[NPInfo]hospital care now
Dena
galdena at sbcglobal.net
Sun Sep 9 19:01:42 PDT 2007
On the other hand, my grandmother was a week away from her 93 birthday and
became acutely ill with pneumonia vs CHF (nothing conclusive either way but
her roommate at the nursing home died the same morning my previously healthy
Grandmother came down ill-- it was when that horrible new virus struck
northern CA 3 1/2 yrs ago). My mother made her a DNR and the nursing staff
and residents just couldn't let well enough alone-- even when we asked for a
MS drip (my Grandmother's dream!), they wouldn't titrate it at all. It
wasn't until she rallied the next morning and made the decision herself to
discontinue ABX, declare herself a DNR, and OK'd being sent back to the
nursing home on Hospice Care did anyone stop trying to save her. She died 3
days in her sleep after receiving a dose of Morphine. She died the death she
always wanted-- to take a magic pill and die in her sleep. But if the
doctors and nurses at Stanford had their way, she'd probably be alive
today-- and mighty unhappy about it <G>. She received excellent care from
VERY compassionate staff... a little too caring if you ask me. LOL
Dena Galler
-----Original Message-----
From: npinfo-bounces at nurse.net [mailto:npinfo-bounces at nurse.net] On Behalf
Of Carla Anderson
Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2007 6:38 PM
To: NP Info
Subject: RE: [NPInfo]hospital care now
I wont, I think I will make a point of going to some other country or some
island. I will have to research it. My dogs and I will go, if they are still
alive. I am serious, things are getting so bad, and it is the philosophy
that is wrong. It is the patient and family's decision when to go or when
to push or when to give up, not the healthcare workers. Their job is to
assist in honoring wishes and using technology and the human spirit to ease
suffering, and I really think at least in this country it has gotten turned
around to be all about some nurse or doctor making a statement about their
views at the expense of those most vulnerable. Who made it the EDs business
to decide when someone is old or worth working on? My dad was told a year
ago in the ED in front of me and him "hes an old man and he's going to die!"
and even if you are not old, many of us have had the experience of going to
the ED with a severe migraine and being labeled a "drug seeker", so you get
to go
through an 8 hour initiation of cold blankets, being ignored, and if you
pass the test, you may get care. Right now I am pretty burnt after this last
year, I admit it. Those that have great health, or have not had these types
of experiences happen to their family may not understand, but it is getting
worse. Carla
Shelby Havens <shelbyhavens at hotmail.com> wrote: One of our charge nurses
rushed her 90 year old grandmother to the ER one
night recently, and spent 12 hours there with her. She had the symptoms of a
severe UTI. They did not admit her or even do much of a workup. She said the
ER personnel just kind of shrugged and said, your grandmother is really old,
and there is not much we can do. The patient expired in the ER. I was so sad
for her. It makes me terrified of getting old (on American soil).
Best Regards,
Shelby Havens, ARNP
>From: Carla Anderson
>Reply-To: NP Info
>To: NP Info
>Subject: RE: [NPInfo]hospital care now
>Date: Sun, 9 Sep 2007 16:04:51 -0700 (PDT)
>
>Of course, you all know my dads story, and I just got a bill yesterday,
>from the Care Facility that had him for one night, and was hypoxic and
>dying as you know in the morning. No care was done, period, no nurses notes
>for 8 hrs,..no meds, no rehab, just lying in bed hypoxic for hours, the
>bill was for 1400.00! Come to think of it, they were probably charging for
>his furniture still in his room as he was rushed to the hospital and then
>hospice.
>
> And prior to this, about 5 months ago, the landscaper that was doing my
>lawn, told me that his mother, age 62 went to a different hospital here in
>Oregon for a hip replacement. She was very healthy, and she died. They
>just told her that she got chest pain and died. That is all he knows. We
>all know the differentials of course, but this should not be happening.
>
> Another person I know, her relative was hours post op, left alone and
>pain pump malfunctioned. Happened to be that a friend was visiting and
>went screaming for a nurse to come to the empty room as the patient (my
>friends relative) had stopped breathing. Narcan was given, but this would
>have had a very tragic ending and maybe the family would have been told the
>same story as my landscaper was, if a friend had not been in the room. I
>can tell far too many stories and I should not have to. It is happening at
>different places, not just one place. It literally makes me sick. Carla
>
>Shelby Havens wrote:
> Could this have something to do with why healthcare in the United States
>is
>considered substandard to healthcare in some other countries?
>
>Best Regards,
>
>Shelby Havens, ARNP
>
>
> >From: "Marilyn Dean"
> >Reply-To: NP Info
> >To: "NP Info"
> >Subject: RE: [NPInfo]hospital care now
> >Date: Sun, 9 Sep 2007 14:51:53 -0500
> >
> >Thanks for the note Dena. I was pretty much shocked. She was never out of
> >the bed with assistance of anyone, but PT and sessions were skipped if
> >someone was doing vital signs or she was otherwise engaged in some other
> >activity. It certainly was hard work getting those new post-op patients
>up,
> >but you darn well knew that was to be done.
> >Oh well, progress????? Really pretty sad. She had much better care a few
> >weeks earlier in a small community hospital. Less patients (maybe less
> >computers too?).
> >Marilyn
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: npinfo-bounces at nurse.net [mailto:npinfo-bounces at nurse.net]On
> >Behalf Of Dena
> >Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2007 2:10 PM
> >To: 'NP Info'
> >Subject: RE: [NPInfo] My Reply...Back to Sue
> >
> >
> >I worked Ortho for many years in the early 1980-1989 when joint
> >replacements
> >was still "relatively" new and patients were in the hospital 7-10 days
> >before going home (no sending them to rehab-- they rehabbed there). Pts
> >were
> >up in the chair 2-3x a day for meals for 1-2 hours by post-op day 2 (and
>if
> >they were my patients, they were bathed and up in the chair before
> >breakfast-- after PT they were returned to a beautifully, and
>wrinkle-free,
> >freshly made bed and fluffed pillow ) and had PT 2x/day. The nursing
> >assistant, ortho tech, or nurse got the patients up to the BR, and walked
> >them in the halls in between therapy sessions once cleared by PT.
>Actually,
> >these poor patients got very little time to rest and sleep during the day
> > but I don't remember using anything other than TED hose and SCDs (once
> >they were invented) to prevent DVTs. Of course, back in the early '80s
>was
> >before the whole DRG thing started...
> >
> >In my last job on a new NeuroSurgery unit, the nurses and CNAs NEVER got
>a
> >patient out of bed in a chair or walked them in the hall-- they were
> >supposedly too busy. PT managed to see the patients once a day although
> >frequently didn't see them at all and actually had little notes in the
> >charts about being "short staffed" (YIKES!).
> >
> >I really fail to see how this is progress.....
> >Dena Galler
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: npinfo-bounces at nurse.net [mailto:npinfo-bounces at nurse.net] On
>Behalf
> >Of Marilyn Dean
> >Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2007 11:22 AM
> >To: NP Info
> >Subject: RE: [NPInfo] My Reply...Back to Sue
> >
> >I have to agree. I was very disappointed in the care my Mom-in-Law had
> >recently in a large hospital after an extensive surgery to redo a
> >prosthetic
> >hip which had loosened over time and finally resulted in a femur
>fracture.
> >At 88 it was a great risk. 5 people were in each day for a care
>conference,
> >but no one but PT got her up and she went to a care center on Friday AM
> >after having surgery on Tues late afternoon. She had not been sitting in
>a
> >chair yet. Does it make you wonder why we now have to have all the DVT
> >prophylaxis with meds with hospitalizations. She is completely non-weight
> >bearing on one leg with a congenial hip malformation on the other where
>she
> >may bear weight.
> >Now in the care center they are doing a great job of getting her up, but
>I
> >can't quite get anyone to order something for her gerd, although I have
> >talked to them twice and she has lost her "cookies" a couple of times
> >because of it. They have till Tues to get an order or I will personally
> >call
> >her Dr. I think communications are a real problem. Promises don't cut it.
> >Marilyn
> >
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: npinfo-bounces at nurse.net [mailto:npinfo-bounces at nurse.net]On Behalf
> >Of
> >Priscilla Merrill
> >Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2007 5:37 AM
> >To: 'NP Info'
> >Subject: RE: [NPInfo] My Reply...Back to Sue
> >
> >
> >Amen to that! Couldn't have said it better, Dena. I'm truly heartsick to
> >see this part of nursing go by the wayside. True nursing care for the
>most
> >part has gone down the toilet as nurses are more and more multitasked and
> >forced to be documentation/computer queens. My friends that have stayed
>in
> >nursing are few and far between and burnt to a crisp with the new
>mountains
> >of expectations, shorter than ever staffing and the fluffing has suffered
> >as
> >have the patients. That's been my mantra over and over on these threads-
>-
> >the patient MUST be our center. It's not all about money, power,
>prestige,
> >turf, role delineation -- we must put CARE in the center and all would be
> >happy.
> >OK, I salute you my JANGO sister! This obviously made us fluffers from a
> >very early age. When you take care of men and do your hs perineal care,
> >does
> >that make you a Fluffer-Nutter? And as my 2 cents, there's a difference
> >between comfort and fluffing and waking folks for mundane tasks when you
> >don't have to. That's why they call it the ART of nursing. OK< flame suit
> >on, POOF.
> >
> >Priscilla Merrill FNP
> >
> >
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: npinfo-bounces at nurse.net [mailto:npinfo-bounces at nurse.net] On
>Behalf
> >Of Dena
> >Sent: Saturday, September 08, 2007 2:39 AM
> >To: 'NP Info'
> >Subject: RE: [NPInfo] My Reply...Back to Sue
> >
> >I remember back in the '80s working 3-11, pushing a cart from patient to
> >patient starting at 9:00p.m., handing out a hot wet washcloth, a towel,
> >changing the drawsheet, putting a new pillow case on the pillow before
> >fluffing it, and offering a back rub to everyone. It was my favorite part
> >of
> >the shift. Did I ever think I was playing the stereotypical handmaiden
>role
> >while I was doing it? No-- I only knew I was helping my patients relax
>and
> >feel better. Several years ago while working agency on the floor for
>extra
> >money, I fell back into the same pattern and the nurses were astonished.
> >None of them had ever heard of p.m. care before. When working the day
> >shift,
> >I was shocked to find out that none of the nurses apparently had ever
>heard
> >of a.m. care or baths before either.
> >
> >My girlfriend's 20 yr old son was in the ICU a couple of years ago with
> >bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax and was, appropriately, scared to
>death.
> >He later told his mom (a NP herself) that the best nurse he had was one
>who
> >gave him a back rub one night and then pulled up a chair and spent 20
> >minutes just talking to him. That was what he needed more than anything
> >else
> >at the time.
> >
> >I have often said that people go into nursing for one of two reasons--
>the
> >art of nursing (the nurturing, hand holding, talking) or the science of
> >nursing (the machines, the numbers, the technical aspects). I'm
>definitely
> >the hand-holding nurturer type, always have been and always will be-- and
>I
> >will never apologize for it.
> >Dena Galler
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >No virus found in this outgoing message.
> >Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> >Version: 7.5.485 / Virus Database: 269.13.9/994 - Release Date: 9/7/2007
> >4:40 PM
> >
> >
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>
>Carla R. Anderson, FNP-C
> Healing Presence Family Practice, PC
> carla_rayne at yahoo.com
> 503 819 9726
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Carla R. Anderson, FNP-C
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carla_rayne at yahoo.com
503 819 9726
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