laughing stock of the hospital

On Tuesday, I had surgery for which I spent 2 nights in the hospital. On the first night hospital personal came in by the droves and interrupted my sleep. That, of course, is normal. But what one friendly nurse mentioned to me on the second evening was that they all thought it was so funny to see my mouth taped shut. This is not the first time that I've been amazed at what the health care professionals don't know.

You'd be amazed at the mistakes they make too. I learned this first-hand when I worked in a hospital. God help me if I didn't dot an "i" or cross a "t" but the docs and nurses were held to a different standard, as if they were doing us all a favor by working there. I saw soooo many mistakes that it still makes me shiver.

I'm trying to be fair because the nurses really helped me. But this hospital insists that patients bring their CPAP equipment, but the staff is not educated at all about helping or supporting the patients. And, once again, they handed me a high carb diet that is dangerous for me because I'm diabetic. I just refused all food and asked for broth because my doctor (who knows nothing about controlling diabetes would not let me have any meds to control Blood Glucose. Strange, very strange.

Sounds like your experience is very strange. How could they not know you have diabetes and need medication? Scary. Glad you made it out okay.

gasparama wrote:I'm trying to be fair because the nurses really helped me. But this hospital insists that patients bring their CPAP equipment, but the staff is not educated at all about helping or supporting the patients. And, once again, they handed me a high carb diet that is dangerous for me because I'm diabetic. I just refused all food and asked for broth because my doctor (who knows nothing about controlling diabetes would not let me have any meds to control Blood Glucose. Strange, very strange.

Hmm. What kind of surgery did you have (did it involve any "dyes" or contrast material, like in a catheterization?) and what meds are you taking (like glucophage for example)?

I'm diabetic too and was in the our "small" community hospital for a week last summer. Their meun was great-- every item had a list of carbs and a diabetic exchange. Had plenty of diet soda in stock. They took my blood sugar before and two hours after every meal or snack.

Nevertheless, I brought my CPAP machine with me. But the nurse told be I couldn't use it until the hospital electrican could "certify" it to make sure it was safe to use. That too a day and a night (I felt gutsy and used it anyway) All the electrician did was put an "approved for use" sticker on the machine.

Hey Gasparama,

You certainly didn't have a good hospital experience, not to get your diabetes meds could have been serious. However, a patient soon discovers, a hospital is not run for the benefit of those who are sick. Oh no, patients come 2nd or 3rd. The absolute rule is "Do not disturb hospital routine" The mistakes you mention make me fear some future hospitalization. After my first sinus surgery, I learned if you were only there for a couple of day, the hospital records didn't always catch up with you I didn't get my meds either

You did the right thing in selecting broth. Either pain or narcotics is enough to increase the blood sugar of Diabetics.

SaltLakeJan

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gasparama wrote:On Tuesday, I had surgery for which I spent 2 nights in the hospital. On the first night hospital personal came in by the droves and interrupted my sleep. That, of course, is normal. But what one friendly nurse mentioned to me on the second evening was that they all thought it was so funny to see my mouth taped shut. This is not the first time that I've been amazed at what the health care professionals don't know.

Thats too bad. I may not agree with taping mouths, but to have people disturb your sleep to laugh at you is completely unacceptable. This is one of the reasons why I keep the door to my control room locked. I am a stickler for people's privacy. Once again, I am sorry that you had to deal with some unprofessionals. I maybe a jerk online sometimes, but I would never allow someone to be picked on while they are unconscious. It almost seems depraved in away.

As a Registered Nurse and a patient with a number of complex health issues i can understand your comments about the experience. I can even understand the staff on a general unit rather than a high dependancy unit being curious about your machine etc. Cpap is not seen very often in the hospital setting - Bipap is used but the patients are usually extremely ill, usually not that stable so are usually in at least a high dependancy unit. i think in all the time i worked on the wards i saw 2 patients who had brought in cpap machines. having said that it is not appropriatte to disturb your sleep or to make you feel like a laughing stock but sadly it does not surprise me- i no am no longer able to work in hands on nursing thanks to MS but i now work in an organisation that deals with incident reports within our public health system- it is a no blame system and the calls can be anonymous as the goal is to detect the sort of incidents that can be prevented in the future, the reporters opinions about what happened are actually legally protected so that it can only be used to try to prevent similar events occuring rather than laying blame- there are other avenues for that- the hope is that because of the way we get information we are more likely to get information about events that go unreported and i think that is what is happening - some of what i hear really concerns me but other things make me feel proud that we have health care professionals who go to great lengths to protect the patients saftey and dignity

I have experienced the same kind of thing you mention, i had an electronic pain pump that was implanted in my abdomen and used to deliver pain medication directly to the fluid around my spine - these are not seen very often at all so i always attracted a lot of nurses seeking information and as long as it was done in an appropriatte manner i was happy enough - if the information helps them deal with the next patient its worth it! health care professionals tend to have detailed information about their area of practice but that leaves a lot where there may be a passing knowledge at best and as long as they admit their gaps in knowledge and take steps to fill them that seems reasonable

If all the nurses were doing was coming in to see you w/your mouth taped you certainly seem to be handling it better than I would have, Gasparama. If they were coming in to check your BP, etc. and brought someone else along to "see" its a little more acceptable.

As far as the "diet" and meals that were offered you ... I'd have been raising ole billy heck until someone gave me a good, logical reason for disregarding my diabetic needs.

Polysomnoman!!!! GOOD to see you back!

Kebsa, I've seen that method of "incident reports" introduced at a couple of other hospitals and I'm impressed and tremendously glad to see it being utilized. One can understand the "there but for the grace of God" mentality in the medical profession - BUT - the patients' health care still need to come FIRST regardless.

in Sept i spent 15 days in the hospital after emergency surgery cause my angioplasty wouldnt stop breathing, then 2 days a week after that. for chest pain (false alarm) now durring the 15 day stay i had many nurses ask about my CPAP many knew about it but had questions, which i answered the best I could, and after the first 2-3 days they even let me sleep till noon.. But it never failed at 4-5 am they came in for blood work. *Sigh* They turn the phones off at 9pm and expect you to go to sleep by 10 I guess. But they handled all my daily meds and diabetes situation just fine.

I go back a week after going hom under the care of the SAME group of doctors. But to a neighboring hospital this time that specializes in the heart.
They TOTALLY Mess up my meds. The male nurse who addmited me at 1 am in the morning seriously needed to go back to school.

How he managed to mess up entering my meds list into the computer ( I GAVE him a PRINTED out copy) he left off 5 medicines. halved my Bolus or long acting insulin and didnt even enter my meal time insulin. And No matter how much I asked. told the Dr. Etc. They NEVER fixed it. Then had the nerve to chew me out for my blood sugar levels even though I was eating as low carb as their menu allowed me to.

I wont even go into the after care with this DR group. geeze one who was over my case in the hospital uped one of my meds, aparently didnt chart it or the offices where I live and the offices in the city where the hosptial is arent electronic cause my doctor here refused to up it. Since his charts didnt show an increase. I'm rather tempted to find another cardiologist group but this one has handled family for a long time now. With raving praise. =/

When I got home it took over a week to get my daily morning blood levels back to rights.

About once a year i end up in the hosptial for something And never yet has my CPAP been a issue, sure i've had staff who didnt have a clue about it, but most ask and seem to be eagar to be informed. But that one staff in regards to diabetes seemed to be utterly clueless. Which is rather suprising as my friend whos a local nurse says 75% of their patients seem to be diabetic these days.

I too am Diabetic and I know from Previous stays in the Hospital how Rude and Inconsiderate so Hospital staff can be.My Last Hospital stay was prior to me finding out that I had Sleep apnea so I didn't have to take a cpap machine to the hospital But I did take all of my Diabetic Medicines with me in case there might be a Problem with the Hospital staff as in your case. Had that been me I would have had access to the proper meds that I needed. One is never too old or too wise to learn from mistakes of others. Good Luck in the Future .

Hetron wrote:I'm diabetic too and was in the our "small" community hospital for a week last summer. Their meun was great-- every item had a list of carbs and a diabetic exchange. Had plenty of diet soda in stock. They took my blood sugar before and two hours after every meal or snack.

Nevertheless, I brought my CPAP machine with me. But the nurse told be I couldn't use it until the hospital electrican could "certify" it to make sure it was safe to use. That too a day and a night (I felt gutsy and used it anyway) All the electrician did was put an "approved for use" sticker on the machine.

That's weak.

If they think I'm going to go without CPAP so they can do what bureaucrats do they can blow me (pardon the pun... )

Maybe they just needed a little comic relief. Sometimes we all cave in and become silly. I have taped my mouth but would probably still consider it odd looking to see others like that. In fact one night I glanced into the mirror and saw myself and even I cringed.
On a high note about nurses my sister recently had good cause to give them a pat on the back. My sister is 58 and dying of Emphysema. She had recently been in the hospital after a near death situation. On the day she is released she has to face a 3 hour car trip which usually means a bathroom break and each time she has to get out of a vehicle and go into a public facility this has the potential of landing her right back in the hospital (she is very ill) Anyway she asks the Dr. if he can do anything to help her make that trip easier and he says... YOU WILL JUST HAVE TO HOLD IT. How kind right? Well the minute he left the room the nurses came over to her bed and told her not to worry about it that she could just wear the catheter home and they would show her husband how to remove it. Let me tell you that made all the difference to my sister. A car trip almost panics her and just that act of kindness is something that she will remember always.

swcompassionate wrote:Sounds like your experience is very strange. How could they not know you have diabetes and need medication? Scary. Glad you made it out okay.

The diabetes issue bothers me more than people coming in my room two by two. I really don't think they were making fun of me--I was just a strange looking creature! They took two people to do every job instead of the one that they usually use.