VA hospital........WOW! I was impressed!!

time4meRN · Apr 10, 2007

That's soooo good to hear. With all of the bad pr latley, it does a heart good to hear that our military folks are being cared for well. Thanks for sharing that positive story. :saint:

roxxy3773, RN, APRN · Apr 10, 2007

I currently work in a military health clinic (active duty) and I love it, I've been here for four years. I would be quite happy working for the VA or in a military hospital once I finish nursing school. I work with excellent staff and everything is kept up to a high standard.

GregRN · Apr 10, 2007

That's soooo good to hear. With all of the bad pr latley, it does a heart good to hear that our military folks are being cared for well. Thanks for sharing that positive story.

Maybe you didn't mean it directly but just to be clear: most of the bad press lately has come from Walter Reed medical facility. Walter Reed is an Army hospital specifically. The VA health system encompasses a much, much larger group of hospitals, clinics and services all across the country. Unfortunately, the largest group of veterans needing care have come from the Army and Walter Reed has been taxed to no end. I don't think the facility was anywhere near prepared to deal with the numbers of patients seen at that location. In no way does this excuse the condition and treatment but it does give you an idea of what happens when a well running system is pushed to its limits.

Sorry if I'm a little sensitive...can you tell I work for the VA??? When I left school a year and a half ago I had many people question why I would want to work for the VA. I think many of them had the idea that the system was the old system of run down, under-funded facilities. And, around that time, the VA hospital here in Denver was dinged for a couple JCAHO violations. In response, the local press did an expose on the facility, complete with hidden cameras and their own slant to the story. It took them a while but they finally found a thing or two to "prove" their story. :rolleyes: It was on the news and people were agast. Whether it's systems, its parts or its people, you're going to find flaws in any of them if you look hard and long enough. The key is not giving them a reason to look. With the JCAHO ding the press got their reason to look and made it much worse. The problems were corrected and subsequent inspections have gone extremely well. I have yet to hear a story on THAT, however.

Maybe I saw something they didn't, or just got lucky, but I liked the overall design of the system and the vast improvements made over the last 10 years and thought it was well prepared to deliver excellent care for many years to come. I know I'm the beneficiary of something much larger than me and I have only a very small part of a much larger picture, but the overall care here really is excellent. I'm happy to be part of such a deserving, great group of people.

rclimbr · Apr 10, 2007

I am a vet that has used the VA system as a patient and I am also a nursing student. Just like anywhere, there are good hospitals and bad. St Louis has a bad one. My experience there was scary at best. I had a phlebotomy tech shaking a uncapped sharp needle in my face as she spoke to me, I called to get an appointment bc I had strep throat and they never called back, and went to the ER one time and the staff nurse(RN-BSN) that was working was one of the rudest people I have ever met.

I met a guy that was a nurse at another VA hospital in Columbia MO and he had worked there for 30yrs. He told me to come and visit his facility before I judged the entire VA system. The VA Hospital in Columbia is very clean and modern looking. In fact I have thought about working there after I graduate.

kiszi, RN · Apr 10, 2007

I don't know if it was just the ward that I had clinical in, or the whole facility, but my VA experience left me with an awful taste in my mouth. The unit was horribly understaffed - up to 10 patients to one nurse, with maybe a CNA for the whole floor on a good day. The first thing that greeted me upon entering the ward each day was the stench of unwashed bodies, urine, and decay. When I gave one gentleman a bedbath one morning, he told me it was the first time anyone had washed his feet in weeks. My very first patient there had the worst pressure sore I've seen in my short nursing career so far. And he wasn't being turned at all. I got him situated on his side one day, and came back the next morning to find him right back on his coccyx wound, no extra pillows in sight. Many more pts had foleys than needed them, just because there was no time to change the incontinent ones. All the nurses were desperately running around trying to do the best they could.

Yeah, that place had a pristine lobby, computerized charting, all the latest multimillion dollar technology. I couldn't understand why there were not enough staff.

I'm truly happy to hear that the majority of VA facilities are not like this. It's just weird--I always feel like I'm the only one who had a bad experience. Please don't flame me.. I just wanted to share what my first impression of the VA was like. I'm now beginning to see that it's better than I thought.

k

TazziRN, RN · Apr 10, 2007

Kiszi, just like civilian hospitals, you will find good ones and bad ones. Hopefully the good ones far outnumber the bad ones. My surprise came from the reputation that VA hospitals had years ago.......the bad ones far outnumbered the good.

And I know that the appearance of the lobby and clinics doesn't indicate the quality of the care given, but the demeanor of the employees practically shouts it from the mountaintops, and these employees were happy. That tells me the pts are well cared for.

TrudyRN · Apr 10, 2007

there is a va hosp in area..i went there once to visit : the floors gleamed
the problem with some of the employees if they came get by one year they are permanent and it is very difficult to get rid of them

And at least 50% of them need to be gotten rid of, in my experience.

allnurses Guide · Apr 10, 2007

All the VA facilities my father-in-law accesses are wonderful. He is a WWII vet and very happy with his care.

Greg - you make very good points.

steph

debthern · Apr 11, 2007

My father used the VA for years and it is a wonderful place, it has evolved much in the years since I was in Nursing school doing my clinicals there. There are no more wards, all private or semi private rooms. My father passed away in the hospice at the VA hospital in Dayton OH and those nurses were wonderful to him...

blueheaven · Apr 11, 2007

20 years ago, I applied at the local VA and turned down a position there because it was the overall apperance of the facilities at that time was so depressing. I went back to the same VA 5 years ago and applied for a job and by NO MEANS was it the same depressing place I had seen previously.

Took a position in the ICU there and loved it. I love the vets (especially the WW 2 folks) and caring for them is a privilege.

When I got married and moved from the tri-state area, I was able to transfer within the system and not lose any of my benefits or seniority. My husband is a vet and he receives his care at the same VA that I work at and I can find nothing wrong with his primary care providers.

The VA was first in coming up with a bar code medication administration program and it had reduced med errors (don't know the exact stats).

We have computerized charting and physcian orders so that you don't have to try and read the docs handwriting! Lots of good stuff going on in the system, but as usual, the media runs off at the mouth without actually getting any real knowledge as far as what is really going on.

Siempre FI!

TazziRN, RN · Apr 11, 2007

Siempre FI!

Let the caissons roll!!!