Saturday, September 23, 2006

Remember When?

My dad was in the hospital with his aortic aneurysm and my step-
monster and I were practically coming to blows as I insisted on
staying there with him around the clock and questioning each med
and order that came in?

And she kept saying, Why do you ask so many questions? The
doctors and nurses KNOW what they are doing... Right. Sure.

Read THIS story for just how well they KNOW what they are do-
ing. Statistically, every American going into the hospital has a
number of mistakes per day made with their meds, care etc.
I can't remember the exact number but I'm sure its online
somewhere. Typically though, the mistakes just aren't life-
threatening.

And moreover? I have a few IQ points on a lot of the medical staff.
Plus - every time your nursing staff changes? Do you really think
they take the time to read your entire previous chart in hospital?

Let me just answer that for you. No. They don't. They try to
catch up on your current condition and basic history and current
orders. Try is the operative word here.

But back to the story. Three separate nurses FAILED to notice,
or noticing, failed to question, that the normal heplock given to
at risk preemies was in a dark blue topped vial labeled heparin
instead of a baby-blue vial labeled hep-lock.

See, the IV ports have to be kept open with a teeny amount of
blood thinner. Not, of course, the gargantuan amount of blood
thinner one would give to say -- an adult suffering from a
pulmonary embolism. So those little preemies bled to death.

So me? Stepmother or not, I'm going to keep right on bitching
and asking questions while in the hospital. Both on behalf of
myself and my relatives.

2 comments:

Nit Wit said...

That's why I questioned every med I was given when I was in the hospital even if I recognized it. The last time I had to correct nurses 4 times in the first few days of an 8 day stay. After that they started to check the chart carefully before walking into the room. There are a lot of people here who will risk death by traveling the 30 miles to another Hospital rather than go to this one.
It happens all the time where the profit margin is more important than providing good care.

Sydney said...

Mr. Wit, you question away, and I will be the bitchy chick right by your side questioning along with ya! They may be happy to see us leave, but by God we will at least be leaving in a wheelchair instead of a casket! Which is by far my preference. There are still many things out there in this big old world of ours that I would like to see before I am heparined to death and bled out from every orifice like a rogue case of ebola.

You HAVE to wonder if at least one of those nurses didn't at least wonder if she was fucking up but was afraid to buck the hierarchy and ask. That's bureaucracy for you. People become afraid to speak their own minds. Very sad.