Why Do I Keep Seeing This?
Featured Replies
Currently Reading 0
- No registered users viewing this page.
View in the app
A better way to browse. Learn more.
A better way to browse. Learn more.
A full-screen app on your home screen with push notifications, badges and more.
Please do not see this as inflammatory; within this rant is an actual concern!
Recently, family members have been hospitalized for a variety of reasons. I keep seeing this very disturbing trend. Nurses are constantly sitting at the nurse's station while patients are in pain, showing signs of problems, etc., and no one leaves the station to help or to hunt down the patient's nurse. What are these nurses doing at the station that is so important at all hours of the day?
Case in point, a relative was hospitalized post appendectomy. She had excruciating pain to the point of screaming, and began projectile vomiting constantly. As she was doing that, there were approximately 5 nurses sitting in the nurses station seemingly doing nothing (maybe something on the computer, but still?). When family came out to get help, they said "We're not her nurse. Sorry," and left it at that. It took nearly a week with every nurse just claiming she was being "melodramatic" while inserting nasogastric tubes, giving morphine, etc to discover that her colon had herniated somehow as a complication of surgery and required emergency surgery. Literally, it was discovered because our family literally screamed at the doctors and nurses, threatening everything from lawsuits to personal injury before they agreed to do a scan. This was not isolated, either. They wouldn't walk with this family member in spite of her weakness. They would not do anything with her. This family member is very hard of hearing, but instead of ensuring that she understood procedures, they would tell her what to do or just do it without talking to her at all. When they did interact with her, they treated her as they she were stupid or retarded, instead of hearing impaired. Across the hall a patient kept screaming for help and no one was EVER observed entering the room to check on him. CNAs did what they could and did an admirable job, but their reports to nurses did not seem to change things.
Second was my mother, actually, who wound up in another hospital with sepsis--first from a previously undiscovered UTI and second from staph acquired at that above-mentioned hospital (her IV came out, and instead of starting a new one they just stuck the old one back into her arm and taped it up better). Due to many pain conditions as well as pain from her illness, she was in agony to the point of where she could not walk and reported pain 10/10. She was literally screaming, crying, arching her back, writhing in agony, etc. Yet again, family went to the nurse's station and asked them to do something. Yet again, at this separate hospital, a good half-dozing nurses were sitting there. No one would get up. They each outright refused to check on her, hunt down her nurse, etc. Her nurse refused to do anything, suggesting that my mother was either melodramatic, an addict, or that had already had pain meds recently. She refused to call the doctor for pain regimen changes, and ultimately turned around and walked away from the discussion.
Interestingly, a CNA came on, took one look at my mother, found the nurse, took her outside the hall and literally shouted at her until she finally agreed to provide pain medication to my mother. The nurse since then treated my mother with contempt, but at least she kept giving pain meds (apparently this CNA has worked there for YEARS and therefore he has a little clout that many do not have normally). This was not an isolated incident, however. No matter what we needed, what time it was, we could NOT get assistance, and the 6+ nurses at the station would refuse to assist. This was at a MAGNET hospital!
I witnessed the same thing with a terminally ill family member who died recently. No one wanted to help him, medicate him, etc. This was at the first mentioned hospital. My questions were treated with annoyance and answers given as though I were stupid. When I started using their terminology, I actually observed several turn pale, and suddenly their care and behavior improved dramatically while I was there. I did hear a comment at the nurse's station when I was passing by before they knew of my presence to the effect of "Watch out, we have a wannabe RN in that room." "Oh god. One of those." The only thing that made his care acceptable in the end was actually a very caring DOCTOR who advocated for him and ensured he got taken care of, and CNA staff who were attentive to the needs they could provide for.
So my concerning is this.. Why is it I keep seeing all these blatant needs, and yet I keep seeing so many nurses in one location seemingly not doing anything to satisfy these needs? SIMPLE needs, too. In the case of the first example, she had a life-threatening condition that they just could not be bothered with (because, you know, projectile vomiting is part of "melodrama" all the time!) What is at the nurse's station that is more important than answering someone screaming in pain or projectile vomiting and sobbing?
I haven't been in med/surg for quite a while, so maybe things have changed. Am I missing something? If another nurse cannot do anything for a patient who is another nurse's patient, can they not at least check on the patient, get them water or something simple and let them know that they'll be getting their nurse asap? I cannot fathom any explanation to this other than these being HORRIBLE nurses. And if that's the case, how on earth can there be a whole staff of horrible nurses at all times I have observed? Is the environment so caustic that literally every nurse is burned out?