By popular request
Picture this....... a hot and humid stifling afternoon, on the eighth floor of an unairconditioned hospital. There were four of us sectioned off in a bed cubicle by those unmistakable hospitable blue curtains. Myself, the physiotherapy assistant, a nurse and a poorly patient, who is very weak whose prognosis is not good.
When i first arrived to see the patient he needed a 'bottle', the nurse was standing next to me at the time, he was looking at me as if to say "are you getting that", before he could say anything I said to him... "are you going to get that". He slowly meandered off toward the sleuce room. I left the patient alone with the bottle, and later saw his nurse out chatting in the nurses station. I asked him; "Is Mr X finished with his bottle"
"Yes" he replied.
"Excellent" I concluded "I will go in and see him how"
So I arrive at the bedside of this man, and find his half full bottle sitting next him on the bed. The nurse who clearly knew that he had finished with the bottle, had left it on the bed!!!! That's not all the nurse who had known this man was weak had given him *so* much assistance with that bottle that there was possibly more urine on the bedsheets and pyjamas than the bottle.
Frustrated at the incompetence i realised that if I actually wanted to see this man it would be quicker for me to clean him up. As I was doing so I was shocked to find the bed sheets were stained, obviously it was easier to leave him in them than to change them.
So i got him on the edge of the bed (by this time the nurse had returned and reluctantly did as i told him to), changed his pyjamas and underwear, got and got him onto the commode. By this time he had done probably about 3x more sitting standing and moving than he is normally able to do.
It was with great difficulty and effort we had transferred this weak little man from the bed to the commode, he had sat there for a little while while he did what one does sitting on a commode before we attended to him again. By this time the physio assistant had joined me and it took two of us to stand him up after the commode. We were standing Mr X while the nurse was supposedly cleaning him ready to sit him out in his wheelchair. And then......
His mobile phone rang!!! Not only did he have it on him on the ward, it rang and he left us in the middle of a transfer, in the middle of cleaning this man to answer it!!!!!!!!!
Unbeleivable.
If this was just an isolated incident of incompetence then I could let it slide. It was just the cherry on the top of my cake that week.
I spent the whole week fixing up their mistakes, sending samples that they should have sent, telling the doctors information about patients that the nurses should have known, fixing mistakes they made...... and they work soooo slowly i have never known such a slow walking pace in a hospital.
Another incident occured which is another long story, i wont go into details, but lets just say it involved a man in a hoist, a lot of diarrhoea, a nurse, a mop and a bucket full of dirty water being kicked over..... and a physio (not me my junior colleague - thank goodness) having to change her clothes :)
I can look back and laugh now :)
later
When i first arrived to see the patient he needed a 'bottle', the nurse was standing next to me at the time, he was looking at me as if to say "are you getting that", before he could say anything I said to him... "are you going to get that". He slowly meandered off toward the sleuce room. I left the patient alone with the bottle, and later saw his nurse out chatting in the nurses station. I asked him; "Is Mr X finished with his bottle"
"Yes" he replied.
"Excellent" I concluded "I will go in and see him how"
So I arrive at the bedside of this man, and find his half full bottle sitting next him on the bed. The nurse who clearly knew that he had finished with the bottle, had left it on the bed!!!! That's not all the nurse who had known this man was weak had given him *so* much assistance with that bottle that there was possibly more urine on the bedsheets and pyjamas than the bottle.
Frustrated at the incompetence i realised that if I actually wanted to see this man it would be quicker for me to clean him up. As I was doing so I was shocked to find the bed sheets were stained, obviously it was easier to leave him in them than to change them.
So i got him on the edge of the bed (by this time the nurse had returned and reluctantly did as i told him to), changed his pyjamas and underwear, got and got him onto the commode. By this time he had done probably about 3x more sitting standing and moving than he is normally able to do.
It was with great difficulty and effort we had transferred this weak little man from the bed to the commode, he had sat there for a little while while he did what one does sitting on a commode before we attended to him again. By this time the physio assistant had joined me and it took two of us to stand him up after the commode. We were standing Mr X while the nurse was supposedly cleaning him ready to sit him out in his wheelchair. And then......
His mobile phone rang!!! Not only did he have it on him on the ward, it rang and he left us in the middle of a transfer, in the middle of cleaning this man to answer it!!!!!!!!!
Unbeleivable.
If this was just an isolated incident of incompetence then I could let it slide. It was just the cherry on the top of my cake that week.
I spent the whole week fixing up their mistakes, sending samples that they should have sent, telling the doctors information about patients that the nurses should have known, fixing mistakes they made...... and they work soooo slowly i have never known such a slow walking pace in a hospital.
Another incident occured which is another long story, i wont go into details, but lets just say it involved a man in a hoist, a lot of diarrhoea, a nurse, a mop and a bucket full of dirty water being kicked over..... and a physio (not me my junior colleague - thank goodness) having to change her clothes :)
I can look back and laugh now :)
later
posted by Gemma at
4:37 PM
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1 comments
