surgery

[Pudd]

I had surgery last week, and of course i took my cpap with me. but the nurses would not touch it. they said i had to set it up if i wanted to use it. They wouldn't even take it out of the case. So there i was without my cpap. Any one else had this problem?

[jnk]

As I understand it, it would be legally and medically foolish for a medical professional to operate or adjust a medical device he or she has not been trained to operate or adjust.

[Hawthorne]

I think that's terrible! Were you unable, because of the surgery, to set it up yourself?

Makes one think they should have some one with them who knows how, to set up the machine if one is in hospital.

All it takes is plugging it in, filling the humidifier water chamber with water (if you use the humidifier),putting on the mask and connecting the hose to the mask. That's if "auto on" is set of course. The pressure(s) would already be set.

Maybe filling the water chamber is the trickiest.

[Jersey Girl]

Perhaps next time a friend or family member can help you? Next time, plan to have a friend/family member come over to your house and instruct them on how to turn on the machine, filll the water chamber and put the mask on your face. If this is not possible, perhaps talk to your doctor ahead of time and have him leave orders at the nurses station for your cpap.

So sorry that this happened to you. I guess it is just one more thing that we have to prepare for when having surgery!

How are you doing now?

Jersey Girl

[Tielman]

I had surgery last week, and of course i took my cpap with me. but the nurses would not touch it. they said i had to set it up if i wanted to use it. They wouldn't even take it out of the case. So there i was without my cpap. Any one else had this problem?

You should have asked them to provide the Hospital's CPAP machine and mask. This is the same thing as providing your normal medicine (which they do in the hospital). Respironics and ResMed make machines and masks for hospital use.

You should contact the Hospital's ombudsman and inform them that you did not receive adequate treatment for a medically necessary condition.

[jnk]

I deal with a clinic that I have had to stay in overnight. The head doc saw my machine next to my bed and said, "You understand, Jeff, that none of us are allowed to touch that machine, right?"

I didn't ask for details. I assumed that they consider it a ventilator and that they don't have an RT on staff, so I only said, "Yes."

It is good to check on policies ahead of time whenever possible and to have someone trained to speak for you and to get your machine going for you in emergency situations. And some hospitals may not even allow you to have your machine there to use it all, I understand.

Policies differ, I guess.

jeff

[Hawthorne]

I note that Pudd is in Canada so hospital policies will differ. I am also in Canada but I have not been in hospital since I started cpap (touch wood!!!! ).

I will be checking things out a lot though, in light of Pudd's experience!

[Bob3000]

Isn't it great how suing the hell out of our doctors has created a culture of fear and fostered the wasteful practice of 'defensive' medicine? To be sure, some doctors ought to be sued for negligent or maleficent acts, but at this point, people are suing for bad outcomes which are often more related to a patient's multiple comorbidities than any action or inaction of the doctor. Too bad. As a medical student, I dread the process of being sued. So yes, OP, doctors and nurses are scared and certainly won't risk a lawsuit for tinkering with your CPAP equipment; all that has to happen is the doc touches the CPAP machine, the patient goes to sleep with it but dies during the night from a heart attack, and the family sues the doctor and the hospital and collect $10,000,000. Happens all the time.

[jnk]

. . . all that has to happen is the doc touches the CPAP machine, the patient goes to sleep with it but dies during the night from a heart attack, and the family sues the doctor and the hospital and collect $10,000,000. Happens all the time.

Perhaps a slight overstatement, Bob, but I think we get your point. Literary hyperbole can easily be misread in this forum, though. We have literalists here who may ask for sources and references for such statements. There's a big difference between "all that has to happen" and "happens all the time." But I think we get your drift.

[pitrow]

It's amazing how many rules and things there are for doctors now. I was in the urgent care a while ago with my girlfriend for her bad back. The doctor wanted to count how many pain pills she had left and while doing so one of the pills fell out on the counter. The doctor asked my girlfriend if she wanted that one thrown away, which of course she said yes to. The doctor wrapped the pill up in tissue paper and handed it to my girlfriend and pointed her towards the waste basket that was right next to the doctor and said "You have to physically throw it away because I'm not allowed to." Stupid if you ask me, but they have to cover their butts from all sorts of stupidity these days.

[dwsupt]

That's where a good doctor comes in. Mine was the one who pushed me to get tested and would be ripping someone a new breathing hole. It's not assisted suicide. It's assisted living! They have RTs on staff that should be able to understand it.

[Bob3000]

. . . all that has to happen is the doc touches the CPAP machine, the patient goes to sleep with it but dies during the night from a heart attack, and the family sues the doctor and the hospital and collect $10,000,000. Happens all the time.

Perhaps a slight overstatement, Bob, but I think we get your point. Literary hyperbole can easily be misread in this forum, though. We have literalists here who may ask for sources and references for such statements. There's a big difference between "all that has to happen" and "happens all the time." But I think we get your drift.

Literary hyperbole is my M.O., amigo, but in this case, frivolous lawsuits even more ridiculous than my made-up example are in fact the norm. I have a lawyer friend in medical malpractice and he tells me about the absurd cases that are presented on a daily basis. Fortunately, most frivolous lawsuits don't make it to trial.

[thewetlizard]

I have to lose some more weight before I get my hernia fix. Now I know kinda what to except when I get to that point! I have to set my own machine up.

[pb5927317]

My mom was briefly on Perintinial Dialysis...You hook up an IV Bag to a port on your stomach and fluid goes in and comes out another tube.

She had to stay overnight for something unrelated, and they transported her to 3 different hospitals until they had someone certified to swap a tube, and it ended up being a contractor.

[bearded_two]

A while back I checked on our local hospital's CPAP policies. I found that i could use my own CPAP in the hospital, but that the nursing staff is not obligated to hook it up or put the mask on -- they can do it if they feel that they can do it safely. I have trained my partner how to hook up my CPAP and how to put my mask on me if I am unable to do it myself. I had him practice it several times to make sure that he knows how to do it properly; he also knows to plug it into an orange outlet if one is available. He knows how to pack it up, unpack it, set it up, put my mask on me, and to pull my mask out a bit and let it settle into place. I have put a packing list in a mesh pocket in the lid of the camera bag I use as a CPAP bag so that he can verify that he isn't forgetting something when he packs it. I have also listed a few other things that I might need, such as underclothes, t-shirt, pajama bottoms, cell phone charger, book, and non-skid socks (my yoga socks).