask for or how to escalate it, even if it meant that they thought I was being obnoxious. I suffered in silence and I have already spoken to the admins of that hospital (they approached me) so I hope that means that how they decide which people to treat first will be changed or at least looked at. But thank you for your kindness.

I can't respond to all of the questions about every little detail. You can believe me or not, at this point it doesn't even matter. My only reason for posting here was that I arrived at this site from a google search about was this normal care. I only wanted to know was what I experienced the norm for my injury. Yes, I have been in the ER a few times but never for an injury. I am a renal patient awaiting transplant and have had one instance where my potassium dropped very low, I was admitted through the ER, kidney stones & cysts bleeding, both of which are very painful. I went to the ER because my kidney doctor sent me there to get checked after routine blood tests, she thought the lab may have made a mistake, so she was being careful. The lab didn't make a mistake & she was right in sending me as I was admitted each time. I only have this thread because I just found the site & joined. It was my first posting, I was just accepted to nursing school before I cut my finger so when I googled & found a nursing site & read through some of the posts of other people asking questions, I thought I was doing the right thing. The nurse who reported the other nurse was the one who discharged me from the ER. She had only been there an hour and was the supervisor & was the one who was yelling at the others for not triaging correctly. I wish she had been there when I arrived, I wouldn't have suffered for so long. I received a phone call from her today checking on me and she apologized again for what happened. My goal has nothing to do with "getting money" or "malpractice" or anything else I've been accused of. I was just trying to find out if it what I experienced was the typical treatment because I feel really upset about it and I know that personally I could not have left a patient like that so I am questioning my decision to even become a nurse. I never said I was a specialist in anything - when I filled out the profile, I thought the question was asking what I would like to specialize in and what I was familiar with. Sorry I filled it out wrong. I was discharged me on the advice of the surgeon who said that arteries in the finger will clot & stop bleeding if the cut is sutured shut. The PA did the suturing because the surgeon was still working on the other person. From what I've been told, both by the surgeon who did repair my injury & a friend who is an ER dr, this was all that could be done in the ER. The ER dr paged a surgeon because he felt my injury was too severe for him to repair. They did not repair the artery because it was "mangled" (the words of the surgeon who fixed my finger by repairing the tendons and nerves). Yes, I know I could hold pressure on it myself, that is what I was doing. For 5 hours. That is a VERY long time when you are in pain, scared, feeling dizzy & terrified that the injury was so bad that they had to call a surgeon. I was I was concerned about the amount of blood lost because of the same reason. I am already waiting for transplant, stupid me thought that losing blood was as big of a concern as vomiting, sweating, diarrhea as far as my electrolyte balance. I was hospitalized for three weeks in october partly because of anemia so severe I had to have iron pumped back into me through an IV because I have cysts in my kidneys and liver that bleed a lot - I didn't even KNOW that I was losing blood or bleeding at that time so can't you see why I was so worried about seeing that much blood come out of me in a short period of time and feeling like maybe I didn't make it clear? It was after that stay that I was convinced that applying to nursing school was the perfect job for me. The nurses & PCA's that cared for me then were the difference between life and death at one point. They constantly told my husband how much they enjoyed having me as a patient, how patients like me made them feel good about what they do, etc. Whenever I have to go to that hospital to see my doctor, I always make a point to go up to their floor to say hello & to make sure they knew how much I appreciated what they did for me. THAT is why what happened to me on Sunday (at a different hospital) has been so upsetting and confusing. However, like I said, the only times before I had been in an ER was due to kidney issues, never an injury so I didn't know if what happened was normal or not. What is it that you want photos of? My bloody hand? The puddle of blood by the ER door (because we came in the wrong door and I had to stand there for 30 seconds while someone opened it and let us in? My stitches? My damaged finger? How would any of that change what I've told you? I never said I was hooked up to a monitor. I said they took my blood pressure and temp and those both show up on a monitor that the assistant wheels around. I'm not a nurse so I don't know what it's called. Instead of jumping all over me about little details, why can't anyone show any compassion and understand I might not know all of the technical terms or methods? I don't know why everyone keeps asking me if I am going to sue the hospital or why legal stuff keeps being brought up. I never said that, I've only said that I want to make sure that what happened doesn't go un-reported. I would NEVER want anyone treated that way. You may not realize what it is like being on the other side, but it is very scary. After posting here and reading the responses I've gotten from people who are supposed to be in a helping & healing field, I can't even tell you how terrified I am of any upcoming medical procedures I have scheduled. I've never smoked, I don't drink, I've never taken street drugs & only taken drugs as prescribed. I am very careful with ALL of my medications and both my husband and I carry the list & doses of what I take for my health issues with us and on this occasion, I happened to have my medical folder with me because it was in the car. I don't know why so many of you are being so cruel, calling me a troll and other names, picking apart every little detail and acting like I'm not even a person with feelings on the other side of this screen. I don't understand what you have to gain from that or what you think I have to gain by making up a story. Some say my "story" keeps changing, I don't know what you mean by that, I haven't changed anything, just tried to answer the questions you've asked in hopes that I might be able to understand why things happened the way that they did. To those few of you who have experienced this type of situation & who greeted me with compassion & well-wishes, I thank you from the bottom of my heart - even if you don't know me, it matters a lot to me that you took the time to do that. There really ARE emergency rooms that make mistakes. It DOES happen and it's not always the fault of the "stupid patient" that comes in daring to bleed all over "your" clean sheets, mess up "your" exam room and interrupt your quiet Sunday afternoon shift and to dare "complain" because you told them to hold their hand over their head & keep pressure on it for five hours while blood dripped into their hair and all over their clothes, whose husband annoyed you by checking in every 45 mins or so just trying to make sure you understood how much blood there was and that it was STILL bleeding despite pressure and wanting to make sure you knew that the patient in that room was a renal patient who seems to be feeling sicker and sicker and shouldn't she be drinking water or something to replace the blood she is losing? None of this was out of malice, revenge or anything else. I am not only in pain because of my injury, I keep asking myself over and over again what I did wrong to make them attend to a sore throat and someone who was only screaming for IV pain meds before attending to me, someone who was bleeding. Apparently I asked the wrong people in the wrong place and possibly chose the wrong career path for me.

That's all pretty accurate. Except I was not oozing, it was squirting out with each heart beat unless I kept pressure on it. Had it only been oozing, I would have waited and gone to my regular PCP or something the next morning. The five hours part wasn't so bad. It was the five hours bleeding heavily (not oozing) that was bad. The surgeon (well, the resident that left surgery to come see me & report back) asked if I'd stay the night so I would be ready for surgery in the morning IF they could get me on the schedule and I asked him if there was a temp solution so I could go home & just come back, that's when he told the PA what to do. The squirting of the blood is what distressed me. I am not a freak-out person by nature. But when it kept going on for 2, 3, 4 and then 5 hours, I was worried because it didn't clot, that I was feeling faint (clammy, cold, teeth chattering, BP and temp dropping) - I didn't even consider shock, I was more worried that it would put stress on my kidneys and I didn't want anything to jeopardize them. That was the only reason I started getting anxious, especially before the new shift came in (they all seemed to like each other, work together well, felt like a team, etc.). I don't know how else to explain it....I am just usuallly an easy going person and this just threw me for a loop. Sorry to bring all of this to your nursing website and cause any problems.