Over the years and several moves I've heard the stories about the "local" hospital. Some very negative and some glowing. ER's always triage patients according to severity of the issue. What we would deem to be "horrible" and "needs" to have immediate attention--they may not, due to their protocols. Have you all heard the ad on the radio re: the hospital's Urgent Care across 441 from the hospital?? They even have a shuttle across to the hospital (according to the ad) for transport. Some folks will go to the ER for their issues when in fact they probably should go to the Urgent Care (it can be any of them in the area). IF you think it's a 'life-threatening' issue---call 911.

My experience with the ER and TVH is exemplary care. So from reading the many posts on this thread I would say it's a matter of perception in some cases.

That's a rather "blanket" statement, care to tell us exactly what you mean by "really good medical staff". I've been here 8 years and we have had excellent care, both in TV Hospital and in Ocala Hospitals - did not care for Leesburg, but the staff were very kind and thoughtful, and excellent surgical care at Mayo. Our only real complaint is the food - it is awful everywhere you go. One of my husband's doctors told me to bring him in fruit and yogurt! Right now I am getting ready to go into TV Hospital for elective, but necessary, surgery and I'm hoping Russ Boston is going to keep an eye on me!:smiley:

I do think we have many physicians working the medicare system with too many tests, but that is up to the patient to refuse them.

To add to the anecdotal records - we recently had a positive experience at TVRH in the emergency room. The patient was taken in immediately - within 5 minutes of arrival. She had several tests done within a 2-hour span and the results were available within 30 minutes. The emergency room doctor called her physician as he was making the diagnosis and determining treatment. From the time of arrival to release with tests (CAT Scan, EKG, blood work etc.) was 4 hours. I was kept informed. The emergency room was not busy when we arrived at 8:00 in the morning but was overflowing when we left late morning.

Russ, I must speak up and say I am one of the nurses who left due to safety issues among others I know that have left. Management does not give a damn about nurses or the nurse to patient ratio on the floor which includes patient safety. It's all about the almighty dollar! They would rather push out the older, more experienced nurses (who mentored the new grads) for the cheaper salary they have to pay. In the years I was there (many more than you have been there), I begged for them to look at acuity when making assignments but it was ignored. You got no support from your charge nurse, only your coworkers who, too, were overwhelmed. And, God forbid, you did not leave on time; your file was documented!
You may have worked as a charge nurse on 2nd, but my experience was the "charge nurses" were given those positions because they were "yes" people in management's eyes but had/have no nursing skills to work on the floor. People with AD's are in management positions??? Where I worked prior to TVRH, a BSN and Master's in Nursing was required to be a manager or, as TVRH calls it "a director." At TVRH, if you are a "yes" person, you only need an AD with no requirement to pursue additional education. And their clinical ladder is nothing more than a joke! It's not about skill, education, and expertise but what you can do for TVRH.
I see you defend TVRH yet you are willing to explore other opportunities at other locations when suggested by others on this website; interesting!

Take them one at a time in no particular order:

1. Explore other possibilities: Any employee is crazy not to look into opportunities that can advance their career and move them towards their eventual goals. I have left a couple of great companies in my previous career when the opportunity was right. For now I enjoy TVRH.

2. Patient to nurse ratio: I know the ratios have not changed on the medical floor (6 to 1); or IMCU (4 to 1); or ICU (2 to 1) since I have been there. Sometimes they are less but never more.

3. Experienced nurses: On the medical floor we have at least a dozen nurses with over 10 years of experience. All four of the full time charge nurses have over 25 years of floor experience each! I am the exception but I am relief charge (weekend - holiday - vacation cover etc.). But I do have prior management experience from a previous profession (IT). I still work on the floor and I still have lots of nursing skills to learn. To my knowledge not one single nurse has been "pushed out" as you mentioned. At least not on the 2nd floor.

4. Education: You are correct on the education front. A lot of AD in nursing degrees. There are many other second career folks like myself that have a BS in something else from back in the day and then an AD in nursing. I am pursing a BSN in the event that I decide on a management track (not sure yet). Our Director does have a BSN but not a masters degree like would be required in many other places.

5. Patient acuity: There are times when it gets skewed. If I have a few rooms to pick from I will try to balance out the room assignments. But there are times when I only have 1 room open and the patient needs it. Should we move patients? Perhaps, but then patient satisfaction is affected. When I'm the charge nurse it is my responsibility to help the nurse who may be overwhelmed. Many times the 'perceived' acuity level is determined by the experience of the nurse. This is something that needs to be addressed more closely as you mentioned. I will try to do this better on the days when I'm charge.

Respectfully,
Russ

I had the same experience.....
I arrived by ambulance (^ B\P, headache, vertigo & vomiting)...
I never saw a MD...
A PA saw me...( the nurses kept saying "the doctor wil see you before MRI is ordered!)
My own doctor was out of town....
I stayed overnight and saw a neuro doctor (who only worked at the hospital ) who told me, "I'm surprised they admitted you!
He told me I was not sick enough.....
After writing for my discharge, the Nuse, (actually a LPN) was so overwhelmed she never came into the (over 8 hours) so...I just left with my sister...
I worked as a RN (Magnet Status) for 35 years and all I can say is, Shame on you!:swear::swear:

First you say you were admitted? If so then the neuro doctor can not write the discharge (no exceptions to this rule). It has to be the admitting doctor. So I'm pretty sure that what happened is that the neurologist cleared you but you needed to wait until the attending doc (a hospitalist in this case since your doc either doesn't have privileges or was not available as you mentioned) wrote the d/c orders.

Second an ER doc has to be the one to write the admit to floor order. There is always an ER doc - always. Again no exceptions.

If you were on the floor (which floor?) and a nurse did not see you for 8 hours then you should have brought this to someone's attention. Did you do that? And if so what was their response?

I hate to sound defensive but since I do this for a living at TVRH I need to point out inconsistencies in these posts that I know can not happen.

I'm sorry you felt mistreated but some of the things you are saying are from your point of view only and I know some are not accurate as I pointed out.

When a person is sick and weakened and has not been able to eat properly because of high BP, vertigo, vomiting, pain, dizziness etc......

...Just who in the heck is the patient supposed to contact when nobody bothers to come into the patient's room for HOURS?????

Is the patient supposed to contact the same nurse/lpn who doesn't bother to come back in to even see if you're gone yet, so that at minimum, the room could be used for some other poor soul who's waited in the ER for a bed upstairs for 18 hours and has now had a full blown stroke because the cheaper, new grad nurses in ER were up to their eyeballs in alligators??

Blaming a sick patient for the nursing administrators allowing inept, apathetic or even lazy employees to continue putting in their time and getting a check for it is part of the problem, not the solution!

I would like to see the admission orders, as well as the discharge orders... When I say I saw NO One....that's exaactly what I meant!
If a hospitalist saw me.... He/she was a ghost!
Yes, a "manager" came in to ask about my care.....I told her.....she left, not to be seen again!
I would like to know the RN to patient ratio....she couldn't tell me!
Since my hospital was designated a Magnet Status facility, I think I know what what happened (or not), to me......

No one heard my IV when it was finished at MN ant beeped until the next day when I dc'd it...
Are you sure you are working at the same hospital?

Never Again, Never Again
 

I will rather die than be treated at the Villages Hospital. I went there last Thursday night with a 102 temperature after a day of receiving Chemo at the VA hospital, my request only was please notify the VA so the VA benefits would pay for my treatment, I was told i needed to be admitted for overnight, and I said i had another round of Chemo in the morning at the VA Hospital, the response was "Sorry we can't help you"
9 years ago they did not notify the VA when i was admitted there, and had to pay for a weeks treatment out of pocket, which took 5 years to pay off.
Never again, Never again, go to Leesburg or Ocala hospitals.
:spoken:

doctors
 

I sent you a PM

I think I asked this before but what floor was it? It should have been 2nd floor medical. The charge nurse knows the ratio. I told you in a previous post it is 6 to 1 on the medical floor. No more - sometimes less.

If I was the nurse or the charge nurse and you asked about the discharge or admit orders I would have (and do all the time) shown you and explained them to you.

Please let me know where you were and I can look back and help you if you PM the info to me.

All you have to do is tell VA you were there and they can pull the records. We do it all the time. Who told you that? PM the details to me and I can look into it. We have a release of records form that the patient signs and we can fax to any facility. We do it everyday.

You say Leesburg but it is the same facility as TVRH. Central Florida Health Alliance.

Easy answer: Call the charge nurse from your bedside phone. The number is written on every white board in every room.

This is what I meant about false info. You are quoting this person as if she/he is completely telling the truth. That is why I pointed out errors in what they said. I'm not saying that they are lying but since the said at least two things that could never happen then I question everything. Don't you?

BTW: Our ER nurses are not new grads. In fact we don't allow nurses in the ER until they have had about 2 years experience elsewhere. Again this is the truth but you can ignore the facts if you wish.

I'm not going to directly reply to any more posts on this thread.

But I can tell you for a fact, because I do it every workday as both a floor nurse and a charge nurse, that many of the statements made on this thread are completely inaccurate when it comes to facts.

If anyone has a direct question about the facts please PM me and I'll let you know our polices at least on the 2nd floor (general medical).

Customers Are Always Right
 

Customer service is only as good as each customer considers it to be and health care is no exception. I do know our scenario played out exactly as it was described and it was not pretty.

It doesn't matter that any business continues to tell themselves what a great job they are doing for their customers and they followed all the rules if customers are not happy. If the customers do not agree soon there will not be any customers to worry about.

Apparently some customers do not agree TVRH service is great even though some did have a good experience but it shouldn't depend on the luck of the draw to be treated for a medical condition. Another poster was right on After 35 plus years in management for a major public utility where I dealt with residential and business customers of all sizes daily I do know I never once told a customer what they were saying did not happen and it would have been a serious problem for anyone that did..

When customer's relate their concerns they are very real to them and a business has to listen and at least be compassionate even if they do nothing more, unless they really don't care.

Russ, I was on the 2nd floor...
Does the hospital call all LPN's Aides & RN's "nurses"....
Confusing....

How about we give The Villages Hospital a break. If you have been there, you will understand that the ER is no different than any other in this Country. Unless you go there by ambulance you are going to wait. Remember one thing, there are around 90-100k people living here, one hospital serving a lot of seniors with emergency problems.

I know Russ Boston will not respond as he indicated in a previous post, but I must respond to his response to me.
1. Russ, if you were completely happy in your current position, there would be no need to look elsewhere.
2. There is NEVER a break in patient assignment. If patient load drops, nurses are sent home and patients are reassigned to other nurses. I have had this happen 1 hour be change of shift. Again, it's all about the almighty dollar as expressed by CN's.
3. Ten with 10 years of experience...am I supposed to be impressed? Don't tell me about the CN experience as they are not on the floor and providing direct patient care. I, too, have done charge and have many more years of experience.
4. FYI, I have my BSN and worked at a Magnet hospital. Comparing policies, procedures, staffing, education, diversity, etc. to CFHA; there is no comparison.
5.You state that there are times it "gets skewed," you do not have to move patients; simply make assignments based on acuity. So a nurse has to walk a few extra feet, patient safety should be the issue.
I believe many of these responders have valid complaints. Bedside nursing and patient care are things of the past which is sad!

I just obtained my records....
I did not see any of the 3 doctors who signed orders and history!!
Charting was minimal.....
No surprise!!

But my bet is, the billing was done fast and as heftily as possible.

Probably!

villages regional hospital
 

My husband just spent 2 weeks on the 3rd floor in ICU hospitalized with
Severe pneumonia.

I have only good things to say about the overall care.
The nurses and doctors were all very compassionate.
Yes, there was a slight wait for a bed while we were
In emergency.

Most nurses even asked if they could get me a coffee
Probably because the stress was written all over my face.
There was a beautiful sunroom where I could go when
I needed a break.

Btw, during various times throughout the day I noticed
A couple of times a completely empty emergency room
Or at most perhaps 10 people waiting. I was in awe as I
Am so used to seeing crowded emergency waiting rooms
And even patients on stretchers in hallways because no
Rooms are available.

I was very impressed with our Villages Hospital.

WCS

Roshomon Effect
 

After reviewing the contradictory perceptions here I suspect the Rashomon Effect has taken over.

I was sold on the Munroe System because of the manner in which they cared for my brother. I have utilized only physicians and hospital associated with them and have not been disappointed.

I'll admit I had to look that one up. I guess I'm more educated today than yesterday:) Thanks.

But the bottom line is that if you have a good experience you are more likely to use that business again. That's just common sense.

There is one more "factor" that I have observed, in other words, this is just my opinion: "Medical care is alway better 'somewhere else.'" This is the perception that the best hospital or the best specialist that you need are not those available locally, but rather those that require you to travel a greater distance to obtain their services. This is akin the the adage: "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence."

What Rubicon wrote is true, I believe. No one can deny another's bad experience nor someone else's good experience at any hospital. All that can be added, perhaps, is maybe a list of mitigating factors ( overcrowding in the ER on one particular night etc.) Doesn't change a bad experience nor probably justify most of them.

From my own experience, both times I've needed TVRH's ER I was very well and very promptly attended to - once even when it was crowded.

This summer, I had by-pass surgery in Leesburg Hospital. The cardiac care unit was fantastic. I had subsequent need for its ER and I would not wish my experience on my worst enemy. I not only caught a crowded night but a somewhat cavalier doctor.

I then, later this summer, spent 14 days in TVRH for an intestinal problem and that was via the ER. My care from the doctors to the nurses (including Russ here) and the aides was equal and at times far better than I experienced at NYU Medical in NYC or at Long Island hospitals.

Again, my experience. I have a set of doctors I consider to be highly professional, knowledgeable and caring and they are all connected to TVRH.

can you say attorney? If she stroked, there likely would have been a stroke buster given IV in an effort to curb the event. I am not a litigious person but THIS screams SUE ME. justsayin

1. Only a ischemic stroke (blockage of blood to the brain) would receive tPa (the drug not mentioned).

2. A ct (cat scan) needs to be done to prove bleed vs. blockage.

3. tPa can only be given within the first 3 hours of an event to be of any use.


Just wanted to mention these 3 things (to be accurate). Justsayin!

Just Wait...
 

Regardless of the issues discussed above..just wait 'til the Non-Affordable Care Act kicks in for sure and see how your medical services are affected. From hospitals to docs I am certain it is a disaster in the making.

... And this is before Obama Care cuts the $800 bil from Medicare! Good reason for the Marcus Welby plan. We've used concierge medicine for ten years now, one big benefit besides docs cell phoe, if you need emergency service, they call ahead and are ready for you.