Tonsillectomy tales, part 3: What went wrong

While at the hospital, there were many things the staff did right but a few things they did wrong. Today will focus on what went wrong. The first problem was when we were waiting in the room before the surgery. At some point, one of the nurse's came in to get some information for the chart and take some vital signs. She just came in and started asking questions without introducing herself. I absolutely cannot stand that. What makes it worse is when the person has an ID badge that is turned around because it is not attached to anything stable. What good is it to wear an ID badge if I cannot identify you when you walk in the room? This practice should not be allowed. I always identified myself to patients when I did inpatient consults and I always wear my ID badge on my collar so it cannot twist around. So after giving her a few minutes, I said, "Excuse me but ummm, who are you?" It was at this point when she identified herself. This same person also spelled my daughter's name wrong on her ID bracelet, which is another problem we caught.

Third problem. My daughter has latex sensitivity so she cannot get regular band-aids because her skin gets red and swollen. This was labeled on her chart AND on a big yellow bracelet on one of her arms. Despite all of this, one of the nurse's tried to give her a latex band-aid. Thank goodness my wife was there to intervene. People like to think that medical professionals do not make mistakes but they do. This is why is takes an extra set of eyes to make sure things do correctly, even if they get offended. For example, I just saw a patient who had meningitis and the nurse accidentally gave him Prograf (a medication uses to SUPPRESS the auto-immune system) in transplant patients. The medication was actually intended for his roommate. Nothing like fighting that infection by giving patients medications that reduce their ability to fight it!

And this brings me to my last point -- roommates. Why on earth would you put another child in the room who has a severe life-long developmental disability who just had major back surgery and is moaning and whaling all night. My wife got one hour of sleep as a result. I know everyone can't get a private room, but they really should place patients who have more serious surgeries in rooms with each other and patients who had more minor surgeries which each other. This way, you allow patients (and family members) with minor surgeries to maximize the chance that they will get some sleep. Those with more significant surgeries probably won't get much sleep anyway, so why not put another patient in that room since he/she will likely be up all night anyway. Ideally, the goal should be for each patient to have a private room since we all know that sleep and rest promotes the healing process. Stay tuned tomorrow for what the hospital did right.