While my Granny was on the hospital I noticed that all if her nurses take nearly fifteen minutes to respond to any call. While sitting with her through the night she began violently vomiting. I pressed the call button, asked for her nurse and it was nearly an hour before she strolled around and asked if the vomiting had stopped.
Another example: at 20:00 she said a doctor had ordered antibiotics, a pain killer, and a bp medication. She gave the pain meds, and never administered the other drugs.
How do I go about getting another nurse? This is a serious danger to My granny's health, she'll die of a heartattack before the nurse gets around to giving bp meds.
Unfortunately not, I'm going to school to be a MA. And I know to "some" nurses I'm the lowest form of medical staff there is; but hey, gimme some credit, at least I've got my foot in the door to be a nurse.
With all due respect, you are NOT a nurse (yes, I looked at your other posts---not even a nurses aide)
No, I am not a nurse. I am going to school to be a MA, and I know that to some nurses I don't even count as medical staff But hey, thanks for reminding me and rubbing it in! and most certainly do not have the knowledge to evaluate what was going on that night. True, but I was concerned and didn't know where else to go since my Granny wouldn't let me leave the room to complain, and didn't want me to say anything to the nurse Others here have given you possible explanations for the issues you found so deplorable. Yes, others have, and most of them were much more polite than you also. :)
And if you were so concerned why didn't you bring up your concerns, right there and then? A few simple questions at the time might have addressed your worries. Granny told me to keep my mouth shut. I did what I was told.
Nope---instead you had to run to a public message board to condemn a "rotten" nurse. Never said she was rotten, said she was slow. I gave no names, I'm not out telling people she's a bad nurse, I simply said she was slow and to me (and my unknowledgeable mind) that's a safety issue.
And you just sat there for an hour while Granny "vomited violently"? Most people would have at least gone out to the nurses' station for help. She subsided vomiting about two minutes after I made the call, the nurse took an hour to physically walk into the room to respond to the call. I never said she vomited the whole hour; I said it took her an hour to respond. (If your going to bash someone, at least get the details right)
Nah....I don't buy it either. Do you think I'm making this up? Yes, I make this stuff up just for giggles and to get a rise out of people... (NOT!) And you don't have to buy anything, just let me and my feeble mind ask questions (so that I WILL have the knowledge to asses what went down) and let me vent and be concerned about someone I love.
I'm sorry if I crossed any lines or upset anyone. I was worried, annoyed, scared for the life of my Granny, and thought I would get some advice from a place I know I could get some real-life answers instead of just the textbook answers.
Since I have upset so many people maybe I should just delete this account and not come back until I have my Masters in Nursing.
First, let me say that it's a great thing that you are an advocate for your grandmother's safety and welfare. *takes bow* Thank you, thank you.
Having said that, I have a very hard time believing that ALL of Granny's nurses suck, as you've ascertained. This is true, I wasn't clear in my original post, I was referring to one nurse in particular. But I did notice that other nurses were zipping back and forth quite quickly, and my Grannys just seemed to be... well, they moved at least. Sure, there are some nurses that suck. There are some CNA's that suck. There are some doctors that suck. When someone tells me that "all of (insert a class of people here) suck", then there is one common denominator. I'll let you figure it out.
I also have a hard time believing that it took the nurse an hour to "stroll" in to check on a vomiting patient, unless you meant that she gave the patient medication and returned in an hour to re-check. No I really did mean she took an hour to stroll into the room after I pushed the call button for her to see if she had stopped vomiting. Thankfully her vomiting had subsided about two minutes after I pushed the call button. Any nursing student knows that a vomiting patient could aspirate, which will leave them with a dead patient if not checked. Again, there are some bad nurses out there, but even bad nurses know that they're not supposed to let their patients die and will, at the very least, send a CNA or a helpful AUC in to put eyes on the patient and give them a puke bag. Granny had been sent up from the ER with a bag, I should have included that in the original post.
The CNA was sitting in front of a COW in the hallway just a few yards away from her open door... I could see her screen from where I was sitting: she was on FaceBook.
I believe that some key details are missing from this story, and if you're coming to a nursing forum to complain about all nurses without giving the whole story, you're going to get some resistance. Trust me, I have received "resistance" (more like a few bashings) from this post, and from now on I'm only asking hypothetical questions that directly relate to what I'm learning in class. (and I'm not replying to any thread unless I can site my source in said reply)
If your story is accurate, then you should be in a nurse manager's office immediately. The fact that your first inclination was to come to an internet forum is very telling. My Granny told me not to leave the room, and not to say anything to the nurse. I sat there and kept my mouth shut except when she tried to give Granny something that Granny had already refused.
Thank you for responding so politely, trust me, its appreciated!
Well this may just be a failure of the system in which the nurse works in. Do you know what your grannys blood pressure was?; maybe it was held for some reason. A blood pressure medication and a narcotic can lower blood pressure below a safe level.
Her blood pressure was something absolutely ridiculously high (unfortunately I was exhausted at the time and I don't remember the exact numbers) and she takes both the meds at home on a regular basis. She was due to take them at 10:00 just like at home she took both meds at 10:00 every night.
Thats why I didn't understand why she wasn't given them. They had been on her chart to be given since she was in the ER nearly 7 hours earlier. (I know the nurse has to order it from the pharmacy and that takes time and all that but still, I would think, and hope, that she would have it ready by 10 when it was due...)
Am I wrong about this one? If I am I will take full resposibilty and blame but these are meds she takes on a daily basis and were all due at the same time... To me there shouldn't be a problem, but again, I'm not a nurse.
Unfortunately not, I'm going to school to be a MA. And I know to "some" nurses I'm the lowest form of medical staff there is; but hey, gimme some credit, at least I've got my foot in the door to be a nurse.
Sorry, but MAs are not "on the way" to becoming nurses. They focus on working in doctors offices, with education on billing and how to do a few skills. This isn't to say they are bad people, just that they aren't nurses. I've got a soft spot for respiratory therapists, but they aren't nurses either.
If you think you're being bashed and we're horrible, rude people for questioning a story that doesn't sound quite right (because either the nurse was horrible or time slowed down because you were worried and it felt longer than it was or whatever happened), you're going to need a thicker skin to survive the medical field. We're trying to point out things that non-nurses don't understand--say your granny was one of 6 patients for the nurse (assume the CNA had 12+ patients). That means the nurse has 10 minutes an hour, or 120 minutes a shift, to spend on your granny, and this includes massive amounts of charting, calling the doctor for new orders, calling the pharmacy to see where the drug she ordered STAT an hour ago is, going down to central supply for a new pulse ox because the one granny is using broke... and that's before she starts doing anything in the room that you'd see, like assessments or giving meds. And this is assuming that all the other patients the nurse has are cooperating and not doing annoying things like coding for an hour.
Maybe the nurse was horrible. Maybe there's a disconnect between your expectations and what can reasonably be done on a busy night. The answer, as always, is probably somewhere between the two extremes.
At night that would be a low guesstimate. I'd bet AT LEAST 5 other patients.
We were on a Cardiology CCU, (not a stepdown unit) thats why when she started vomiting I was ****** no one showed up, and the CNA (who was on FaceBook, sitting all but fifteen feet away from Granny's open door) didn't do anything either. (Didn't even look up from her computer screen)
She was admitted for abdominal (bowel) pain with heart palpitations. (She's also labeled as a high stroke risk because of her heart, she's had several "mini-strokes" in the past because of her hear palpitations) ["mini-stroke" is the term the doctor used]
I'm sure this nurse did have 5 or 6 other patients, but she's on the cardiology ccu floor... you'd think she'd put a fire behind response to things that cause your heart great strain (ie violent vomiting)... Maybe that's just me, but again, I'm not a nurse...
I would have put the call light on again, called the operator to put me thru to the nurses station direct or even better walked right up to the nurse to get her attention if that much time went by before she came to check on her patient.
Thankfully the vomiting stopped about 2 minutes after I made the call. When the nurse finally did show up my Granny couldn't help but laugh when she asked if the vomiting had stopped. "Alotta good it does now doesn't it?"
I would have gone to the nurses station but unfortunately the nurses station was completely enclosed in glass, and I was yelled at the last time I knocked on the glass to get a nurses attention and have been afraid to do so ever since.
(If she was obviously in serious danger [ie choking, heart attack, suddenly unconscious, etc] I would not only knock but full on pound on the glass until I got some help)
BACK OFF AND GET REAL - You are making up great campfire stories that i HIGHLY doubt took place.
You are in no position to make sweeping generalizations about the staff as you are NOT a healthcare professional.
I love my family dearly and if they had vomited for 1 hour (as your claim) and they told me to just keep my mouth shut, F-That! Sometimes going against the grain gets things done quicker than following the rules.
I can read between the lines pretty well and as I see it this whole story seems a bit to fishy to be real.....in fact it seems like it may have never happened - since you keep adding more and more elaborate details.
You and I live very close to one another and I assume your "Granny" was at one of the three desert area hospitals (DRMC, EMC, JFKH) - all of which I have worked at and have fantastic nursing staff.
If you came here to stir the pot, It sure worked. Now go back to your facebbok, twitter and tmz blog and let us get on with our day.
Thankfully the vomiting stopped about 2 minutes after I made the call. When the nurse finally did show up my Granny couldn't help but laugh when she asked if the vomiting had stopped. "Alotta good it does now doesn't it?"
I would have gone to the nurses station but unfortunately the nurses station was completely enclosed in glass, and I was yelled at the last time I knocked on the glass to get a nurses attention and have been afraid to do so ever since.
I thought she was vomiting for an hour. You waited 58 minutes? Lulz. That's on you then.
Also, use your common sense- It tells you not to tap on the glass at the zoo, right? Why would you bang on the nurse's station?
I thought she was vomiting for an hour. You waited 58 minutes? Lulz. That's on you then.
Also, use your common sense- It tells you not to tap on the glass at the zoo, right? Why would you bang on the nurse's station?
She stopped vomiting, what else was I supposed to do? Was I supposed to track down the nurse and say "oh by the way she stopped, thanks for not showing up"
If she was in serious danger, I would have screamed, banged on the glass or thrown a chair through a window, I would do ANYTHING to get some help for her. :redbeathe
BACK OFF AND GET REAL - You are making up great campfire stories that i HIGHLY doubt took place. You think I make this stuff up?
You are in no position to make sweeping generalizations about the staff as you are NOT a healthcare professional. No I 'm not, but thaks for reminding me, it seems that everyone and their mother reminds me that I'm not a nurse. I know I'm not a nurse, but I have eyes and I have common sense, someone is vomiting on a cardio floor I'd rush in and help, not wait an hour. I know the nurse was busy, but this was fairly important in my mind, since when I vomit my heart races like crazy and I was affraid she was going to have a heart attack
I love my family dearly and if they had vomited for 1 hour (as your claim) She vomited for two minutes, and then stopped. I've mentioned that in several replies. and they told me to just keep my mouth shut, F-That! Sometimes going against the grain gets things done quicker than following the rules.
I can read between the lines pretty well and as I see it this whole story seems a bit to fishy to be real.....in fact it seems like it may have never happened - since you keep adding more and more elaborate details. People ask questions I give answers, I elaborate nothing.
You and I live very close to one another and I assume your "Granny" was at one of the three desert area hospitals (DRMC, EMC, JFKH) - all of which I have worked at and have fantastic nursing staff. Yes, she was at one of the three you listed. Other times she has had FANTASTIC service, GREAT nurses and WONDERFUL doctors. She just happened to have a RN that was slow and a CNA that was even slower on THIS visit.
If you came here to stir the pot, It sure worked. Now go back to your facebbok, twitter and tmz blog and let us get on with our day. Your the one who took time out of their day to (a) read this post, and (b) respond.
When a person is wrong: they should admit it. I admit it was wrong to pass judgment on this nurse, that is only for God to do. But she was slow, and in my mind, slow response to a potentially serious situation is a safety issue.
I am making no more replies to this thread; if I wanted to be bashed I would take up kick boxing.
I have called the hospital and talked to someone. They have had "several speed related complaints" about said nurse before, (her words not mine) and assured me it would be "taken care of" (again, her words not mine)
I am going to school to be a MA, and I know that to some nurses I don't even count as medical staff 
and most certainly do not have the knowledge to evaluate what was going on that night. True, but I was concerned and didn't know where else to go since my Granny wouldn't let me leave the room to complain, and didn't want me to say anything to the nurse Others here have given you possible explanations for the issues you found so deplorable. Yes, others have, and most of them were much more polite than you also. :)
(NOT!) And you don't have to buy anything, just let me and my feeble mind ask questions (so that I WILL have the knowledge to asses what went down) and let me vent and be concerned about someone I love.
Sure, there are some nurses that suck. There are some CNA's that suck. There are some doctors that suck. When someone tells me that "all of (insert a class of people here) suck", then there is one common denominator. I'll let you figure it out.
SoCalCrafter
37 Posts
Unfortunately not, I'm going to school to be a MA. And I know to "some" nurses I'm the lowest form of medical staff there is; but hey, gimme some credit, at least I've got my foot in the door to be a nurse.