I wrote a diary about the nursing shortage fifteen months ago, and in it I offered some advice on how to stay safe if you're hospitalized. My dear friend it really is that important is having surgery this month - good luck, iriti! - so I'm reposting the relevant information from the original diary.
Don't expect Florence Nightingale when you or someone you love is hospitalized. While a precious few hospitals have managed to maintain high staffing levels, most have not. A friend of mine left the profession after one terrible shift when she had to choose between a patient who was hemorrhaging and a patient in respiratory failure. A nurse will assess you when you are admitted. You'll get your medications, hopefully the right ones, but seldom on time. It's a good idea to shower before you arrive because bathing is becoming a lost art in hospitals. If you are restricted to bed, good luck finding someone to bring you a bedpan. Don't count on your linens being changed with much regularity, either, and try not to touch anything you haven't disinfected yourself. In spite of the presence of superbugs in hospitals, housekeeping has been cut to the bone in many. If you have an IV, monitor the site yourself and start raising hell if you see swelling or redness, or if it starts to leak or hurt. If you have a urinary catheter remember three things: The collection bag should never be allowed to touch the floor, it should never be raised higher than the level of your bladder, and it should be measured and emptied by someone every shift or when it gets full. If you have a wound from trauma or surgery, keep an eye on your dressings. Report obvious bleeding immediately. If you have a cast on an extremity, the fingers or toes should be watched for swelling, coldness and color change.
Don't let anyone touch you until you see them wash their hands. Don't let anyone use a non-invasive instrument on you -- stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, that kind of thing -- until you see them disinfect it. If your physician wears a necktie, ask him to tuck it into his shirt. Create a "clean zone" around yourself, your bed, your bed table, your call button, and anything else you may touch, using the strongest disinfectant you can lay your hands on. NEVER let your bare feet touch the floor. Wear slippers when you get up and take them off before you swing your legs back into the bed. Whenever you touch any surface that you haven't personally disinfected -- doors, anything in the bathroom -- wash your hands. Nosocomial (hospital acquired) infection should be your greatest fear, and there's a lot you can do to protect yourself. Make your family and visitors take the same precautions. I don't care if you're a shrinking violet in every other aspect of your life, be assertive while you're a patient. Get madder than a pet monkey if you have to. Your life may depend on it.
Another area that requires vigilance is medications. I know you wouldn't be in the hospital if you were at your best, but please, please try to monitor your medications. There are times when mistakes are more likely to occur. When you're admitted, all your meds are entered into the hospital's pharmacy software. Transcription errors occur. When you're transferred between services, say from the ICU to a floor, misunderstandings about what you've already been given and what you need to be given can lead to over- and under-dosages. All orders are suspended when you have surgery and must be re-entered, with appropriate changes, afterwards. Finally, any change in medications can lead to an error: your doctor decides to switch your antibiotic or try another painkiller, and someone has to look at the last dose of the terminated drug when scheduling the beginning dose of the new drug. It gets complicated.
While we're on the subject of hospitalization, I continue to highly recommend a book I
reviewed last May:
I received a nice birthday present last week, a book entitled Never Go to the Hospital Alone by Steve Harden. Wow! This guy has not only written the must useful consumer healthcare resouce manual I've ever read, he's written a book that's easy and fun to read. Check out the Table of Contents to get an idea of the wealth of information covered. The author's website for the book is still partly "under construction", but the home page does a good job explaining why Nurse Kelley wants you to have this book.
If you get this book, my friends, you may never need the information contained in Chapter 15, The Truth About Malpractice Lawsuits. (Just sayin'.)
The floor is now open. Let's talk about hospital safety. ♥