Took My Kid to the ER and Witnessed Some Awful Behavior

[OCD_Mom]

Boy was my day eye opening yesterday in a local ER...really made me question which hospital I would want to work for after I graduated...

I know we all have bad days and things are sometimes off, people just don't get along blah blah blah but honestly if nearly everyone is having a bad day and patients think all of your attitudes suck there is a problem. I know this will be long, but worth thinking about before you go in each day...does your attitude wear on your sleeve?

My son had uncontrolled high fevers yesterday due to complications from the beloved H1N1 and being immune suppressed from a kidney transplant. So my husband and I packed up and drove NEARLY an hour to the hospital where is nephrologist has privileges. The nurse who came and got us in the waiting room was very polite and friendly which at first put us at ease. As we entered the actual emergency room "things/attitudes" changed. As we entered I witnessed a very young nurse ask another for assistance on a computer issue she rolled her eyes, huffed and walked away. My son's assigned nurse finally comes into the room, I offer her a list of drugs my son is on she says she does not need it so I place it back into my prepacked overnight bag and wait for my questions about medical history, meds, drug allergies (he hasn't been admitted into a hospital in almost 2 years so they don't have any current info) but she asked nothing!! She barely acknowledges people are there even my crying child who she is taking vitals on. Once she is done we don't see her until the doctors finally get labs and an IV ordered and then she comes back after the lab hunts her down. They try to get an initial stick but my son puts up a fight and they looked astonished so I slide in hop in the bed with him, restrain him and they get the blood and insert the IV. After they are done I head to the bathroom they young nurse approaches the other nurse I saw earlier again asking for help, now I pause to see what will happen next. The other nurse turns to her and in a very nasty tone replies "Once I finish this I will think about helping you." Well well I think and I head to the bathroom. I come back and the nurse asks me to restrain my son AGAIN because she forgot to do the swabs of his nose and throat and I agree and inquire if they will be doing a UA and she looks surprised and says "well yes it is ordered how would you like for me to get it?" I chuckle and say "how about I take him to the bathroom and we do it the normal way." She agrees and get a cup, I ask if it is unusually busy today, she says it is a slow day. After we come back with our cup of liquid gold she begins to prep for the swabs and she tells me how this hospital is the most superior hospital in the valley (I am questioning that it must be the technology because the customer service here SUCKS EGGS!) I mention that it seems that my sons fever seems to have spiked again *HINT take a temp. she says well it has been 4 hours since you gave him Tylenol last does her swabs and leaves.

About 90 minutes later we are watching TV and reading to our son when I here our nurse's name hollered I glance up "Nurse's Name Patient in Our Last Name in bed 206 is positive for Influenza A." so now everyone in the ER knows! At least another hour rolls by and the nurse comes in "Has anyone told you if the labs have come back?" My husband a bit annoyed, " Nope you were the last person we saw a couple hours ago, howevere we did hear someone yell that he has flu across the ER." She replies, "Oh good so you know."

Then the ER doc and our son's nephrologist get into an argument about my son being admitted (our nephrologist wants him to go home because he is high risk for a secondary infection and knows we keep everyone out of our house, our other child and adult stay with another relative to reduce infection risk-yeah we may be a little nuts.) We are finally discharged a new nurse comes inlike a bull in a China Shop trying to get us out ASAP, barely explaining discharge info, which is vital because they are omitting some of his antirejection drugs and changing others PLUS adding new drugs not to mention that their "CURRENT DRUG LIST" is nearly 2 years old so none of it is the same! As he reluctantly heads out to check 4 fireman come in and try to wheel in a guy who it looks to be in a car wreck..."Whoa," I tell them, "you don't want to be in here this kid is sick." The nurse comes back asks us to wait in front of the nurses station and he will collect vitals out there. So we pick up our stuff and begin to head out, I am carrying the IV bag that they still have not taken out. We wait just second or two and they nurse runs the vitals. "Well it looks like his fever is back." I look at him in amazement "Yeah, I told Nurse's Name that nearly 2 1/2 hours ago," as I am signing discharge stuff. He tells me if I want to wait an hour or so he could get some tylenol. We can get home in about 30 minutes if we get out now and beat traffic. So we pretty much run for the door.

It has been a helish night and a better day, though not perfect. I really wanted to call the hospital asmins and say that thhey need to look at the behavior of their ER staff because I felt like I was dealing with idiots and I could do more from home. Anyways I am pretty happy now with my potential employer, as long as I pass NS and the N-CLEX because hopefully I won't have to deal with that nutso crew!

[D.R.A.]

Yeah, if you were unsatisfied you should definately let them know.....many people don't bother to give opinions and therefore nothing ever changes.

[rph3664]

THIS is what a customer survey is for!

Several years ago, a woman I work with took her son to the ER at the hospital where we work, and while they were waiting, they heard a man and woman talking behind a pulled curtain and using very obscene language. They thought maybe some drunks were in the area, and they came out from behind the curtain - and it was their nurse and doctor!

:argue:

[muscadinewine]

Good Lord. Overwork, burnout, desensitization and the fact that a RN or MD behind one's name can't save a person from being what they truly are (indifferent, arrogant, drunk/addict, petty, lazy) all play a role in crappy care. It doesn't change your experience, I realize, but it's the state of things in too many places.

If you can name names, dates, and time frames like you have done, your complaint letter should be pretty strong.

[ShantheRN, BSN, RN]

At the VERY least....the HIPAA violation needs to be reported.