Thank you guys so much for your responses... Though I am not surprised, I am sad to see so many of you can relate to what I went through....
It makes me sick to my stomach to hear such horror stories... When I was inpatient at the hospital after my surgery.. I did a lot of walking around the hallways.... I looked in the patients room ( though I hate it when ppl walk by my room and look in ha) As I looked at these patients, I had so many tears coming out of my eyes, some for me for what I went through but then I looked at all the older patients, who no longer had their spouse there to support them, or to stand up for them... I wondered how scared they were.. I wondered if the same nasty nurse that I had, had any of those patients.. I wondered if they were cold, or scared, MOst were on breathing machines and I was scared for them....
I can't imagine the medication errors that these patients had to endure and didn't even know it... One other thing that I learned.. Reglan, one of the antinausea medicines that I was on IV in the hospital has a very common side effect of anxiety... I didn't know that at the time.. ( didn't learn it in nursing school, and never had given it to a patient) the other day, I had to give it to a patient and I looked up the drug interactions in my book because I AM VERY Careful and found out about it causing so much anxiety.. I asked the ER doctors.. They said "OF COURSE, it is well known for doing that" At least I know where some of my anxiety came from as well..
It just makes me so mad.. Because so many of you know me personally, I don't feel like I can even tell you all the things and horror stories I know..
I wish that each one of us could have a private nurse that knows what they are doing in the hospital.. I have already started talking to the education department at my hosptial.. I am making them fully aware of the skills or lack there of, of some of the nurses on the floor.. I am trying to do it in a positive way,
Without a doubt in the near future, I am going to be signing myself up in the education department.. I want to help our hospital and become part of the solution.
ANother thing i noticed is, the orders for my Congestive heart failure came from a covering doctor that didn't know me.... he heard in "report I Had CF and we are assuming he thought they said CHF.... so that is where the orders came from..
NUTS
THanks again for listening
IN the near future I am going to be starting another post that I am going to print and bring to the education department in my hospital..
Love,
Jennifer