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Hospitals - an observation

maflynn

maflynn

macrumors Broadwell
Original poster
May 3, 2009
75,233
45,673
I'm sure there are many incongruities in hospitals but I noticed this last week

long story short - I ended up in emergency surgery for an appendectomy. Not a situation I'd like to go through again. As I'm laying there the nurses and doctors keep pushing me to get up and walk around.

Why is it that they want me mobile and walking while there but insist on making me sit in a wheelchair whem I'm leaving? It wasn't a huge deal but a curious move.

Then of course there's "hospital" time when the nurse or doctor states they'll be back soon that means you'll not see them. When they say you'll be heading down to get a ct scan at 1:00am that means you wait till 3:00am for them to take you.

Any other observations
 
Now that I know what it's like from the other point of view (my wife is a medical student doing rounds in the hospital), I think you should stop complaining.
 
What complaining. I'm just pointing out some observations.
 
Unfortunately in a hospital, when it comes to scans and stuff, emergencies happen and plans change, someone might have come in who was far more sick than you and imperative that they got a scan sooner.

As far as the up and mobile thing goes.. while you're in the hospital they are liable for you, they need you up and walking in the hospital to show you're making progress, but need you in a wheelchair getting out of the hospital because they aren't there to take you to your method of transport home, it's legal BS but unfortunately it's just jumping through the hoops.
 
Laying in bed after surgery has several problems, but the two biggest are the possibility of pneumonia and the possibility of blood clots in the legs that could break off, go to your lungs and kill you. By getting you up and moving after surgery, you will be upgright and moving around, you will be decreasing the chance of fluid accumulation in the lungs and breathing deeper, therefore less chance of pneumonia. By walking, using your legs, you will be keeping the blood moving in your legs and therefore less chance of potentially-fatal blood clots. It's true that a laparoscopic appendectomy isn't a terribly disabling operation - most people are discharged within 24 hours - but even so the risks need to be minimized.

As to timing, keeping to a given schedule in a hospital isn't always possible. Nobody is sitting around drinking coffee while you're waiting for your CT scan ... more likely the night staff just has a lot to do, and on patients that are sicker than you are. Emergency medical services are not provided on a first-come, first-served.

As to going out in a wheelchair, that is strictly a liability thing. If you fall on their premises while you're limping out the door, they know that you are going to sue them.
 
They were busy and I have to say the folks at the Mass General hospital were the best. It was just funny, that the schedules they communicated to me were always off by at least 2 hours. Not just in the emergency room but through my whole stay.

I understand the concept of triage, but the waiting, or delay was consistent during my stay.

Overall I'm happy I went to the MHG over any other hospital in the Boston area. I just meant my posts to be observations about hospitals, and in fact the doctors and nurses got a kick out of "hospital" time vs. real time :)
 
maflynn said:
I ended up in emergency surgery for an appendectomy.
...

When they say you'll be heading down to get a ct scan at 1:00am that means you wait till 3:00am for them to take you.

Any other observations
Click to expand...

I had an appendectomy a few years ago too. I came into the ER with my dad around midnight and waited for around an hour before I got a bed. Then I waited some more. Then I got an IV, but the nurse messed up the first time so I was lucky enough for her to try again. I was around 3am when they gave me the white liquid you have to drink (ugh :(), and they operated around 6, but I don't remember that because I fell asleep.

Observations? CT scan machines using Mickey mouse voices are f***ing creepy.
 
Observations? They let new people do IV's, when I went in for pneumonia a few years ago, they tried several times(including twisting it around in my arm, yeah that hurt) before they called someone in who got it on the first try and it barely hurt, shouldn't they have to be able to get it in a dummy the first try before they move on to actual patients?
 
nick1516 said:
Observations? They let new people do IV's, when I went in for pneumonia a few years ago, they tried several times(including twisting it around in my arm, yeah that hurt) before they called someone in who got it on the first try and it barely hurt, shouldn't they have to be able to get it in a dummy the first try before they move on to actual patients?
Click to expand...

Or at least practice on each other. :mad:
 
nick1516 said:
Observations? They let new people do IV's, when I went in for pneumonia a few years ago, they tried several times(including twisting it around in my arm, yeah that hurt) before they called someone in who got it on the first try and it barely hurt, shouldn't they have to be able to get it in a dummy the first try before they move on to actual patients?
Click to expand...

How do you think the competent doctor became competent?

Having medical students practice on patients is a necessary evil.
 
nick1516 said:
Observations? They let new people do IV's, when I went in for pneumonia a few years ago, they tried several times(including twisting it around in my arm, yeah that hurt) before they called someone in who got it on the first try and it barely hurt, shouldn't they have to be able to get it in a dummy the first try before they move on to actual patients?
Click to expand...

This comment reeks of ignorance.
 
maflynn said:
I'm sure there are many incongruities in hospitals but I noticed this last week

long story short - I ended up in emergency surgery for an appendectomy. Not a situation I'd like to go through again. As I'm laying there the nurses and doctors keep pushing me to get up and walk around.

Why is it that they want me mobile and walking while there but insist on making me sit in a wheelchair whem I'm leaving? It wasn't a huge deal but a curious move.

Then of course there's "hospital" time when the nurse or doctor states they'll be back soon that means you'll not see them. When they say you'll be heading down to get a ct scan at 1:00am that means you wait till 3:00am for them to take you.

Any other observations
Click to expand...


I work in an ER and it is nearly impossible to give correct times. When I am working in triage you can tell a patient about how m any people are in front of the but you have to consider EMS, Life flight and others that take priority. There is just no way to tell times. And we have about 32 rooms in our ER and usually 2 doctors 3 at most workign all of them. If a patient codes, all the nurses and docoros have to stop what they are doing to rush in there because they always take priority. I tell people all the time that there are more emergent cases. Example: When had a patient in triage and a patient with a sliced hand sign in. As we were moving the 1st patient out a chest pain with shortness of breathe walks up, and we take the chest pain in immediately. The hand guy was PISSED but, although he is in pain, we have to decide what is more emergent and the level of acuity of the pt and, at that time, the patient with breathing problems was. It sucks, but like I said, even though he was in pain, he wasnt in danger - at least not as much as the chest pain. So although a different situation, giving times in a hospital is really hard as we never know what will happen. There is NEVER a dull moment. Trust me.
 
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