Quote:
Originally Posted by Laurie2
2B,
I always write down those questions.
Also, we never leave a family member alone in a hospital. Not only for medical reasons and to be there to ask questions and hear answers when a doctor is there, but also for the comfort of the patient.
We can do small things that can make a big difference, like getting water or food, or helping to adjust pillows or blankets. We can see that personal needs are taken care of where possible. When bedridden, sometimes just getting the stuff gathered up for teeth-brushing can be the highlight of a patient's day. And anyone who has ever been confined to a hospital bed knows that getting a bath can seem like it takes an Act of Congress.
Too many hospitals are understaffed. RNs are the frontline in patient care, but RNs are now being required to do more and more with less and less help. The days of RNs and LPNs and nurses' aides all being available to help patients are long gone. It is a fact. Staffing will not get better.
Many hospitals are paying fortunes to CEOs. And don't let the word 'non-profit' fool you. And then there are hospitals who have stockholders to pay, too.
I have great respect for good RNs. RNs save lives. But they are being exhausted by understaffing.
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I agree with every word of this. People in pain and on medication need to be watched at all times by someone who cares deeply, no matter how good the professional staff is. We took turns staying with a divorced person who used to be part of our family because he had no one.
I have spent weeks and weeks with our Helene in hospitals. Not very many screw ups at the wonderful second best Children's Hospital in the whole country, Cincinnati Childrens. But once I stopped an incorrect medication from being administered.
Also people in pain or in stress or worried about themselves are often not coherent or using the best judgment.
Ask any nurse or doctor.