Loved one in the hospital, POOR communication from the staff.

-
Kern Dog

Kern Dog

Build your car to handle.
FABO Gold Member
Joined
May 23, 2010
Messages
9,749
Reaction score
28,041
Location
Granite Bay CA
My Brother in law had to be brought in to a hospital last week due to a sudden "Brain bleed" that left him dizzy, disoriented and unable to speak. They took him by ambulance to a well respected hospital.
Since this whole Covid mess, family members are not allowed in for visits so any and ALL information has to go through the Hospital staff. Usually an "in person" visitor can see the patient, speak with him/her, watch the Doctors and Nurses, ask questions and stay informed on the issues. Most of that is gone now.
This Hospital does not call with frequent updates, my Sister has to make most of the calls.
They don't go into detail, she has to dig like an investigative reporter.
He is dealing with a neurological issue and they are NOT explaining a course of action for now or for the future. This has been extremely stressful. One certainty is that is was NOT a stroke. He speaks and responds to the staff.
This Covid isolation protocol has been going on for almost a year. The ONLY way to know of the condition of a patient is through the staff of the Hospital. For these people to be stingy with updates and information is just terrible.
Sis was able to contact a friend from her church that is associated with the hospital. A few minutes later, the PRESIDENT of the hospital called to apologize and to say that he was going to look into it.
Why should it have to resort to this?
This Covid bullshit has gone on for too long and by NOW, there should be some understanding that this type of isolation requires a MUCH higher level of communication. We have all spoken with Doctors that ramble on in medical terms far over our heads. That sucks but at the very least, they are actually talking to people.
 
It's all bullshit over something similar to the flu. Praying for your brother in law.
 
Having a wife that has been in hospitals numerous times for numerous situations, the first thing you get is the name of the nurse that is assigned to your brother in law. In the medical facilities here in ND there is always an individual assigned to a patient and he/she is the goto person for anything. Kommiefornia is undoubtedly different but that is the way it works here.
 
brother, i am sorry to hear that

we had a similar issue with my mother in law, back in december
she got admitted with something called encephalitis

we had the advantage of my wife being in the medical field and that opened up some doors


best advice i can give you know is to memorize the name of the president, and drop it when needed
 
mopowers said:
What hospital is he at?

Do you know if he has a case manager assigned to him?
Click to expand...
Mercy Hospital in Sacramento on Coyle avenue.
The Dr finally called. He obviously was bitched out because Sis said he was a real jerk, trying to defend his position throughout the conversation.
 
Kern Dog said:
Mercy Hospital in Sacramento on Coyle avenue.
The Dr finally called. He obviously was bitched out because Sis said he was a real jerk, trying to defend his position throughout the conversation.
Click to expand...

i can not stand people like that
if his boss chewed him out, clearly he was wrong

if he still feels the need to belly ache about that, clearly he didnt get it


but i am glad you found something out
 
Same happened to me July 30 2020 when i had my heart attack while driving. Would not let my wife in at all. Would not talk to her about my medical history, my meds, nothing. Kept asking me questions when i came out of surgery of which i couldn't think straight to answer. They went thru my wallet to fine my health insurance info which was Atena. Problem is my heart was covered under a workmans comp claim. They billed Aetna $155,000 and when my wife told the insurance company that they shouldn’t have paid it. They tell my wife we would have to file a dispute! What? I’m trying to save you money by letting you know the hospital billed the wrong party and i have to file a dispute? Thats ok you just accept the cost. It was a mess for no reason. They hide behind the Covid threat and their so called protocols. BS they left my wife outside the hospital all night for two days. Fortunately i had fellow firefighters staying with her and bring food. Hospitals create more issues than they prevent.
 
My wife spent two stints in the hospital since the whole Covid thing started. First time was before they stopped allowing visitors (she went in last March 14). They put the signs up when I went for lunch the day she got out. They let me stay.

The second time (July) she just drove herself as we knew I wasn't getting past the door. No visitors, but she and I would text (she had a hard time talking with a tube down her throat).

Overall treatment both times was not up to what it should have been.
 
Thanks, friends.
This is a really shitty situation. THEY have all the control. THEY have all the information and they dole it out like scraps to a stray dog, giving you far less than you want or need. Sis had had to drill like a 60 minutes reporter to get anything out of the staff. They give short answers as if they are being questioned by a Senate committee.
 
Jim Lusk said:
My wife spent two stints in the hospital since the whole Covid thing started. First time was before they stopped allowing visitors (she went in last March 14). They put the signs up when I went for lunch the day she got out. They let me stay.

The second time (July) she just drove herself as we knew I wasn't getting past the door. No visitors, but she and I would text (she had a hard time talking with a tube down her throat).

Overall treatment both times was not up to what it should have been.
Click to expand...

Nearly ALL hospital staff has been pushed to the limits of human endurance, massive increase in job stress, mandatory overtime and given poor information themselves during this constantly evolving pandemic.

We just lost another guy to complications from covid at work
yesterday. He was 62, fought the illness for about 3 weeks before passing. It is real, it is happening and none of us are getting off this planet alive. There are worse ways to go, but there are better ways also.

Stay healthy, drive high performance things and show & tell your loved ones you love them. Above all, thank God, clean up your side of the street and help others when you can.
 
I'm sorry to hear about your brother-in-law and the challenges getting information. I can see a doctor becoming a jerk and defending his actions. Hopefully information will come easier now that the president got involved.

I work in a hospital but not in patient care so I can speak to that. But I have heard nurses on the phone with family members a number of times. @jbc426 is correct. Hospital staff has been pushed to the limit for a long time. I rarely run across a nurse who doesn't want the very best for the patient or family.

I feel like, at least where I work, the doctors and nurses seem like they are able to truly focus on the patients' care without the distraction of a lot of people wondering around. The hospital is quiet and a pleasant place to work now.

We allow one visitor for the entire hospital stay, but only the same person can visit. I think that policy strikes a good balance. Visiting hours are still reduced to 8am-8pm.
 
Part of the problem is that SOME people are shitty communicators. What THEY deem to be "making progress" may be entirely different to the family.
Sis is all alone at home, waiting for the next time that she can call to learn more. Why can't they spell out the events of the day, give a status report, then outline what the overall goal is for the patient? Why does the family have to be the one to ask all the questions? The hospital staff do this EVERY day with hundreds of people a year. WE don't have the experience, THEY do. The responsibility to inform their "customers" lies with them since they have are the only ones allowed to interact with the patient and the medicine.
 
You're absolutely correct. There is no excuse for not keeping the closest relative up to date. Maybe in his case they are not sure what to do next?
 
Sis says that she doesn't need absolutes and knows that they are impossible to determine anyway. She just wants some decent communication. If they don't know what is going on with him, say that. There is NO shame in admitting that you don't know but are still working on it.
 
I my case they had no clue what my meds were. I am a diabetic and take a shot once a day. The hospital records had on my chart once a week. I vaguely remember a team of doctors coming in and out of my room to ask questions and talk to me. I can’t tell you any part of it. All they had to do is talk to my wife that was right outside the hospital. She knows my meds and history better than I do. Makes me wonder how many people died in the hospital that shouldn’t have.
 
SGBARRACUDA said:
I my case they had no clue what my meds were. I am a diabetic and take a shot once a day. The hospital records had on my chart once a week. I vaguely remember a team of doctors coming in and out of my room to ask questions and talk to me. I can’t tell you any part of it. All they had to do is talk to my wife that was right outside the hospital. She knows my meds and history better than I do. Makes me wonder how many people died in the hospital that shouldn’t have.
Click to expand...
that reminds me of a funny story

at some point my mother in law went from getting 25 units of insulin twice daily to getting 35 units twice daily
somehow, on the order, it got written down as 35 units once daily
it took me months of phone calls and hour upon hours of waiting and trying to get hold of someone before we could get it worked out (finally we found a note in a patient portal from 3 years ago that agreed with the 35 twice daily dose)
every single one of those months we were short on insulin at the end of the month


patient portal

(back on topic)

does this hospital have one?
you may be able to gleam some more information from there
 
Sorry that you and your family are being treated so poorly. Here in Canada, many hospitals have a patient advocate whose job is to intervene on behalf of the patient and their family. My wife went through a hellish ordeal several years ago when she had gall bladder trouble. She spent 10 days in the hallway of the emergency department before finally getting a room, and an additional five days in pain and unable to eat while the idiot doctor dithered about whether or not he was going to perform the surgery. When he finally did the operation late one night, she was taken off all pain medication within 8 hours and treated with a great deal of disrespect for having stood up for herself. I picked her up and took her home 12 hours after the operation was done.
You might want to inquire about a patient advocate in that hospital. I realize that staff at any hospital is very stressed out these days, but they still need to be compassionate and understanding of what families are going through.
 
Sis got a call this morning....From her HUSBAND.
He remembers nothing. Complete blank slate. He remembers taking a nap on Friday, then waking up in the hospital. He was chattering on and on so if there was brain damage, it appears to be slight. Time will tell though. This does NOT excuse the poor communication of the staff though.
Thanks to all that cared to respond.
 
Sounds like positive news about your brother-in-law. Thanks for sharing. Praying he'll be back to normal soon.

Hopefully the president will run with the experience and create changes for the better.
 
It's pretty shitty how some doctors, nurses, etc. can be such horrible communicators. Seems like that would be a pretty important part of their jobs.
 
I've been in the hospital twice since November and just had a visit to the ER on this past Monday night.

Overall things went smoothly.

I had a knee replacement done November 3rd. Had the the other knee done in 2017 at the same hospital. This stay was better... they mostly let you get some sleep every night. And no cather this time, either. The nurse told me there were new federal regulations designed to make patients more comfortable and to make each hospital stay a bit cheaper (my last catheter was $1700.00!!!)

I had an "unofficial" heart attack on December 13th... bad chest pain I thought was indigestion. Went away in 15 minutes. Then, on December 20th, I had "the widowmaker". 45 minutes of chest pain followed by a trip to the ER and a helicopter ride to the regional heart center where they put in one stint in my 95% blocked main artery.

The copter ride was $28,000 for about 20 minutes.

I was in a different hospital than my earlier knee replacement. Good doctors and nurses. Admitted Sunday night went home Tuesday PM.

Neither hospital asked me to wear a mask. I'd say most of the nurses and doctors did not wear masks, either.

I'm happy I got the good care I needed.
 
I had a real bad experience at a hospital when I attended Springfling one year. Had a real bad sinus infection, went into an ER IN Van Nuys. Talk about 3rd world. There were two ladies laying on the floor. I sat in the waiting room for 4 hours before they called my name. I was laying on the a gurney taking a nap given it was 3am. Opened my eyes and there’s this female doc staring at me. She didn’t speak very good English, told me I had a sinus infection and prescribed an antibiotic with some pain meds. Took another hour to get the meds. Went back to the motel,took a shower and headed over to Woodly Park. Actually felt pretty good walking the swap meet.

On that note, hope your bro in-law is doing better.
 
The one thing I noticed about working in a hospital.

I am tremendously grateful for my good health. Every day I walk nearly every floor and seeing the folks in wheelchairs heading somewhere or on a bed going to or from surgery makes me want to continue working out and eating properly.

On a side note, we are down to 15 Covid inpatients. Last night was my first time walking through the Covid unit in a week. The nurses were so relaxed, I startled them when I opened the door!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top