Saturday, November 4, 2017

I am going to use my blog today to vent. If you have a trigger about the quality of health care these days don’t read on.

I’m so disappointed yet again in the quality of nursing care these days. We were in here for over four hours before anything was done yesterday. No fluids, no meds, no vitals, no care of any visible sort. The amount of paperwork required before anything happens is overwhelming. It took over an hour to get all his meds entered. The nurse doing it is around my age and acts like she has just rejoined the workforce and the computer and her are not yet friends. We are finding several mistakes she made today when she offered him pills he no longer takes.

Craig’s vitals were checked when the shift changed at 7pm and were not checked again until the shift change in the morning. One thing the doctor had told me that would get him moved to ICU is if his blood pressure doesn’t stay stable. How do they know if that is happening if they don’t check his vitals? He had blood pressures ranging from 80/40 to 210/95 yesterday.

We didn’t see a nurse or aide in the room from midnight until 6:00 this morning. I guess it is a good thing he has a heart monitor on. Wonder if anyone is watching that though?

When they came in after 7:00 he ask about breakfast. They told him they don’t serve until 8:00. I ask again at 8:15 and the same nurse’s response was what time did you order it? Didn’t know we needed to. There is no menu in the room or a phone number to call. She returned with a menu. I was on hold for 15 minutes to order it and then was told it would be delivered in 45 – 60 minutes. Good thing I had some snacks with me.

The nurse came in four different times to give him his meds this morning and kept forgetting something and would leave the room and then return 15 minutes later, leaving his pills on the nightstand. He finally got his 7 am pills around 9:30. Some he takes regularly didn’t come and they tried to give him three of his PRN drugs.

His IV was put in the crook of his right arm. While he was eating breakfast it kinked the line and started beeping. It beeped for over 15 minutes before someone came in to fix it. We had put his call light on after it had beeped for five. Craig was ready to throw the thing out the window by the time they came in.

He got the chills again this morning. I went and found a nurse and ask for a warm blanket and to see if they could take his temperature. An aide brought one in. She took his temp with the mouth thermometer though instead of the scanner type. He was shaking so bad he couldn’t keep him mouth closed. I was afraid he was going to hurt himself with it.

He is feeling pretty crummy this morning. We haven’t seen or heard from the doctor yet so not sure what is going on for sure other than he is septic. He is really weak today. Makes me a bit nervous as no one has really looked at him today. His nurse took his blood pressure but never did listen to him or check his belly.

Vent over. So glad I am here. I can’t imagine leaving anyone alone in a hospital these days.