Hospital RT's and CPAP - Always bring your own.

[Gryphon]

My father has been in the hospital now for over 3 weeks. They keep moving him from floor to floor - aside from all the other bureaucratically insane antics that you wind up with, within a hospital - some for good and some for bad.

One thing that I noticed was the concept of interchangeability of XPAP devices by the RT's and a completely flippant attitude about settings. I've had this same discussion with at least 7 different RT's in the scope of my Dad's care just while I was visiting. So it wasn't just one really annoying closed minded RT - It's almost universally accepted at the hospital my Dad is staying at, that all CPAP's are basically the same. If anyone has special settings on their X-PAP it doesn't matter because the RT doesn't need to know what the script is. They'll just turn the "Magic Auto Setting" on and the machine will do the rest. All's right with the world.

I was about to scream at someone buy the time I had to have this conversation the 5th time and realised that the person I was talking to didn't care - because they were confident in their "Wrong assessment" and it seemed as though because they were the RT/Worked for the hospital they were right and I was wrong. Nothing I could say would convince them otherwise. I was just a family member, what could I possibly know about the magical workings of the CPAP or anything medical for that matter. I'm not wearing a lab coat or scrubs after all.

(I use one 12+ years, My Mom uses one, my Dad uses one, My sister has one,..... I've hung out on this forum for years and I pay attention, but I digress.)

They would come into the room dragging in some humidifier-less auto brick that was a generation older then what my Dad has now. And would proceed to try and talk him out of using his machine and using theirs. At first, I tried to humor them - Let us see what this machine is and how are they going to set it up. After a moment looking at it my assessment was... "Ummmmmmm, NO!" There wasn't going to be any adjustments - they were just going to set it from 4-20 and let it go.

They also supposedly don't want people bringing in their own CPAP's because of "BedBugs" or Other Germs... Not sure how plausible that is... Others can weigh in on that.



My take on this - We have this discussion on this forum all the time. "Should I bring my CPAP to the hospital or not" Sometimes people encouragingly say - don't worry about it because the hospital will provide you with one. Just make sure you have your settings written down...

At least with the hospital, My father is at... I'd say bring your own even if the hospital says not to. Once you have it set up next to your bed, they can't legally force you to use theirs or not use yours. Soooo, no if's and's or buts. If you don't have your own machine there is no telling what oddball thing you are going to get.

Also If you need to have Oxygen added to your machine - keep the little threw port adapter that you'll have to wait forever to get from the first RT who you might work with and don't let it go. Keep that with your XPAP machine from that point forward - so when or if you want to go to sleep on time instead of 3 hours later, you can have a family member hook your machine up to oxygen on your own or the Nurs can "unofficially" help you.

Sorry for the RANT - some people who have had to deal with CPAP in a hospital setting may have found their RT's much different. Just give a shout out about this for anyone who's wondering if they should take their own stuff to the hospital. The answer once again is "YES", and have a family member there to make sure it gets used and setup right.

Rest well,

Gryphon

[Stom]

\They also supposedly don't want people bringing in their own CPAP's because of "BedBugs" or Other Germs... Not sure how plausible that is... Others can weigh in on that.

I'd say the main reason not to bring one to the hospital is because you don't want to bring treatment resistant germs *from the hospital*, not the other way around. But your reasons for your dad to use his in this circumstance seem sound.

I wonder how much the hospital charges per day to use their PAP machines? I bet it is a lot... :-/

[Cpapian]

Yuk! Why would anyone want to use a hospital provided machine. One that, who knows how many sick people have used previously and indifferently cleaned by who knows, some overworked, underpaid floor sweeper.

Really treatment resistant germs go both ways, if they can live in/on a machine, the borrowed machine could have them and if you bring yours, you could bring home a couple of stow-a-ways.

[LSAT]

I have always brought my CPAP...When I was the patiend and when my wife was the patient...no one ever questioned it. In Fact, they asked if I needed anything special for hook up.

[greatunclebill]

It's really very simple. Have your admitting physician write in your orders that you can bring your own cpap. it has worked every time for me. . If the doctor orders it, the techs and nurses obey. if they start anything with you, have them call the physician, which i promise they will regret, if they dare call.

[palerider]

I have always brought my CPAP...When I was the patiend and when my wife was the patient...no one ever questioned it. In Fact, they asked if I needed anything special for hook up.

Same here. my biggest problem was drones from the respiratory dept that kept coming up wanting to help... and not knowing anything about the machine.

"NO, I don't need help using my cpap, I've been doing it on my own for 9 years"
"well, is there anything I can do?"
"er, you can check to make sure it has enough water in it"
.... goes over, looks at Resmed S9
"Where's the water go?"
"Just get out, I'll do it myself".

[Okie bipap]

The last time I was hospitalized, I was directed to bring my machine with me. They furnished water for me to use in the machine, and added a fitting to allow oxygen to added to my breathing if I needed it. When I was in the same hospital the time before, my oxygen levels were dropping when I slept, so they wanted to be ready in case it happened again. I even used my cervical collar while in the hospital and the only comment I got was they thought it was a good idea since it would help keep my air way open. The only thing I will do different the next time is to enable smart start on my machine before going in.

[Rob K]

We're here for you. Good to get those frustrations out. I once had to stay overnight after surgery. I was instructed to bring my own xpap. I didn't use it though since they ended up intubating me and putting me on a ventilator. That was a horrible thing to wake up to. They had to tie my arms to the bed and sedate me overnight otherwise I would have yanked it out. lol

[chunkyfrog]

Note to my doc: In case of hospitalization, I use MY OWN cpap, and
I need to follow a sensible low carb/high protein diet --NOT the ADA nonsense!

[palerider]

Note to my doc: In case of hospitalization, I use MY OWN cpap, and
I need to follow a sensible low carb/high protein diet --NOT the ADA nonsense!

Last time I was in the hospital, they got confused at first and put me on the diabetic diet, instead of the renal diet... I was talking to one of the order takers for breakfast and she said "Oh, you can only have half a bagal because you're on the diabetic diet" "I'm what now?" "oh, wait, we've got you entered wrong"...

But, it appears, that at least at my last hospital, they're working on a more enlightened diabetic diet... restricting carbs.

[Muse-Inc]

"NO, I don't need help using my cpap, I've been doing it on my own for 9 years"
"well, is there anything I can do?"
"er, you can check to make sure it has enough water in it"
.... goes over, looks at Resmed S9
"Where's the water go?"
"Just get out, I'll do it myself".

[Tinman]

My last trip to the hospital they told me to bring my own. They had it "reviewed" by their maintenance personnel to make sure it would not short out the hospital's electrical system (got a sticker to prove it!) and I was good to go.

[mileena]

\They also supposedly don't want people bringing in their own CPAP's because of "BedBugs" or Other Germs... Not sure how plausible that is... Others can weigh in on that.

I'd say the main reason not to bring one to the hospital is because you don't want to bring treatment resistant germs *from the hospital*, not the other way around. But your reasons for your dad to use his in this circumstance seem sound.

I wonder how much the hospital charges per day to use their PAP machines? I bet it is a lot... :-/

My gastroenterologist said bring my CPAP with me for my colonoscopy at the outpatient surgery center. Also, my pulmonologist said bring my machine for my next appointment (not just the SD card).

Also, when I had a stroke, the hospital charged me for compression hose even when I didn't wear them. So I assume with a CPAP machine, all they have to do is leave it in your room and make it available to be able to charge you for it??

[mileena]

My last trip to the hospital they told me to bring my own. They had it "reviewed" by their maintenance personnel to make sure it would not short out the hospital's electrical system (got a sticker to prove it!) and I was good to go.

That is absolutely ridiculous on their part. If it is not shorting out your electricity in your own home, it will not there. If it does, they have more serious problems. I was allowed to bring a laptop when I was hospitalized, and no one bothered to check that.

[chunkyfrog]

@tinman, I wonder how much the hospital charged for that sticker.
Always ask for an itemized statement from the hospital.
That is how I caught a bogus $400+ charge for eye drops (I brought my own)