After Caring For A Patient All Through The Night, She Died During The Day. Why?
Hospitals are majorly seen by patients as a place where death is the order of the day. Some time ago, my friend go sick and was admitted to the hospital.. When he came back, he began to tell me about the lackadaisical attitude of nurses towards their jobs. He narrated how people died due to the severity of their ill health (mostly those with RTA). According to him, he witnessed more than 4 deaths during the one week of his stay in the Accident and emergency department.
In the hospital, nurses are seen as a symbol of hope. Just like the "S" in superman, When a nurse is mentioned, there is hope in every patients heart because they know that there is somebody who is ready to take care of them and stand by them until they regain full health. Nurses are the superman of health care. They stand by the patient, take care of the patient day and night, serve as a bridge between the doctor and the patient. Ultimately, the wholistic care of nurses towards their patient is one thing that is worthy of praise.
One thing most patient think about nurses is that, nurses are supposed to be perfect and they are supposed to tolerate every single bad character of their patients. Patients expect nurses to sympathize with them. But when i think about it, I cant help it but wonder, How i'm i supposed to suture somebody when i have sympathy for them? Would that not make me be overrun by emotions and not do what i'm supposed to do? Welp, this is not what i actually want to talk about in today's post.
Lets talk about the lackadaisical attitude of nurses towards their job.
I have heard a lot of things about nurses from different people. People say that some nurses aren't punctual, they say that, instead of nurses to be fixated on their duty, they press their phones all through. Some nurses don't actually like working. Instead of them to work, they will send their junior staff to do every thing in the hospital. My ears are full, so, i decided to talk about it in this post. Please, everything i talk about are based on my experience so far.
Last week, I was on night duty for 5 days straight. The stress was palpable, but then, i signed up for it, so, i had to do my work without complaints.
During the early hours of my shift, an unconscious patient was brought to my unit, accident and emergency unit. After carrying out my intervention, I invited the doctor to see the patient. Patient was seen, diagnosis made and we were to observe the patient. I stayed awake throughout that night, nursing the patient. The stress i passed through that night was really intense, but then, it was worth it. Patient was stable all through my shift and i handed over to the next shift. The doctor wrote in the patients folder that we should refer the patient in the morning. Nurses here, can not take care of the patient. he murmured.
When i came for night duty the next day, I was told that the patient died. Honestly, it pained my chest. All my hard work, my sleepless night with hunger just went down the drain. What went wrong? i asked my self. I began to go through the folder, and i saw the time of death to be around 12pm or 1pm. I cant actually remember.
When i saw the time of death, diverse things began to go through my head. Why was this patient not referred in the morning? Why was the mid-morning medication not served? What actually happened when i handed over this patient? I could not come to a solid conclusion, but one thing came to my mind; I guess its what the doctor suspected. These nurse show lackadaisical attitude towards their job. It was just a hypothesis but many things pointed to this.
I told the other nurse I worked with at night, and she too saw sense in what i was saying. She sighed in disappointment. We lost a patient probably because of the nurse did not do her job well. Huge emphasis on the probably.
This things does not only happen with nurses. It happens with even doctors, lab scientists, pharmacists, orderlies and even professions outside medicine. Why take a job when you know that you can't actually put in time to do it?
When i see people playing with their jobs, i can't help it but feel a sense of sadness mixed with annoyance.
I lost a patient that i suffered for. I sacrificed my rest just to take care of this patient, but then, she died probably due to mismanagement. tch, i feel like punching that nurse in her stupid face right now.
To those upcoming nurses, please, ask yourself this question. Do you want to be a nurse because of the pride that comes from being called a nurse? Do you want to be a nurse because of the money involved? Do you want to be a nurse so that you will travel out of the country? Do you want to be a nurse because you want to play with the lives of others? or do you want to be a nurse to actually help people and care for them even after they die. yes, after a patient dies, nursing care don't stop.
Ask yourselves these questions. Look deep within yourself. There are other professions that pays a lot. There are lots of professions that will expose you to many things. Not everybody is built for nursing. In nursing, Many are called, but a very very very few are chosen. Would you want to be a nurse that will bad mouth their patient? or do you want to be a nurse that will create a conducive environment for their patient to open up to them? Are you the type that will tell the world about your patient's ill health? or would you want to be tight lipped and maintain confidentiality? Think about it. Nursing and other medical profession is not for everyone.
Think deep, but don't let it fry you motherboard.
~Lupe Fiasco
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As a physiotherapist, I understand how it feels to lose a patient you have been caring for. I also understand the stress and sacrifice nurses make to take care of their patients.
Sometimes, the patients make it, and sometimes the patients eventually don't. But at the end of the day, we just have to take the wins as health professionals and strive to get better in our practice.
You're right. Speak of being a physiotherapist, One of my patient needs a physiotherapist for home services. She's an elderly woman, and she stays in Aba, Abia state. Can you get the job done?
Well, the problem is the distance as I'm occupied with work in umuahia. But what's her condition?
Most people just want the name nurse i have seen many nurse who ignore patient and it lead to the death of the patient. I understand how you feel dear friend you try your best.
The most annoying part is that they will never learn from their mistakes. Its really annoying yaknow.
the reason why most people view hospital as a death place is because of the lackadaisical attitude of both the nurses and the doctors, here in this part of the world, they care more about the money you need to pay than the patient, there is nothing like emergency care or first treatment like they do outside they country, they make sure you survive first then ask for payment later.
If you see the way they will be charging you ehh..
You will hear something like; oga, go and get a card, 30k, then you will see a doctor. then you make a deposit of 50k before we commence any treatment.
When i hear the hospital management give nurses this type of order, i'm like; Are we called to serve humanity or are will called to bill humanity? like wtf is this?
Frankly speaking, the excess billing is not actually from the nurse or medical team, but its from the management. If the medical team dont do it like that, the patients hospital bill will be deducted from the medical teams peanut salary.
Sorry for the loss of your patient.
Thank you