crnahole

Good evening, I am writing this post because I had recently encountered horrible nursing care. And I want to provide an example for future nurses on how NOT to be. One day my grandmother was found unconscious in the street and was rushed to the nearest hospital. She spent several days in the ICU intubated, with a chest tube (for a pneumothorax) and congestive heart failure. She slowly recovered and was weaned off the ventilator and had the chest tube taken out. The nurses in the ICU provided her with amazing care! She then was discharged to the floor..... When I visited her on the floor I was flabbergasted with the way she was treated. I walked into the room and saw my grandmother with a vest restraint( which wasn't even tied to the bed), happy to see me. She was placed in a vest restraint because she fell in the bathroom. I asked my grandmother, " what happened, how did you fall?". She replied with, "they walked me to the bathroom and left me there for a very long time so I tried to get back in bed and fell" After falling she had an X ray (which turned out to be fine) but was in a lot of pain (in her back) from the fall. Okay... I get it, nursing is a very busy job, and sometimes you cant be there all the time to help patients... I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, things happen right? I tell my grandmother not to get up until someone is there to help her. I also tell her that if she is in pain to ring her call bell ask for some pain medication. She answered with "they hid the call bell because they said I call too much. It doesn't matter because the wont come anyways. I look around the room and see the call bell hanging on the wall, away from reach. I reattach it to her siderail. She then rings her call bell....... 15 minutes go by without anyone responding to the callbell. So I go to the nurses' station and speak to the nurse, we'll call him "M". M comes to the room and tells my grandmother, " you just had Percocet 30 mins ago, you need to give it time to work". Okay...I get it PO med...have to wait for it to work, makes sense. Half an hour passes and shes still in pain. I use the call bell again, M comes in and she tells him she is still in pain and I add.... Me: hows her Bun/creatinine , maybe we could give her some toradol M: did you speak with her doctor? They're here in the morning. Me: No I wasn't here in the morning M: Ill write the doctors name on a piece of paper, and you could speak to them tomorrow morning Me: Yea but she's I pain NOW. I'm sure you have a nightfloat or an on call resident who can come assess her M: are you a nurse or something? Me: Yes. I'm a nurse anesthetist M: Oh ...wow. Okay I'll speak too the doctor. Half an hour passes. No response. So I ring the call ball again and M comes in. M: still in pain huh? Me: Yea. Did the doctor say anything? M: yea I'm waiting for him to put in an order for another Percocet... then I'll give it to her Another 30 minutes pass by and M is not in sight, so I ask another nurse... Me: can my grandmother have pain medication? Nurse: she is not due for her dose.. she already received one. Me: yea but she is still in pain nurse: (sigh, rolls eyes) Ill see what I can do Another 15 minutes pass by....still in pain. I go to the nurses station.... Me: can my grandmother have some pain medication, I was told by M that we were going to give her more Percocet but were waiting for an order Nurse: That's not my patient but it seems like she already received Percocet Me: but shes still in pain Nurse: Ok ill speak with her nurse Me: ok thank you. And just wondering does she have an incentive spirometer? She barely gets up, and she has CHF, and was fresh from the ICU intubated Nurse: shes not ordered for one Me: so... can we get an order for it? nurse: you have to speak with her doctor Me: so ... can I speak to the doctor? nurse: (sigh) .....okay Another 15 mins pass by with out any pain medication so I go to the nurses station and throw a fit... Me: My grandmother has been pain, for several hours now. I don't know who is taking care of her I thought it was M Nurse: M went HOME Me: well whoever is taking care of her please help her. We're been waiting so long that shes probably in the timeframe for another Percocet ...finally the oncoming nurse comes in gives her some pain medication after waiting for over 3 hours. I know what it is like to work on the floor. I began my nursing career working on a medsurg floor for 2 years. Things get busy, I get it, but I would never do that to any of my patients. Take away their call bell? Ignore them? Leave them in pain? Have restraints improperly applied? I became a nurse because I want to help people, and I hope others entered this profession feeling the same. I know a lot of nurses become burnt out from understaffing, overworking, and crazy hours, but I want everyone to remember that we are patient advocates. We ARE the patient's voice. I left the hospital that night with a feeling of uneasiness, hoping that this is an isolated incident and that new nurses don't learn to be this careless. So to all the current and future nurses, please never lose your passion and drive to help others.

wow this is an amazing thread, lets bring this back to life, any updated study tips for people like me about to start crna school?