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A little vent about the hospital nurse

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Posted 9/15/2009 5:33 AM (GMT 0)
So the hospital stay is going great till tonight when a nurse "Brenda" showed up, the kinda nurse who you know was forced into this job for money, title or something other than true concern over the patient. She is very cold at everything. It washer who announced that they are stoping my morphine pump and then later she came in toniht and said they where. running low on iv pumps so they took my entire iv away, which would be fine if i didn't really need the electrolytes anymore but she just gave the reason that someone else neededy iv... Is it true that I need electrolytes during the whole stay?? She just put me in a bad mood for the first time. I just found out she only worked from 7-11 pm. Great. The other nurse just came on and is giving my iv back
Posted 9/15/2009 8:15 AM (GMT 0)
I was confused and frustrated most of my hospital stay. I will NEVER have another operation in that hospital. Nurses said opposite things. Roommates were crazy people. I was ignore and found out after I got home that I didn't get the supplies they should have started me with, they made me pay for all of them. OK in Canada it's different than US? Anyway I'm glad you got your IV back. That just sounds crazy. SHe obviously didn't know what she was doing or why. Good thing she went home.
Posted 9/15/2009 1:19 PM (GMT 0)
Isaac - My IV was gone (pain pump and fluids) after about 36 hours. I was in the hospital for another day and 1/2 without the fluids or pain pump and instead was receiving Tylenol and shots of NSAIDS through my IV line (just the tube in my hand - not connected to anything) for pain control. I also was given an Oxy pill once or twice but then they stopped that too although I got some to take home with me when I left as part of my take home prescriptions that I got from the pharmacy. :-) You don't need to have the IV fluids during the whole stay especially once you start eating and drinking as you will be getting what you need orally. I drank Gatorade, Kool-aid, and tea while in the hospital in addition to water and ice chips.

That being said...I see NO reason for them to take an IV away because someone else needed it. If you didn't still need it you wouldn't have it!! Any hospital I've been in has a bunch of IV pumps - sometimes they just have to get them brought up from where they are stored which can take a little bit (I've had to wait for one before). On top of that, I always thought that IV pumps had to be sterilized/cleaned/checked in between patients. That would mean that the nurse couldn't/shouldn't take an IV from one person and give it to another. Maybe that's not the case anymore but with all of the diseases floating around a hospital these days I can't imagine that they don't need to at least be cleaned/disinfected.

As others have said - remember to drink drink drink - sips all the time - not gulps. I only say this because I'm almost a month out and I have a horrible time drinking constantly but I'm getting better at it. And walk...walk...walk...walk...walk.

I'm so sorry that you had such a bad nurse. Hopefully she won't be back during the rest of your stay and it will go well. Did you get to start emptying your own bag yet?
Posted 9/15/2009 1:20 PM (GMT 0)
I don't think there is a nurse out there who does the job for pay! I am sorry for your experience, just remember everyone has a bad day now and then even nurses. Thankfully your situation was resolved, and no you do not need electrolytes for your entire hospital stay and will be taken off all IV fluids before you leave.

Sue
Posted 9/15/2009 1:48 PM (GMT 0)
Ya I think she was just having a bad day, my dr camein this morning and explained it too him and he seemed knds irritated because he said I should be in the iv one more day. But I am back happy again, yes I am emptying my own bag now it's pretty east after a few trys. Funny story!! This morning at about five am my bag was so full with stool and air , it was full beyond stretching,so
my wife held the bucket and thankfully it didn't explode when i opened up
the Velcro, buy when she was carrying it in the bathroom, the huge bucket of poop she was carrying slipped out of her hand and hit the floor and sprayed all over the walls and floor of the bathroom, I laughed so hard I couldn't breath cause it hurts to laugh!!! Aw good times.
So as soon as I let out all that pressure alot more stool and gas came out, I guess. Will just learn not to eat much before bed?? Ya cause I had onlyslept for five hours when I woke up so full
Posted 9/15/2009 2:42 PM (GMT 0)
Hi. Dillon had the same problem with one of his nurses and we told the next nurse about it. She told the supervisor that the two of them were not a "good combination" and we have not seem that nurse again. You should not have to put up with any nurse that you do not get along with!
Posted 9/15/2009 4:10 PM (GMT 0)
My hubby is a nurse and there are plenty of nurses and nurses aides that really don't give a darn about their patients. It is sad, but true. Personally, it angers me to no end when I hear about the stuff that goes on!! As for your pump, I would bet that your nurse was too lazy to go find another pump and just 'decided' that you did no longer need it. Sorry to hear about it.
Posted 9/15/2009 5:53 PM (GMT 0)
my husband is a nurse too, and the pay is pretty good, but near enough for what they have to do.
And there are alot of them who dont care one way or the other about the patients they are just there to work.

Anyway, after you have had your bag for a while, you wont fill up so quick,lol.
Posted 9/17/2009 12:45 AM (GMT 0)
WOW! That sucks. I remember one nurse I had acted like she had never emptied an ostomy bag and dribbled it all over my bandages.. .gross.

Congrats on your wife's pregnancy! I just miscarried right before my surgery so once I heal up... it's baby time for us.

Good luck! Hope the next shift went better. :)
Posted 9/17/2009 5:54 PM (GMT 0)

I feel compelled to write after seeing all these posts. My son has had two hospital stays at Mt Sinai in NYC and the nursing staff was unbelievable. I would say that we encountered close to a dozen different nurses and they were wonderful and compassionate and incredibly skilled.  there is no amount of money that justifies all the hard work they did - they worked non-stop and did all kinds of jobs most of us would not want to go near. In our books, nurses are unsung heroes much of the time. We found that taking the time to speak kindly and appreciatively was all it took to get top-notch care.

Anyone going through this type of surgery should request a follow-up with the pain management team at the hospital. It is their job to keep you as comfortable as possible and they are generally very generous with pain relief as long as it doesn't look like you are "abusing" it. Most pain people understand what it's like to come back from this kind of surgery. Don't forget to speak up and be your own advocate - just do it nicely!

Anyone looking into surgery or treatment for UC or CD might want to take a look at Mt Sinai - we can't say enough about the quality of care and the efficiency of that place. We have one more surgery scheduled there for Nov to complete the jpouch. hopefully we'll be three for three on positive experiences!

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