All it takes is one person failing to do their job and the company will get a bad rap. When I was in a rehabilitation hospital in October 2017 from knee replacement surgery I received poor care from the nurses. They would make me wait on receiving pain medications, and going to the bathroom- I went unaided (fall risk) many times because they failed to answer my call. One morning around one-o’clock I was strapped to an exercise machine that gently moved my knee up and down. I was in pain, I used the bedside button to call the nurse. An hour went by, and the pain intensified and I started verbally calling out for the nurse, another hour went by. I started crying from the pain and calling out for the nurse, and praying out loud, more minutes passed and finally, he came. He smirked that he had heard me calling him. He removed the exerciser and eventually brought me a pain pill it was 3:28 a.m. I reported the insensitive and lazy nurse to the doctors that morning. The doctor told me to rip out the call button line from the wall if necessary to get the attention of staff; if that ever happened again, as I couldn’t reach my phone to call 9-1-1 for help. Of course, I didn’t rip it out although I still went unaided to the restroom afterward, the nurses just didn’t seem to want to help me.
When I had my second knee replaced in December 2017, I chose not to go to rehab. The therapist was top notch good, but the nursing was terrible. So when the survey arrived at my home, I filled it out along with a letter for discussing comments to them. I only hope that they would reprimand, monitor, or even dismiss the male nurse that treated me that awful night.
A message for nurses: I know you are overworked most of the time and some patients can be demanding or whiners which make you not want to be around them. However, the patients are at your mercy totally. They most likely don’t want to be there in the hospital and only want to feel better quickly. Withholding medication is poor form, and not assisting your fall risk patient to the restroom is disgraceful. You chose to be a servant to the ill or infirmed out of compassion at one time. You may have become jaded or just burnt out by the burdens placed upon a nurse, if so please quit. Allow someone who still has the heart to take your place. If you are still working and see yourself in this blog, then get help for yourself. Ignoring your basic needs and lack of self-care causes job burn-out.
Self-care can come in the forms of exercise, proper nutrition, meditation, talking to someone about your day while it is happening, joking, or just acknowledge that room 19 patient is a pain in the patoot. I know when I was in rehab I wanted to get better quickly and worked hard doing what the therapist instructed for the 12 days of confinement. I only wish I could recommend the rehab hospital to other potential patients.
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Thank you for your response. I have a drastic plan of action of ripping out the call cord if I am ever in a drastic situation again (doctor told me to do that) or call 9-1-1 for assistance. Hopefully, that level of lack of care has been addressed by the charge nurse since my experience.
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I apologize for what you went through.Next time please call to speak to the charge nurse or the Nursing Supervisor.You are in the hospital to get better and not for your pain to get worse and your needs not met.Sometimes you cannot wait till morning to speak to your doctor. CPM machine can be very uncomfortable after a while.
As me when I am in the hospital, just the uniform alone made me feel like a prisoner.I recalled when I was poked more than ten times to start saline lock.I cried like a two years old. I was not ashamed.
Please next time let the charge nurse because sometimes they make stupid or unfair assignment that might be too much for the nurse.So the Charge Nurse or Resource Nurse has to step in to help.
No nurse will like their patient to suffer.We are caregivers with good sense of rumor.We should advocate for our patients.
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