Many years ago, my grandfather left AMA. He knew he was about to die and, he said he wouldn't die in a hospital, that he wanted to die at home. He also said, there were too many things at home to take care of before he died. So, when he was given the news, he probably wouldn't last another day or two, he checked himself out. He went home that morning, took care of his garden and a few other things around the house, as well as some paperwork, then around supper time, he said he was going to take a nap. Gave his wife a kiss and hugged her, sat down in his recliner, put on the tv and went to sleep for the last time. He always said, he'd know the time he was going to go.
@@_The_RFG_Club_ thank you but, not really. I respected him for things like that. He knew when he was going to go, and wanted it to be on his terms. He was a good man, and lived a good life. He knew there was no fighting the inevitable.
When my mum was in hospital at the end of her life she was unable to talk about D.N.R. She had talked to us (her children) about it. I had to tell the doctor that she did not want her life prolonged if her heart stoped. They resuscitated her 10 times before I was so upset that I screamed out enough she did not want this. They then rang my other siblings to find out what I said was true. So yes please talk to your doctor about a DO NOT RESUSCITATE order. It will take a lot of stress off your children
Having worked ER registration, I cannot stress enough how important it is. Some people would get upset when I asked if they had a DNR or advanced directive, but I've seen situations exactly like you described. It's super important to have that stuff lined up not just for you, but also for your loved ones. I'm so sorry you had to deal with that. I don't know if this helps, but I can explain what might have contributed to that situation. Part of the problem is the whole liability issue. If they don't have a notarized DNR on file, it can blow up in their face and become a legal issue, as with there being no official documentation, they could be sued over it. Then there's also family members that are trying to get away with something. That's why they had to call your siblings to confirm. We all the time had family members who had medical power of attorney that thought they could override the patient's decisions because they had POA... WHILE the patient was very much conscious and capable of making their own decisions. Then there's family fights and disagreements, people giving the doctors and nurses conflicting information. It's really frustrating to know that a few rotten people end up making all these extra hoops to jump through. It puts extra stress on everybody and can delay care or important end of life decisions like this. Anyway, sorry about the small essay. I'm sorry about your loss, and I hope you're doing well.
Absolutely agreed. My mom's last hospital visit, she was just lucid enough to tell us that she didn't want the breathing tube OR CPR/etc., and my stepdad and I made sure the doctors and nurses were aware of this. They honored it, even without paperwork. Gotta have an advocate who knows what you want when you're in that situation.
In most countries it is best to prepare something in writing. Place it somewhere readily-available to your next of kin and make sure they know about it. (Add something about your preferences regarding organ donations.) Very useful and stress-reducing for the next-of-kin.
Absolutely disgusting behaviour from the staff. I’m so sorry that you had to go through that. Edit: I mean they shouldn’t have done it that many times even without the dnr order it would have been traumatic
I work at primary care and I tell every patient over 65 to do their directive. Hospitals often contact us to get their last official copy (patient is supposed to give us a copy). So many patients don't do them and its frustrating for exactly this reason. I know it is scary to think about end of life but I tell them it's really a gift for their loved ones so the trauma you experienced doesn't happen. I'm so sorry you went through that
Yes, advocate for yourself! The doctors almost gave my mom the wrong chemotherapy drug before she had a stem cell transplant. She kept telling them it wasn’t right, it wasn’t the one her oncologist told her she was going to have and they insisted it was. She kept insisting until a nurse who had picked up an extra shift and wasn’t even supposed to be there noticed how nervous and worried she seemed. The nurse asked what was up and my mom explained. The nurse was the one to finally convince the doctors it was wrong. The next day the entire department, including all the heads of it and a bunch of other hospital higher ups appeared in her room begging for forgiveness and for a second chance. My mom said “I literally don’t have a choice. I will die if I don’t have this transplant and no one else anywhere near here will do it.” They were extra extra careful after that and were almost obnoxiously nice to us. Advocate for yourself until they’re forced to believe you!
I’m so sorry that happened I hope your mom is doing better. I’m scared to advocate for myself or others because I’m shy and insecure and I know it’s a big thing but usually it’s like the seniority mindset of doctors that makes me think they should know what they’re doing but I’ll learn from your story to do better in sticking up for myself and others
For me, the few times I've been in the hospital, I've had to advocate for myself regarding blood draws and IV's. First, I've learned to not let just anyone stick me. I'm a hard stick, so I always tell them this and insist that they get the ultrasound tech to do it. Sometimes they try to convince me they can do it themselves, but no, I know my body. Get the machine. The other thing was that one time I was in the hospital for a very bad case of mono. (My tonsils swelled so much, my throat closed up.) They came in my room 3 or 4 times a day to draw blood. And this was before I knew to ask for the ultrasound machine. So each time they stuck me, they would stick me multiple times. I had bruises all over. It was horrible. So finally I got so mad about it, I told them they got to take my blood once a day, no more. Especially since it was mono. There was no real reason they needed my blood.
During my mother's final illness, I had to do some pretty forceful advocating for her. I made sure they understood that she was DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) and I questioned what medications they were giving her. The hospital was sold in the middle of her stay, and they immediately lost access to the computer system they were using. They had to go to paper records which wasn't working well. Another time a couple of years before, I had to insist to a surgeon that yes, my mother needed a few opiate pain killers to take for a few days after the procedure. I told him that my mom had a low pain threshold, and that she wasn't an addict, which she wasn't. I was polite, but I think he realized I was going to make trouble if he didn't prescribe them. I understand that doctors are afraid they'll lose their license if they prescribe opioids, but in this case, I felt she needed them.
Although I 100% the "advocate for yourself" advice, it's also good to keep in mind that you, as a patient, can be wrong too; so for whatever the issue is insist on being shown evidence/proof that the doctors/nurses are correct and you're in the wrong. In the case Allison described I would demand the hospital get a hold of my oncologist to confirm with them and me that they had gotten it right and I was wrong. In other words, it's OK to believe you're right, and to insist on some way of settling the issue; but be willing to admit you're wrong if there's convincing evidence you are. In all matters of factual disputes (in hospital or anywhere else in life) evidence is king.
Imma come clean: one time I was in the hospital for sepsis infection and one of the night time nurses was being extremely rude to me basically saying I was faking my infection symptoms for attention and I simply said "I hope you have a quiet shift sir" Surprise: it wasn't a quiet shift for him
“Never insist the doctor is better than the nurse” OH BOY IS THAT THE TRUTH, in my experience, I spent several months in the hospital, and let me tell you... I WAS SO GRATEFUL when the nurses would do things especially dressing changes. Not to say doctors are not essential and wonderful humans for doing what they do, but there’s nothing like a nurse when it comes to bed side manor and calming down a terrified 21-year-old with a ruptured femoral artery. Love your content !!
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OMG yes! I am so grateful for having such great nurses in my intern years, they teach us a lot!!
My friend accidentally cut her arm open while setting up her daughters swing set. The ER doc was super nice and gave great stitches and then bandaged her arm after. The nurse came over to go over discharge paperwork and saw the state of the bandage and flat out said " I love Dr.-------, but let me rebandage that"
It comes from people wanting the best diagnosis. Who does the best diagnosis? The person who knows the most about medical stuff in general, meaning the doctor. I'm a bit of an exponent of that issue myself, as my mother was nearly killed by a nurse who saw her with CLEAR symptoms of high blood pressure for a blood pressure test, but instead decided she knew everything, refused to do the test, told my mother to go eat lots of crisps and other salty stuff to increase her blood pressure and sent her home. Anyway, not two weeks later she was in the ICU with a blood pressure of 195/130 on the brink of death and her kidneys are pretty much shot at about 20% capacity left. The kidney specialist commented that if we'd been 1-2 weeks earlier, it's quite likely the kidney function would've been far more intact. So yeah, if you ever meet anyone insisting to see a doctor, it could be me, since I'll do that whenever I detect any signs of medical people of any kind going outside of their expertise or trying to just get rid of us out of either busyness or lazyness. I do by contrast greatly apreciate medical workers being honest about their thought proces. Had a great time despite the pain when I broke two metatarsal bones and dislocated a toe, because two doctors in training couldn't figure it out, a doctor couldn't figure it out, but they admitted that this combination of fractures and dislocation is not something in any manual and they had trouble deciding on a course of action, because every way of taping everything back together also came with a warning label not to do that in case of something else I had. In the end they called in a professor as well, together with another couple of medical students and had two books open as they decided on the best way to tape everything together. The foot never fully recovered and this was a huge bugbear during military service, sports and longer hiking since, but I know for damned sure that everything that could be done for it, was done, because they were honest about their thought proces and limitations. Save the secrecy and "I know best" for the people who lost the genetic lottery and have an IQ where only "I'm wearing a white coat, trust me bro" inspires confidence.
I was admitted once and I remembered that the doctors were trying to draw blood from an artery. I have always had a hard time getting my blood drawn. This time it was really painful for some reason. They failed 4x (1 nurse and 3 doctors) and on the 5th try it was like a senior nurse who nailed it. Thats when I knew, nurses are really superior when it comes to drawing blood
When I was admitted from the ER, I was so dehydrated that they had to get the ambulance paramedic to find a vein. He did it in one shot. Love that guy, because of him I was finally able to get pain meds!
Once when I was getting blood drawn, I can't remember what it was for, but it was the doctor's first time drawing blood, and it took her about 3 tries. She never did get any out, 'cause I passed out the third time and scared the sh*t out of her. Had to go to a nurse, and she got it done in less than 5 minutes.
I had a seizure and fell off a train platform, and I kept telling the doctors and nurses I was in pain. The doctor actually discharged me at 2 am. I refused to leave, the doctor said he would have security remove me. I waited in the waiting room for an administrator to arrive, explained what happened, and she readmitted me and ordered an MRI. That's when they discovered my pelvis was fractured in front and back. When you have a degenerative musculoskeletal disorder and have a fall, the ER staff should always make sure you can walk unassisted and be able to go to the bathroom before they discharge you. If you can't do either, they should not be discharging you.
exact same thing happened to me. I was in a car accident when I was 2 years old and my parents begged the doctors for almost 3 days straight that something was wrong. They continued to discharge me every single time. I got an MRI and Cat scan and then it showed I had a hairline fracture in my neck.
Similar hospital experiences here too, Doctor’s Mike advice should not be treated as the bible and followed 100%. His advice is assuming everything goes perfectly in his ideal scenario when reality is far from that. Doctors are humans too and some simply became one only for the money, not because they care about their patients and will get lazy at times
My law student contribution: Always read the Informed Consent Forms. It is extremely important you understand the procedure and its risks (from the common ones to the rare ones). I cannot stress this enough, read the Informed Consent and ask all the questions you may have before you sign it. No doctor who is worth their salt should refuse to answer your questions; questions are expected and even encouraged.
My law student contribution: Always read the Informed Consent Forms. It is extremely important you understand the procedure and its risks (from the common ones to the rare ones). I cannot stress this enough, read the Informed Consent and ask all the questions you may have before you sign it. No doctor who is worth their salt should refuse to answer your questions; questions are expected and even encouraged.
I remember when I got a colposcopy, they gave me the informed consent papers after the procedure when I was shaking and about to pass out from the pain
Yes yes yes, I almost never see patients at our clinic read the consent form even for riskier procedures. And as much as I feel honored that they trust us to take care of them, I would much rather they read the form.
Then wisest thing I was ever told in a hospital by a nurse: you come to a hospital to get treated, but you go home to get better. This after I complained about being woken up several times the night by folks checking on me or to do blood draws. She was absolutely right, and made me stop and think about it. I have never complained again about being woken up at the hospital.
If I don't sleep I got very bad headaches (vomit, dizziness, light sensitivity...) so I complained about being woken up several times the night by nurses checking on me and I explained my condition. Because, I will have two problems to face (the one i am at the hospital for and horrible headache)and that isn't make me go better. Please, Let patients time to rest it's important even at hospital.
@@Rachel-qr8kv I don't think nurses come and wake you up in the middle of the night to be annoying. If they're running some tests at specific hours, there's a reason.
We don’t wake you up because we feel like it lol. We do it to make sure we’re taking care of you in the best way possible. You could have a complication in the middle of the night and we wouldn’t know it unless we woke you up for assessment.
I'm so glad I live in a country where you don't have to worry about money when you are in a medical emergency. My mother had an air ambulance literally across country - a flight that lasted for hours, with her own nurse to care for her, ambulance ready to take her to her doorstep, painkillers and physiotherapy later for the grand ol' price of 0$. 🇧🇻🇧🇻🇧🇻
That is how it should be. We have trillions of dollars and great economy. Everyone should pay little for national health care 💯💯,. It's not communism or socialism. I am from india. Government having some control over medicines and equipment pricing is necessary so that companies don't make billions while people are in debt and die. Check U.S on other side. It's horrible and mind-boggling.
ADVOCATE FOR YOURSELF. I was in hospital after surgery for a collapsed lung, and I was given pain medication. I reacted terribly to this pain medication (e.g. hallucinations, vomiting etc which is incredibly painful with a tube in your chest) so the pain specialist put in my record that I was to not have this drug again. One day later, a nurse came in with pain meds and told me to take them. I asked what it was, and they were like “oh your pain meds”. So I was about to take them when I noticed it looked like the drug I reacted to. After arguing with the nurse and her telling me to stop worrying and take it, she finally consulted another nurse who confirmed my suspicion
Her not telling you what the meds are called is a massive red flag! ... Where I go they always tell you the name of each drug they are giving you. And they try to split them in to separate pots so you can easily leave one for later or refuse a specific one...
My kidneys were removed in 2001. When I was in hospital a few months down the track, the nurse came in with a spec jar. I asked her why, and she said "you can't have your ultrasound until you urinate into the jar." I argued with her for 5 minutes (and ended up angry crying) about how I had no kidneys so I couldn't pee. The nurse left to check and never came back 😁 I received a transplant in 2005.
They once gave me the wrong medication 🙃 I told the nurse that it was different from my usual treatment, she insisted so much I took it at the end. I was sick all night.
What country did this happen in? It sounds like typical NHS England treatment, but at the same time I'm not slating the nurses who are totally understaffed, poor handovers and consultants who see you as a bag of flesh, in my experience. Yet there are some dedicated. caring doctors out there, I've met many but not been treated by many.
Also speak up when you enter into an emergency room if you don't feel right. I went into the ER due to a bad toe infection. But for the past couple of days I had a bad pain in my left shoulder blade. They triaged me and I did tell them about the pain but they were incredibly busy. I waited there for over three hours and I kept feeling worse but I figured I should just go home because I didn't want to be a bother. Just as I was about to walk out they called me back. When they listened to my chest they realized I was having a heart attack. They placed three stents that day. I wouldn't have lived if I had went home.
My nurse contribution: Visitors - never ever let your toddlers/small children crawl around on, or play on hospital floors. Not in the waiting rooms, patient rooms, not ANywhere.
People think that because its a hospital or clinic the floor must be disinfected but its not true!! Ive seen kids literally dragging themselves on the floor!! 😖 I just cringe!!
I was caregiver for my mom and one of the biggest headaches was keeping track of her meds as they would change often. So being the computer nerd I am I created a spreadsheet with my mom's info, the date the list was updated, contacts in an emergency, allergic reactions, list of medicines showing generic and commercial names, dosage, how many times a day, when she started on the medication, who prescribed it and for what, and OTC (over the counter meds, vitamins, etc). I'd bring a copy along to every doctor appointment, urgent care visit, ER visit, and I made a lot of nurses and doctors very happy it seems by having all of that in one place and easy to read. I also uploaded it to cloud storage so if I didn't happen to have a printout with me I could get online and show it to the doctor or nurse.
I keep one for myself as well. All of my diagnoses, what year I was diagnosed, all meds and times taken, all allergies, all surgery history, all doctors and specialists I see including their office numbers. So many health care workers have thanked me for providing this, I wish all chronically ill people would do this for themselves and their caregivers.
It's great that you did that but really sad that you have to do this. No person without medical training should be expected to keep track of an elderly persons medications. Might be regional differences but that would be her GPs job where I live.
@@iz2333 When someone is seeing 5 or 6 different doctors mistakes can happen if the patient (or caregiver) doesn't keep up with what medications are being taken.
After my surgeon sent me home with a punctured colon, I ended up back in the hospital with sepsis. Had emergency surgery and spent 2 months in the hospital. Let me tell you, patience, manners, being friendly, and saying please and thank you go a LONG way with all staff.
Around 13 years ago I was brought to the ER from home. I was having a massive GI bleed. After banding it blew out again and they did TIPPS. I lost A LOT of blood I received 12 bags of blood and two bags of platelets. I had worked in the ER and i’ve never seen anyone throw up so much blood before. So this did scare me about five or six days after the event I was starting to eat, but was so weak that I couldn’t yet walk at all much less take care of myself at home. The G.I. doctor wanted to send me straight from the ICU to home even though I couldn’t walk she said she needed the bed. I really couldn’t believe this. The other GI doctor stepped back and mouthed to me “I’ll be back” Thank God he fixed everything. PT got sent to me and evaluated me. I got to stay about 48 more hours . I got stronger and able to go up a flight of stairs. This all surprised me. This was at a top hospital in Boston. Thank you Dr Field Willingham. We miss you much ❤
Love the "end of life" suggestion. My mom recently passed, but fortunately, she'd seen an attorney and her end-of-life instructions written down in a folder. We were able to find everything we need and pass it on to her medical staff. (She basically had a DNR and the hospital staff respected it.) Made things so much easier for her and for us.
I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm glad that at least your family did not have to worry about what to do. How thoughtful of your mother! In May, my mother went into the hospital, it looked real bad for a few weeks, and we had to have this conversion. It was rough for us kids, but thankfully she had pre-planned a lot of the medical stuff. She recovered enough to come home, and now she and my father are planning their end-of-life finances. Thoughtful parents like that make the grief less stressful. We need to grieve our loss, not worry about legalities.
One of my dad's coworker died because he left the hospital against the doctors' advice. Dude was super super workaholic and had a heart attack in the office, was taken to a hospital, and when he started feeling better he insisted that he had to back to work. Literally everyone told him it's a bad idea, he wanted to go anyway and iirc he had a second heart attack on the way there and died.
Dude was super super smooth brain is what he was. Imagine being such a slave to your work hours that you force yourself to death cause you were too desperate to get back to earning money for your boss wowzers. 🤦♂️
One time, my mom and sister took our father to the hospital because he was in pain and vomiting (I wasn't there so I am not sure exactly what other things were going on). When they got him to the hospital a staff member said he was obviously just too drunk because he was vomiting and couldn't stand on his own and told us to wait for him to be seen. My mom and sister had to make a scene just to get attention because they knew he had not had anything to drink but the staff did not believe them. Luckily they managed to get someone's attention and he got in. Turns out it was a brain aneurysm. Also we were lucky that he survived it. I know hospital staff are busy people with lots of people to take care of, but to just disregard someone because you think the symptoms they are showing makes them look drunk even when people said they are not, is not right.
I will never trust a doctor or nurse or anybody that can diagnose someone just by looking for 5 seconds at various obvious-visual cues. That's like me telling you that your car's engine dun work well just cuz I smell burnt rubber, there's a damage to the car and it has issues starting. It can literally as well be the battery, the fuel, etc. etc. instead.
End of Life Convo is a big one!! I've been a big advocate for palliative care for years and years - I even gave an end-of-life and palliative care presentation at my community college in my early 20s just because I was so passionate about it. Don't be afraid to have these conversations!! My grandmother told me I was the only family member who ever asked her about her wishes when she was 86 years old. There's a reason she made me her Power of Attorney. When she ended up in the hospital for something that seemed routine? Turns out it wasn't -- and it took them a couple of weeks to recognize that! I had to advocate hard for her comfort, but I knew what she was willing to endure and where her stopping point was because I'd talked to her about it. DON'T WAIT TO HAVE THESE CONVERSATIONS.
As a nurse working in a hospital, I can verify pretty much all the points in here. When it comes to jewelry, our hospital has a locked box next to each bed and only nurse has a key. Even still, we are very careful and ask patients to pass jewelry and valuables to relatives so they would be more secure. I would also add a point "Do not rush the staff for whatever reason." I see many patients and relatives trying rush medications, treatments and scans immediadly while the staff is trying to sort things out with the best of their abilities. We are all doing our best and sometimes waiting sucks and there's not a single day when I don't apologize for the wait time especially if there's an emergency going on in another room. It's alright to remind but wrong to demand instant service.
the only time i’ve ever wanted to rush a nurse was to get more sick bowls when i had appendicitis, because i was GOING to throw up, and didn’t want to create a harder job by puking on the floor. however, i felt too bad and like there was probably someone in a worse state, so i tried not to puke. i…completely failed and felt awful
Just wanna say thank you for what you do daily at work. You deal with the worst and sickest of us and usually get no thanks or respect (or not enough). Our medical systems would crumble in minutes without you all and people need to know that. Sorry for the novel, I just have unending respect for what you do 💜
I had to calm my mom down when it took the ER staff over an hour to get me an prescription. I knew they were short staff, and it didn't help that it was during their shift change.
My only time at the ER had a total wait time of 7 hours (with a few 10-15 minute examinations in between). I only heard 3 hours in they had a major highway accident coming in during that time, with a second one later. I was cold, in pain and tired, but I understood I wasn't a priority at the time and they were doing their darnest to help everyone.
I've shared this before and I will continue sharing it: ALWAYS advocate for yourself! I went to the ER thinking I had appendicitis, doctor asked if I could be pregnant (nope, thank you social distancing), did the abdomen exam, determined I did not have appendicitis and tried to send me home. When I pushed for the CT scan, he said I probably had gastritis, and I probably wouldn't get scanned until 3 or 4 am (it was around 8 pm at that point). I told him I would wait for the scan. Got scanned around 11:30 pm, scan showed I had an abscess in my small intestine. I ended up getting admitted, and further tests and procedures diagnosed me with Crohn's Disease and sepsis. During my follow-up with my PCP, she told me she saw the scan and estimated I was about 48 hours away from medical emergency, and praised me for trusting my body and advocating for myself. (For what it's worth, the ER doctor did apologize for not believing me when he discussed the scan results with me.)
I wish there was a more universal “believe the patient until you can PROVE otherwise” instead of the “it’s probably not a big deal” until you come into the ER with an immediate life threatening situation. Not just at the ER but with all doctors.
@@C1975-t7p I mean, immediate life threatening situations are kind of the entire point of an ER. Anything else should be seen by urgent care or at a doctors office. People will often go to an ER with any medical issue but they can't really do anything for you outside of acute emergencies.
100% on advocating for yourself and your family/friends. I remember a few years ago my uncle was dying in hospital and needed to have a scan done, and was told he could have nothing to eat or drink until the scan. I arrived after his lunch had and he was so hungry and thirsty, but waited patiently. A junior nurse came in to give him medicine, and left before my uncle took it, and I stopped my uncle from taking it. Chasing the nurse down I asked if my uncle could have the medicine if he wasn’t allowed to have anything to eat or drink, and after checking with another nurse, it turns out that because he had lunch delivered it was assumed he had eaten and got knocked back on the wait list. I told them he hadn’t had anything waiting for the scan, and provided he didn’t take the medicine (he didn’t) he was bumped up the list. If I hadn’t stopped and talked on my uncle’s behalf, I hate to think of how long he would’ve waited to be seen…
Just FYI, some meds are OK take if NPO ( nothing by mouth). Pt can have orders that say NPO except for meds, because some of those meds are important and should be missed due to a potential scan
Been there done that. I was diabetic while pregnant and after my daughter was born I had to be NPO to get my tubes tied. She was born after midnight and I was scheduled for surgery at 7 am so they wouldn't even let me have water after giving birth. Fine, let's just get this done. Except the surgeon was late and decided to get his morning clinic out of the way first. Then that ran late too. He visited me on his lunch break to explain the delay and had the nerve to eat in front of me. I don't begrudge a busy doctor his lunch, but with the smell of chicken swamping the room, I was hard pressed not to snatch it from him. I hadn't had anything to eat or drink since noon the previous day, and was breast feeding my newborn. The nursery expressed concern that my daughter's blood sugar was low and they couldn't figure out why. Duh, my sugar is low too; I wonder why! Finally at 5:30 pm they wheeled me to surgery, where the anesthetist and the rest of the team were already half an hour into overtime and...the surgeon calls to say he's running later than planned. My last conscious memory is of the anesthetist cursing at the doctor. I ended up back in my room after 9 pm. The cafeteria was closed, so the nurses put together a meal from the vending machines--a turkey sandwich, jello, cookies, pudding, and a cola. For a diabetic. Then they had the nerve to be surprised when my sugar went way up. Fed my baby again, and the nursery reported with surprise that her blood sugar also went up. I just wanted to scream in frustration at the lack of understanding something as common as diabetes.
I am a CNA. I was visiting one of my residents in the hospital and they asked if I would assist. The patient has diminished cognition and a history of violence, but being familiar with him I was sure I could help. He was uncharacteristically cooperative, FOR THE FIRST ATTEMPT. By the third try he was extremely agitated, and I was pissed. I insisted on another nurse to draw the blood. I was able to get him to settle down and we got the blood sample. They explained that the first nurse was new at drawing blood. I expressed my disappointment at them deciding to use this patient as a guinea pig. I informed my supervisor but don't know what actions may have been taken.
The point about leaving against medical advice is absolutely spot on! I was admitted a few years ago with a cat bite that had gone right through my hand. I had had it cleaned, a good dose of antibiotics and a tetanus shot but they wanted to keep me in anyway with my hand strapped above my head. However, I decided I couldn't be bothered to hang around all night and it was silly keeping me in for a cat bite - I felt like I was taking up a much needed bed, so I discharged myself. Within 12 hrs I was re-admitted with sepsis and needed adrenaline. Had I stayed, all of that could have been headed off in advance and I wouldn't have needed to stay as long as I did. Ultimately, my poor decision almost cost me my life and cost the already crippled NHS far more money than it should have.
@@alejandromedrano7986 my last cat bit the vet right through the bite protection glove. After that I was only allowed to bring her in a special cage that allowed them to push her to one side, so they could sedate her without danger to themselves My cat was a traumatised cat who was rescued from an animal abuse situation, and she was terrified of strangers and unfamiliar places. I only went to the vet if it was necessary and let them do all other checks and vaccines while she was under anesthesia.
I have a history of incredibly painful kidney stones. The doctor I was seeing in the ER thought I was drug seeking. He explained to me that he was a cop during the day, and doctor by night. He looked me up in their system that tells them the last time you've had a narcotic prescribed, saw it had been 6 weeks, then sent me on my way. Two days later, I was back, with a stone the size of a pencil eraser. I ended up with an incredible kidney infection, blood in my urine, and having to have lithotripsy. Sometimes it's no us.
I went to the ER one night with an unbearably painful toothache. I was about to rip my own head off to make the pain stop. The doctor thought I was drug seeking. Mind you, I have no history of drug abuse whatsoever. He sent me home after refusing to help me in any way. I got into my dentist's office the next day on an emergency basis. By this time I was nearly delirious. I had a severe abscess which had spread to my jawbone and caused an infection in the bone. My dentist immediately gave me IV antibiotics, (and morphine) and told me that I would have been dead in a few days from a brain infection if I hadn't gotten treatment when I did. He called the ER at the hospital and screamed at them for 20 minutes about their refusal to treat me. I later called the hospital and told them that I would not be paying my bill, and if they wanted to pursue payment I would file a lawsuit. In hindsight I should have filed a lawsuit anyway
Friend of my dads hurt his back and went to the ER, and the doctor discharged him WAY to soon. Long story short, the friend had significant back problems the doctor didn’t diagnose and address and being sent home made things worse, to the point he’s suffered partial paralysis, leading to him sueing the hospital and doctor and winning. If memory serves me right, it was revealed during discovery that the hospital had this bonus program in the ER, where if a doctor gets a patient out in a short time (I think 2 hours) they got a bonus, so the doctor was more occupied trying to get bonuses then treating patients.
Add on to that crappy incentive system that back problems are amongst the hardest things to properly diagnose if it is not something able to be seen on an x-ray/CAT scan.
I've never personally thought nurses were lesser than doctors, probably in part because one of the few things I remember of a hospital trip when I was six was there was a man in scrubs who was nice to me and made me feel a little less terrified (which is quite something, considering over-emotional six year old with a deep, bleeding head wound who would later go on to become a theatre kid), and I talked to Mum about what I thought of this man, and I called him a doctor to which Mum corrected me on that he was actually a nurse. The other few things I recall with clarity are the medication process before the stitches where I think they tried to give me an oral medication but I was a stubborn little lad and outright refused, so they instead put it right up my nose where I distinctly recall firmly thinking "I am not going to swallow this." only for it to be swallowed anyways. Oh, and the egg sandwich. Clearest thing I recall of that trip, being on a recovery bed and being given an egg sandwich which I greatly enjoyed and a red apple which sat in the backseat of the car for literal months :P
To add to the rule of lieing and asking questions if there is ANY drug abuse history in your life you should disclose that There was a man who was addicted to heroin Over 30 years before getting injured and because he didn't tell them he was given medication that restarted his addiction and slowly ruined his life
as an EMT, I actually do advise patients to take their medications with them to the hospital, particularly if they take multiple medications and can’t possibly remember all the names and dosages. it helps so that the ER staff will easily have that full list of medications. of course, it would be on the ER staff to let any receiving providers know during a future handoff to avoid any double dosing or drug interactions.
At one point I was having a prescription medication compounded into a specific dose for me. I spent the night in hospital and told the nurse what I took, and explained they were compounded. She told the doctor on the phone and Dr didn’t believe her/me because the medication doesn’t come in that dose (… that’s the point of compounding). when my husband returned with my medication I was able to show her and she went and either showed or phoned the doctor to prove that I was right. Ridiculous.
My Mom always kept an updated medication list in her purse, taped to the inside of the door where her meds were kept along with an extra copy or two (there were times she would only be home for maybe 3 or 4 days before we'd have to call an ambulance again.) This made sure that she always had one for EMTs when an emergency happened.
My sister had to take a lot of meds. At first she didn't have them listed anywhere, and I told her we need to make some lists. It's important for the person taking them as well as emergencies. The times my sister was picked up to go to the hospital, I always had to give them all of her prescription meds & supplements to make note of before they left, and I always took the actual bags of meds with me when I followed them or went as soon as I could later to give to the nurses to double check they 1. Had all the meds & dosages correct & 2. Use what we had so that she didn't have to pay exorbitant hospital/insurance costs per pill & 3. Not be sent home with the same medicines that cost 10x more (that's only if they would, sometimes they "aren't allowed with their hospital policy"). It also gave me her meds in my purse or the list she kept with them (if they took them to use) so that when I visited I could double check with the nurses that were doing the dispensing that they were all being given still & see what had been added by the doctors, if they hadn't told me already (especially when I was her signed medical liaison for if/when she wasn't able to make decisions. I also advocated for her in telling the nurses & doctors how badly she felt when she didn't have certain meds at certain times or with/without at least a snack. Sometimes nurses won't know these things & they give the meds at diff times or without at least a snack & your loved one might vomit or at least get super nauseous & then they don't know it's not an allergic reaction or new symptom but just how your loved one's body responds to certain meds (especially those they have taken a long time... they know their body, but might not be able to tell someone). I myself don't have a lot of prescription meds but take quite a few supplements & I know some of them can interact with medicines so I always list them.
When doctors are close to the patients family, they should be extremely careful about HIPPA. My therapist who also happens to my dance teacher and aunt mentioned my case with extreme details to our family, technically she didn't violate the HIPPA law but gave enough clarity in the case to make my family understand who it was about, she didn't do it intentionally but it was a big problem for me as my mental state was revealed. Dear doctors, please be careful when treating your family.
With the medication thing, my grandmother had CBD gumies she used for her back (she has a really bad back) when she was in the hospital for a triple bypass and she thought she needed to sneak the medication in. so i talked to the doctor for her and he was able to print up a label for her gumies and get them for her. Almost all doctors will work with you if you just ask.
I actually (as a patient) went to hospitals quiet regularly as a family member was admitted, they had a clear "no eating" rule for her, it was strictly fluids (ice was an exception) she "ate" ice, drank water, wasn't allowed soda/other drinks just yet. They gave her a full tray of food,sides, dessert, and a soda on the side now they did realize the mistake maybe 10-15 minutes after they left it there and they told us we could eat it or else it would up in the trash.
Same, when my grandmother was at the hospital, she was refusing to eat anything by her mouth, so she was fed using a feeding tube. Still, the hospital kept sending meals for her and my mother (who was sleeping there with her). One time I was visiting around lunchtime I ate some. If no one eats it, it's going to the trash.
I just got home yesterday from an ER turned ICU 5 day stay in the hospital with my multiply disabled daughter. Happy to say I got so many of these things right. I’m glad you clarified medicines from home; my daughter has epilepsy and I will notice something being “off” when they change a med from one generic to another at the pharmacy and the hospital changed 3 all at once! While I understood that the ones in their system were easy to scan, it was too much for her and she had multiple scary big seizures on the third day there. A thoughtful respiratory therapist helped me advocate for my daughter and I stood my ground with nurses and doctors until they made scan codes for our home medications and used them they way we do at home. Her seizures stopped, she was safe. My heart was pounding speaking up, but ultimately, I’m glad I did.
Dude, them stickers are AMAZING! My tip: DO NOT STAND in front of an elevator door. You never know if a coding patient needs to get out. I don't know how many times I've been in the employee elevator (I understand visitors don't get this) and, when the doors open, I am face to face with someone trying to get in meaning I can't get out. C'mon people!
As a scandinavian, it's insane (and sad) to me that people have to be told "you can lower the cost of your hospital stay if you shop around :)". Healthcare is a basic human right and should be free (as it is here)
@@ep6600 But he said „if you NEED to use an air ambulance“. If you need one in Germany - where I live and where we have universal healthcare - you would not need to shop around since you will not have to pay for it. If you want to use one and there is no need for this means of transportation, you cannot use it and pay for it yourself because it is reserved for the patients that need it. So the use of an air ambulance is always free of charge in Germany - and most European countries as far as I know.
@@ep6600 Hey if you need to be transported by heli (or an ambulance plane for that matter), even in non-emergency cases, it is very much still free here
Canadian here. I would only “shop” around since the hospitals here in rural Alberta suck and there are some that are better than others. Plus the hospitals here are so under-staffed that you sometimes have to go to different hospitals to get care
I was in hospital for 4 days. Shared my room with a 80 y/o grandma. We both had gall bladder removal surgery. We ended up chatting sooo much and shared meals :0 … but we were fine ^^
Always ADVOCATE! As someone with multiple chronic illnesses, unfortunately I spend a lot of time in hospital for often weeks at a time, multiple times per year. Not only do I myself try my best to keep track of my condition, diet, medication, treatment and recovery, I also ALWAYS have a designated family member keeping track too. This is SO IMPORTANT. Sometimes we aren’t strong enough to monitor everything happening around us, which is why having a second person following things is so useful. Prime example… I have a penicillin allergy and was once given a drug containing it accidentally. If my sister hadn’t been there to stop the insistent nurse from hanging the medication refill, my allergic reaction would no doubt have been a lot worse.
I was in the hospital for a broken leg. They had an IV hooked up to me for hydration and antibiotics. I was still thirsty though. My mom asked if I could have Gatorade from the vending machine. The nurses gave an estatic yes because Gatorade helps hydrate and makes hitting the body's blood tubes easier. They always got it on the first try.
Several years ago my mother went in for a hysterectomy and she kept complaining that she was having difficulty breathing. The nurse would come in and adjust the wrap that was around her waist and after some point told my mother she couldn't adjust it anymore. Granted my mother was heavy dosed with pain meds but it took until the next day for the doctor to appear and check her out to learn she developed pneumonia and said they should have been notified last night that she was having issues breathing but none of the nurses called it in despite her and us alerting each nurse even during the shift changes. Ended up being 3 different nurses we alerted over it... Evening, night, and morning shift nurses. (( My mom has COPD since before the surgery and other complications that has occurred since the operation but not involving her lungs thankfully. ))
I had a c-section and they gave me morphine and I was allergic to it didn't know at the time. Called the nurse who argued with me. I then called my mom and she called the nurse and then called the drs when she wouldn't listen. My mom's a nurse.
my mom developed a different type of infection after hers. she had covid-like symptoms (this was before covid escaped the wuhan lab {my mom has never been to China}), and was in the hospital for a week. for a month afterward, she had an awful cough. she now has bell's palsy
It is important to listen to the patient, they know their bodies, their records, and intuition is on point most of the times. I know health professional have to go by a guideline, but listening to the patient can save some time. Once I endured 4 days with high fever, I suspected it was a kidney infection. I told doctors I thought it was something with my kidneys, but they told me it was only a flu, because either way i would've had an UTI first. I waited six hours for them to tell me that the test for flu wasnt right. After that, they told me it was a kidney infection and I was close to losing my kidneys.
Amen to the nurse vs doctor thing. When you have a patient who wants the doctor to do a procedure instead, it's because they don't realize nurses are usually better at performing procedures because unlike doctors who are good at ordering procedures, nurses actually do them on a regular basis. Practice and experience are essential.
@@patrick-ip4yf Brah. You literally missed the whole point of what I said. If you need an IV placed in your arm and you'd rather have a doctor do it instead of the nurse it's because you're ignorant of how hospitals and clinics work. Many doctors have placed maybe one or two IVs in med school and never did it again. They never even got proficient at doing it. Nurses on the other hand do it every single day and become very good at it. The point is that doctors don't do most of the procedures that they order and are usually not as good as nurses at doing them. If you don't understand that then you don't have a good understanding of how real clinics function and you probably watch too many medical dramas on TV.
@@4dojo I was meaning to say Doctors don't do these procedures in the first place, because they are needed elsewhere, and Doctors all well within there authority to order these procedures as they went to medical school.
@@patrick-ip4yf Obviously your comment was intended to put nurses down, but in the end you just stated what everyone already knows. Doctors go to medical school and they play a different role in the medical field than nurses. That being said, nurses also intensively study medicine in college and the course is extremely difficult and competitive. I'm not pretending that RN programs are as long or difficult as MD programs, but make no mistake that becoming a nurse is far more difficult than obtaining most other college degrees. I speak from experience because I have graduated college multiple times and hold multiple college degrees. At my college the RN program was so intense and competitive that only a small percentage of applicants could achieve a high enough GPA to even get accepted into the program and more than half of those that could be into the program failed out anyway. And by the way, doctors are far from all knowing even in their fields. That's why there are so many specialties and sub specialties. As nurse I have on countless occasions called up doctors and practitioners to point out errors in their orders or even orders that just don't make sense given the situation. No, I'm not on the level of a doctor in terms of pharmacology, but like I said, nurses still need to know a great deal about medicine and pharmacology and we are trained and expected to notice med errors. Not noticing a doctor's prescription errors can actually get a nurse into trouble. So don't talk about nurses like they're fodder.
YES YES YES to the advocacy. Back when I was diagnosed with T1D, they intentionally used short needles since I didn't need anything longer and longer needles felt like they hurt far more. I was terrified of longer needles. Once, a new nurse came in with a needle twice the size of the one usually used to administer insulin to me. I kept insisting that I swore the other one was shorter and after giving up trying to convince me I was wrong, she actually asked someone else to look and found the original needle size. Not that big of a deal, but it make my little brain both relieved and proud :')
I had one with needles too. It happened when I was in my early 20's Nurse was having a hard time finding the right spot in my hands, after the 4 or 5th hole it was more painfull than I could bear and I started to scream in pain. The nurse then went shaming saying to everybody hear (it was a comunal room with around 6 or more beds) how I was acting like a little baby and that I was a small kid afraid of needles. I got pissed and yelled "I'm a regular blood donor, I used to put needles on my hand as kid because was bored, I take blood and get medicine without a flinch. I'm saying this. is. hurting. too much!" She fronze long enough to a doctor show up to deescalate, he send her to another patient and get another nurse to give me the medicine. It hurt because my had was already sore but was bearable.
The needle size matters! If you don't need an 18 gauge cannula (big! Like the Red Cross uses for blood donations!), a 22 or 24 gauge should be quite enough! To me it seems like she didn't want to wait a "long time" for the insulin to pass through the needle. Good on you!
@UCHhHuXfqjp7vPNp4eISJzwA TL;DR Don't dig with the needle: you're cutting tissue and causing unnecessary bruises. Two strikes (needle sticks) and you're out! Donors don't have to give blood that day and can come back a few days later. On a double-arm machine, neither the phlebotomist nor the nurse could hit my veins. After a long history of giving gallons of whole blood and many double units of platelets, I left and never gave blood again. Give blood! Story For some reason, if someone doesn't get the stick right away, they will dig around for the vein under the skin. They did that to me at the Red Cross with a _big effin' cannula,_ and when I saw what was causing me to hurt more and more, I saw he was digging like that. "Hey! Hey! Hey!" I yelled. "You're cutting tissue! Take it out!" When you're donating blood, you really don't need to do that. The donor can leave and come back at another time pretty soon because their RBC's are still mature. I was giving platelets, a double unit because I had a normally large platelet count. Platelet units are good for clotting factor for hemophiliac patients. They consolidate ten units at a time to make it, so the Red Cross love people like me. I was giving on a double arm machine, which meant I needed a needle in both arms. One to give, the other to return my red blood cells (RBC's). I dismissed the phlebotomist and asked for the nurse. If she couldn't hit my veins -which at the time were not hard to hit- I would leave. The nurse couldn't hit them, either, which is what I expected after all the digging, and I left the blood-drawing site, never to return. I am proud to have donated over 3 gallons of blood over the years (8 units is about a gallon), and I got my pins for them (a golden blood drop with numbers on it). I also gave many double units of platelets. And I get sad that I can't let myself give anymore (not just placing the needles). Please give blood! It's about a five minute draw plus snacks to help replenish you. Yes, you have to answer a bunch of questions, and you get a lancet stick to get a hematocrit reading. ( _ouch!_ ) You sometimes wait for a table, but it's worth it. Every unit helps at least three people with packed red blood cells, plasma, platelets, and more. The blood supply is a dynamic and living supply. Each unit can only last 21 days in the refrigerator. 90 days IIRC in the freezer. Blood is always needed, and it gets shunted around a lot from blood bank to blood bank to fill transfusion needs.
Rule 4 almost caused us to lose my son, my partner (who suffers from CPTSD) was told she could leave as nothing was wrong and were getting ready to do the discharge papers,my partner fought and fought they said " it's your anxiety of being a first time mum" they reluctantly gave her a scan...the baby wasn't moving all together, rushed into the labour ward and begun inducing, he had breathing problems and had to be in the ICU. he is perfectly healthy now and just turned 1yr old but if we listened...we wouldn't of had our child....
As a pregnant woman, you know your body better than anyone and you SHOULD advocate for yourself indeed. My mom was almost told to go back home on her 4th and 5th pregnancy. She had to say "doc/nurse, I've had 3/4 kids already, I know how my delivery works. Please admit me or I'm going to have this baby right here while "walking out"..." I gotta say, as a kid I thought labor and delivery always happened in about 5-7 hours altogether (3-5 for (early) contractions and 2 to get to the hospital and get out of delivery room) because that's how I met my lil bros & sis XD
I have been straight and honest with my doctors since years about some past drug abuse I've suffered (and have been treated for since). I get the sense that I'm not taken seriously when I really do need to discuss medication. I feel I've been labeled very negatively. Likely as drug seeking. Makes me feel like my mistakes have voided my respect-and-life-pass.
being chronically ill, i'm at my hospital every 2 weeks, and having my specific nurses has helped so much, since they can see if things don't go well from my body language, know my full diagnosis, and I can ask them many things
My mom got the best advice from a neurosurgeon years ago when I was a baby and had to be sent to the children’s hospital. He told her “trust your gut especially when it comes to your children. You know your children better than the doctors and when you know something is wrong and the doctors brush you off, ask for another opinion until someone listens to you. Doctors sometimes believe that they know better but that is not always the case”
My mum was told she was overreacting when she saw two different GP’s about her thunder clap headaches. One gp was nice but dismissive, the other told her that she was overreacting. One thing about my mum is that she has an incredibly high pain threshold. They only took on board what was in front of them rather than my mums very obvious and serious symptoms. My mum told the GP that she would be going to have an mri privately….he told her not to bother wasting her money and they wouldn’t find anything, but said it was her choice. The morning of the scan results a very apologetic GP rang and told her she immediately needed to go to hospital as she had subdural haematoma!
My mom had a similar series of GPs tell her she was being hypercondriatic over a car crash she was in a good 15 years prior now, and eventually it was discovered she had actual spinal damage that was causing the pain she was in more or less constantly. It wasn't until a Therapeutic specialist literally went through the painscale with my mom and adjusted it for my MOM specifically that something didn't add up.... thus hospital MRIs and such right after and, well, my mom is now very distrustful of doctors and nurses and such that seem to be knowitall idiots that toss out diagnoses in minutes without even any direct examination first.
@@zaffytaffy809 Thank you. she had the operation to drain the blood but still suffers from head pain as the area is so sensitive to hot/cold and pressure etc. The area they drilled on the skull isn’t filled back in so she really suffers, unfortunately.
Women are less likely to be believed. When men and women describe pain with the same words. People believe men to be in worse pain than the corresponding women. It sucks
I'm glad you mentioned about other people consuming the patients food or beverage. I was hospitalized with a fungal blood infection and I was in septic shock. They kept track of what went in and came out. They would even keep track of popsicles they gave me. I was limited to 64 oz a day of fluids a day. It sounds like a lot but I drank constantly.
During covid my mom was hospitalized for something noncovid. She has chf and I kept calling and finally talked to a charge nurse. She said my mom was gaining fluid rapidly. I ask if they were giving her her lasix. They weren't. If I hadn't been that pesky family member calling, they would have drown her in her own fluids. 😔
Severely dislocated & broke my ankle. They set it, discharged me. Slipped in the rain, and landed back on it, hearing a crunch again. Went back to the ER. Shift change for nurses. The one nurse/phleb put the IV for pain killers in the same arm from just hours before. Although, she missed the vein! I knew she missed the vein because it was forming a bubble and was burning, but she said she’s the nurse, she knows what she was doing. (I briefly had used drugs in my past, shooting it, so I knew she missed the vein). I was screaming as they fixed the re dislocation. I got lucky because a nurse from the earlier visit walked by, saw my mother, heard me screaming and knew something was wrong (because earlier I had a positive attitude and was joking about my misfortune). She took one look, took it out and put it in the other arm. She made a note that the nurse/phleb clearly missed it. She was happy that I stood up for myself and made it known that there was something wrong
I remember when my mom got a concussion, it changed our lives forever. She was ok and got out of the hospital with time. After the events that happened after that, I got really sad. My mom found your channel and showed it to me since I want to be a doctor. I have to say, thank you for brightening my life Doctor Mike.
My son is a brain injury survivor too, so I know what you're going through. Your mom will never be the same person she was, but try to be patient with who she is now and love her unconditionally. She'll be so proud of you when you walk across that stage to get your M.D. diploma. Good luck!
My hospital failed to diagnose my concussion and mild tbi. I now have permanent post concussion syndrome where I am dizzy all the time, have memory problems, visions problems it sucks and I hate that my local hospital is known as the worst one in the province
I spend a lot of time in hospitals. I have 2 serious medical conditions and I have several family members in the medical profession. I was impressed by my last stay (I'm not going to name names). During the shift change the doctor and nurses who were leaving with the doctor and nurses coming on would come into my room and go over all their notes with me confirming everything they were telling the new doctor. This was doubly important because my conditions are rare and we need to make sure everyone is up to speed in case one of them is triggered.
I left the ER once AMA. I had gone because I thought I was having a heart attack or something, but soon realized I was just having a panic attack. They wanted to monitor my heart, but I was so embarrassed that I just wanted to leave. That's the only time in my life that I've had a panic attack and boy do I never want to feel that way again!
As a person who lives in a country with Universal Healthcare, I can't imagine a situation where I have to compare prices for calling an ambulance. It sounds pretty ridiculous to my reality.
A person I knew got seriously hurt, and had to beg her boyfriend not to call an ambulance, because she couldn't afford it. He had to drive her to the ER, with her bleeding (heavily) from the head. She survived and is fine now, but she had to choose between an ambulance or being able to afford food.
Being a patient advocate for my 90 year old mother. My mom was on hospice care, I had been her caregiver for a few years, taking her to doctor appointments, managing her medicines. I've always liked to research about things so I was going through the drugs in the hospice kit and got to morphine. I researched it and found it was in the same family of drugs as codeine, which my mom had had an anaphylaxis event with. I brought this up with both the nurse and then the doctor who would visit and didn't believe me. I researched further and found something written by an ER doctor about a synthetic morphine that was safer to use. I again talked to the doctor, who was admittedly a little peeved with me at this point but she made two calls to other doctors. The first didn't know but the second, an ER doctor, agreed with me and so my mom was prescribed the new drug, and just in time as a couple weeks later I she needed it and I'd have to give her some a few times a week.
Great answer on discharge 'early' questions. It is important to get out of the hospital as soon as medically safe to do so. If a patient has issues about the discharge, the hospital can provide a social worker or case manager nurse to help work out a discharge problem.
I think it depends when you’re going against medical advice. I was admitted to the hospital and could see smoke and fire from my window. Being in the hospital I didn’t know there was an out of control fire just outside the city. I left against medical advice with my fiancé because I was concerned with what I was seeing out the window. We returned home and we were evacuated that evening. I’ll never forget the amount of fear, uncertainty, everything about leaving the hospital and then having to leave the city. It was insane. The hospital did evacuate but because of where the fire was they went north and it was awful. Glad we were all okay though.
@@tomewifecollector9608 You can contain a fire by spraying around the sides of it in a circle or semi circle to make it much harder to keep spreading. Also those are usually forest fires not city fires. And those usually get contained within a neighbourhood never heard of one burning down a city or town.
That's an outlier in my experience. Sadly, most of the cases I've seen of patients leaving against medical advice have been those with addictions they are not able to satisfy while in the hospital. So they leave before the thing they are admitted for is fully treated
I’ve been evacuated from my home in CA three times in the last few years because of wildfires and my boyfriend had to evacuate an entire hotel he worked at. They aren’t even near each other, the whole county was at risk. Not everything burned up, but the fires can definitely come close to a lot of homes and businesses while crews are trying to contain them.
Thank you for saying the early and safe discharge thing. I am a denials and appeals/utilization nurse and we see so many patients refusing to go because it’s too late (at 8pm) and they’d rather sleep in an additional night or for another non medical or safety related issue. Meanwhile, I was admitted in January with pyelonephritis in my transplanted kidney and I could not wait for my C&S to be back and my fever to be absent for 24hrs to get the hell out of there. Hospital beds give you intense back pain.
Okay, but here's a story from a trip to the ER that happened to me just about a month ago. I'd had a heart attack resulting in my implanted defibrillator firing off, which worked perfectly and saved my life (seriously; this heart attack would have killed me but instead I got up and walked away in under two minutes. The trip to the ER was just to check out whether the device had behaved properly, since this was the first time it had ever fired). The hospital didn't give me my evening medications until I repeatedly complained, and it turned out that one of those meds is so new/expensive that they didn't have it. In the hospital. The hospital didn't have my medication (just making sure you understand what I'm saying). So, there I was, hospitalized with a heart attack and unable to get my usual medications that I take for, you know, my heart. It created an undue amount of stress (just what you want when you've just had a heart attack) and further medical problems because my body responds to missed doses of this medication by an increased heart rate, which is bad, M'Kay? Just saying that sometimes you're in the most vulnerable state you can imagine, and the very people charged with taking care of you are standing in the way of your ongoing care. And you need to avoid stress, and those same people are doing their best to stress you out. In the end, you're on your own whether you're at home or in the hospital, so God help you if you arrive at the ER unconscious and without an advocate. I've got a story about that, too; it's the reason my first heart attack escalated from a mild one to a life-threatening problem resulting in my needing open-heart surgery and eventually the implantation of this defibrillator...
Thank you for sharing this information. Hospitals have become such bloated, bureaucratic money-making machines that patients need to keep a buyer-beware approach to receiving care.
@@kateyare4708 It's a different problem here. Healthcare is free (as it should be, being a human right), but it's kinda rubbish... or at least, the wait times are dreadful. Once you get it the care is often good, although they want to get rid of you as soon as they can to treat more patients. All the staff are overworked and underpaid, and there aren't enough of them (can't imagine why), also you have to pay to train to do this undesirable job (undesirable because of low pay, too much work, and stress from not having enough people to do it properly), plus they don't want people to come and help out from other countries when we so desperately need them. The wait times are several weeks to see a GP, several months to see someone at a hospital, and often several hours once you're there. Also people are dying after waiting hours for an ambulance because the ambulances are busy looking after people outside the hospital who are waiting for hours to go in because there aren't people to look after them.
If you're on medication, and have to visit A&E, always take your medication with you You have absolutely no idea how long the wait time will be You have no idea if you might not have to be admitted You have no idea if the hospital will have your medication in stock If you do need to take it while you're there, if they have to supply it that will involve a doctor writing a prescription and the pharmacy filling that prescription Much better to take it with you, and then tell the nursing staff you have it ,so they can simply get the OK from a doctor for you to take it
@@helentee9863 I can tell from your use of "A&E" that you are not an American. Here, we are discouraged from having our medication with us in the hospital because the docs like to control things. Beyond that, I had a heart attack and dropped on the street, and wasn't carrying my medication. Since then I've taken to lugging a backpack with me everywhere I go. It has the one medication they didn't stock (because of my heart problems I take about ten medications/day, so can't really have them all with me all of the time). And it has other essentials, like a phone charger, my Kindle... and a pair of pajamas. 🙂
I just spent a week in the hospital with my dad. Nonmedical people brought his food and picked it up. I never saw anyone monitoring what/how much he ate. The nurses could barely manage routine nursing care. Hospitals are so short staffed that you shouldn’t leave anyone alone in the hospital. Someone needs to stay with them to help them with non medical needs - urine receptacles, blankets, water, sweaters, helping them safely move around.
Nonmedical people are perfectly capable of picking up a patient's food tray and charting how much food & fluids the patient consumed. They do it in nursing homes all the time.
@@phaedrapage4217idk if it's different in every country but normally, only nurses have a 'letter signature' that is just around 3 letters for each nurse (3 letters of their name, mine are DMA for example) and only nurses can write on those documents as they are the only ones with the letter signature which make them binding. It is sad that, especially in Nursing homes, many nurses forget and it causes ALOT of issues (2nd year Nursing student btw)
@@nova.michael7934yes it’s different in US Hospitals. Everything done in electronic record, there’s no writing letters by hand. Hospital techs and CNAs in nursing homes document meal intakes, urine output and bowel movements . You don’t have to be a nurse for that.
Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not happening. They take samples. They probably aren’t testing it because you didn’t see it. They’re all out to get you
The nurses don’t necessarily let you know when they mark down fluid intake or urine output. It’s such a part of their routine that they just automatically do it.
My last hospital experience when I had to get an Iv in before surgery, I was assigned a newer doctor to do it and they made sure I was comfortable with the newer doctor doing it or if I would rather have someone more experienced do it. I was okay with the newer doctor doing it but was so glad they made sure I was comfortable with it!
Regarding the advocating for yourself, I was at a navy clinic for a yearly checkup and the person reading my file to me mentioned I was b- blood type, I politely spoke up to tell him I am O+ to which asked who told you that. My response was "the Red Cross" and pulled out my donor card that listed my blood type. He said well that looks official enough and wrote in the correct blood type. It actually says O+ on my bootcamp dog tags too. Glad I never needed a blood transfusion at that clinic though!
My brother spent 15 years as a volunteer EMT. He was on call every other night. We were never allowed to wish him a “quiet night”. We were only supposed to say “have a peaceful evening”! Also, my dad was in the hospital several times during the last few years of his life. He had congestive heart failure and he also took several falls that resulted in injuries, once a broken wrist, another time a broken back, and another time a broken neck. He, thankfully, recovered from all of it. But I will never forget sitting with him in his hospital room while the nurse was giving report to the oncoming nurse. Dad had been alone for part of the day while my mom and I were both at work. Dad was very hard of hearing and no one ever seems to know how to talk to someone when they’re not able to hear well. They always want to shout and that just doesn’t work. The nurse giving report was saying how my dad was confused and they thought something may be happening with his mental state. I was so mad. I was like “Wait, wait, wait, wait. My dad is not confused, he just can’t hear you.” It took some time, but we did get it straightened out. After that, we always tried to make sure someone was with him or that he had a dry erase board that the doctors/nurses could write on.
I think there are definitely times when the hospitals really are trying to get rid of you. When I was rushed to a UK hospital, it was so regularly overcrowded that I noticed the nurses using unofficial ward numbers among themselves to refer to the corridors a number of patients were left in - one of them seemed quite embarrassed when she realised she’d talked about this in front of patients and tried to cover up. Now, the surgery I ended up having was pretty routine, just a gallbladder removal, the kind that would be in and out if it had been a prearranged thing, but I was pretty sick going in, and was still in a LOT pain afterwards, so when I was told my dad was in the corridor outside waiting for me and that I should wash and dress quickly so as not to keep him waiting, I was pretty shocked. Surely I wasn’t ready to leave. I was struggling to sit up, and felt really off, which I tried to communicate, but I was just told to hurry up, and they complained that I was taking too long. I was rushed out into the corridor, where I met my dad and he took me home, but I started feeling worse and worse. Finally, the smell of food cooking set me throwing up - which was especially painful post surgery - and once I’d started I couldn’t stop, even when I was just dry retching. I couldn’t keep down even a sip of water, and was in so much pain, I just couldn’t cope. It just kept getting worse until later the next day an ambulance was called and I ended up having to have additional surgery because it turned out they’d missed a gallstone when they removed the gallbladder. If the hospital hadn’t been so over-crowded, if they hadn’t needed my bed so badly that they all but kicked me out of the hospital, they would probably have picked that issue up sooner and I wouldn’t have had to go through all that. So yeah, sometimes, they ARE trying to get rid of you.
it's a very sticky situation. When the hospitals are overcrowded as such, either you suffer or someone else receives delay treatment. Though I would say, in terms of ethics, trying to treat every patient well is more important than trying to treat the most number of people
My own experience: I had a very minor surgery, but afterward my throat felt tight. I have some severe allergies, so I recognized the signs of anaphylactic shock. The nurses insisted, nothing I received was an allergen, they snapped that I was faking it, and literally SHOVED me out the door. I got into the car, and by the time I drove to another hospital, I was in full anaphylactic shock. The nurse asked if I had eaten anything, and I instead told them about the surgery in the other hospital. They called up to get a list of every medication I received during the surgery (the days before this was all on computers). Turned out they gave me Propofol, which contains eggs, and that allergen was in giant red letters on my chart. So now I have to remember to list Propofol as an drug allergy, because some doctors don't bother to check. So yeah, they shoved me out of the hospital while I was turning purple and insisting my throat was closing up. They didn't even exam it. So it definitely DOES happen.
That sounds like what I've heard hospitals in big cities like Manchester and Birmingham are like. I'm so sorry you went through this, and really hope their level of care in that hospital has improved, truly not the standard in other parts of the UK.
I had a young doctor attempt to insert an IV into my wrist. I asked for it to be inserted there instead of the back of my hand because I always ended up having issues with it. Fortunately, for me I have no problems with injections or needles because it took her 7 attempts & one bent needle before she decided to call it quits & hand it over to a nurse. I would have laughed had I not felt so bad for her because it was obvious that she was kicking herself for having failed so spectactularly. But, it was proof that nurses are often so much more adept at a lot of tasks than doctors. In the end, the nurse got it first go with no issues at all.
Clearly that doc was profoundly arrogant as well because if you can’t get it after 2 tries you HAVE to get someone else to try. 7 attempts is just pathetic.
@@haramshibaharamshiba9558 I don't think she was at all arrogant because she was extremely apologetic. I think it was something that she had to learn how to do & unfortunately, it just wasn't her forte. Or, she was having a bad day. And in all honesty, it wasn't painful. As I said, needles don't worry me at all. I donate blood on a regular basis & my veins are so easy to insert cannulas into.
I'm a very hard stick for reasons I feel like explaining below, so it's not uncommon for nurses and phlebotomists to mess up on me multiple times. I've had IVs done in 4 hospitals in the last 2 years, and in all of them, I ran into the policy of each nurse/phlebotomist gets 3 tries (tho one of them had a max 2 tries policy) before they hand it off to someone else (in two of the hospitals, it was usually the dedicated ultrasound-guided vascular access team, one of them learned to just call VascAcc when I showed up). I have trouble believing they had someone try 7 or 8 times. Reasons I'm a hard stick: 1) hypersensitivities in certain areas makes a needle and/or a bruise in the back of the hand or the inside of the forearm unbearably painful, so those are simply no-go sites. I learned the back of the hand one the hard way when I got my tonsils removed, and it hurt enough I was able to clearly enunciate "get it out" when I woke up from anesthesia with an IV in the back of my hand, when most people won't speak at all for a day or three after the surgery. Wrist, outer edge of the elbow, and side of the arm are the good spots for me. 2) connective tissue issues (EDS-H if you know what that is) means my veins roll, a LOT. As in, you can, with your fingers, move my veins to the side, and for some of them, they can be displaced by half an inch with relative ease. If the vein isn't held in place and basically taut, it will be pushed away by the needle before the needle can puncture the wall to enter. 3) low blood volume means my veins are smaller than most, I have to actively drink a lot of water in order to plump them up. I'm talking I bring two water bottles with me to drink in the car and in the waiting room, on top of what I drank at home beforehand with breakfast and meds. 4) I've had so many IVs that there's some scar tissue buildup that makes the veins hard and tough in some spots. Like, 250~300 IVs if you count the failed pokes.
@@CaTastrophy427 I can definitely relate to the pain of having an IV in the back of your hand. It's not the insertion of the cannula that hurts, it's a few hours later when it feels like the entire back of my hand is bruised & the pain is a constant throbbing. Even moving the hand is painful. Personally, my veins stand out like the proverbial part of a male dog's anatomy so, there's never a problem locating my veins. And, whether you wish to believe it or not, it did indeed take 7 attempts for the young intern or whatever her title was before she gave up. I did tell her that it wasn't hurting at all & that I didn't mind if she kept trying but once she bent the cannula, that's when she finally called it quits.
@@6ixConfessions Sometimes I wish patients were more like you, understanding. But geeze... 7 attempts. They really need to practice. There are fake limbs that exist for practicing needle procedures. Imagine if it were a toddler, scared kid, or even just an angry teen. It would be miserable for everyone involved.
Regarding AMA: when I was working in independent living and we did nursing home transitions to get people out in the community on their own - we had to use AMA often, because the LTCFs have financial incentive to keep the patient. LTCFs aren't hospitals. But I just had to comment, sometimes AMA is necessary.
Always advocate for a loved one. During Covid, my dad had a lot of heart attacks & a stroke. We had a DNR on him, but since it was Covid, we couldn’t actually go in to the hospital every time. It was all over the phone. Well, one of the doctors went against it. Once we complained big time, we got a phone call for every action taken for my father. We probably should have sued because due to it, he has a failing mental state
I work at a hospital and I overhear elevator conversations about patients happen… every single hour 😂. I’m a transporter so I spend so much time in elevators. Also if you’re a nurse… please be nice with us. We’re doing you a favor and I understand you’re stressed but that’s no reason to be rude and disrespectful. To all the amazing kind nurses out there. Love y’all, you make my day. Edit: patients who leave AMA always come back so much worse… AND THEN THEY LEAVE AMA AGAIN as soon as they feel just a little better. 🤦🏽♀️
Regarding leaving AMA, that’s great advice to a point. It requires the treatment being provided to be at least minimally competent and at least involves consulting the patient’s primary specialist. I was 11 weeks pregnant when I had referred shoulder and abdominal pain, not like a miscarriage which I knew from many firsthand experiences. This was an IVF pregnancy and two embryos implanted. When the ER did the ultrasound they found a rupturing ectopic and one in my uterus. They would not speak with my reproductive endocrinologist and announced he had no privileges at this hospital (he did). Since I have a number of complicating medical issues they know nothing about since they don’t have my records, including a bleeding disorder that makes surgery extremely risky if not handled carefully. I asked to be transferred to my physician. They ridiculously invoked EMTALA and denied it. To me, a hospital in house counsel🙄 Even though I would have gone to a higher level of care they still refused. I had no choice but to leave AMA and have my husband drive me to my RE’s office which is co-located with a large hospital. It was all surreal. My RE examined me and confirmed the ectopic and that it wasn’t hemodynamically stable. I was sent across the parking lot to be admitted through the ER (ED). By the time they got me into a gown I had lost consciousness and have no memories until waking up in post op. I required a 2L blood transfusion but hospital #1 was equal parts ignorant and possessive, deeming anyone not on their staff unfit. They talked as though I hired a witch doctor versus one of the pioneers of in vitro reproduction. I received a highly inappropriate ultimatum: undergo surgery by a general surgery resident who had never seen my records or didn’t even take a history for me with no intent to preserve my in utero pregnancy or to leave AMA knowing I was already bleeding internally. I trusted my instincts both in going to the hospital at 0600 on a Saturday and in leaving hospital #1 AMA. And now in a post-Roe, anti abortion trigger laws kind of world people need to know my surgery would have been a violation in most states with the so called trigger legislation. You see, even an ectopic pregnancy has a heartbeat. It’s a completely normal pregnancy that implanted in the wrong place (and for all of the pro life morons who declare women in this scenario should “move the baby to the womb,” you can’t do that as it’s medically impossible.
Watched several people die after leaving AMA. Doctors would say, "I warned them. Here is the signed form". They didn't like it and were annoyed that the patient wouldn't listen.
The ectopic thing is not true I don’t k ow where your getting that from. It is absolutely false!!! This miscarriage thing is another completely false narrative. Please read the bills and if you don’t understand the language consult an attorney not tik Tok. Any surgery or procedures to save the mother that result in the fetus dying is not an abortion and the all the bills are written to allow for that. I mean it’s a duh! Everyone acts like pro life advocates just want to murder women or something. How crazy is that? Pro life advocates are just as concerned for the mothers as they are the babies, they prove it every day in many ways that never seem to cross over into the mainstream narrative.
I'm gonna put my neck on the line and say that I am against abortion. HOWEVER, I am willing to accept medical emergencies such as ectopic pregnancy. I am aware that certain emergencies can and will be fatal to both the baby and the mother if action is not taken. If the abortion is for the purposes of saving your social status, that's where my line is drawn.
I agree for the part about leaving the hostal against medical advice but my mom did it to me once: after appendicitis operation, i was supposed to stay at the hospital for 3 days and stayed 2 weeks because i couldnt eat anything and would throw up "nothingness" several times a day, no one could know what to do. My mom was sure it was anxiety due to being in the hospital, i was loosing a lot of weight for a 9 year old, and against medicaal advice we left - and i started eating again at home soooooooooo she was right lol
As for the "Quiet" thing can I add to this? It's common courtesy to be quiet or speak in a hushed voice in the ER waiting room for many reasons. Someone may be waiting for news on a loved one, or someone could be there for a migraine headache (My situation last week). People, there are sick, tired, in pain, waiting for bad news. Please be quiet or whisper in an ER waiting room!
To add on advocate for yourself: My grandpa has a lot of issues; lactose intolerant, gen defect, reacts bad on certain medicine, can't have too much sugar, bowel issues etc. etc. He was in the hospital for cancer (I believe, could be something else though). He needed pain medication. My grandpa can react severely to certain medicines, he'll become manic and wants to do serious things to himself in a bad way (his mood can change from happy to sad to I want to end everything in 5 minutes). So, the nurse came and wanted to give him medication, that's not weird. The thing is, my grandpa knew he couldn't take that medicine. He told the nurse, even though she assured him everything was alright. He insisted on not taking the medicine though. Outcome? Turns out it was indeed the wrong medicine. He luckily didn't take it. He is okay now, he hasn't been in the hospital now for quite a while.
I'd add: Be kind to hospital staff and health care workers. They are chronically tired, don't get enough time (or have none at all) to get a meal (much less a snack), are unable to go to the bathroom regularly, are overworked, have to deal with different personalities and difficult hospital policies, and yet they still do a phenomenal job trying to improve your quality of life in small and big ways alike. Sometimes, making small talk is something you can do to get their mind off their intense shifts. Sometimes, giving them a smile or a thank you makes them feel like they are seen and their effort appreciated. Sometimes, we just need to stretch our patience a bit, understand that they are doing the best that they can with what they have, and that their work is beyond just a profession, it is a daily and sincere act of compassion and empathy for those that they come into contact with. Please don't bark at them. Please don't humiliate them. Speak up when you need to, but please be mindful of tone of voice. I've seen firsthand how acknowledging their humanity makes it easier for them to be their best. Thank you, especially to all nurses, med techs, respiratory techs, rad techs, the orderly, and all others for the service and commitment you have. We would not being able to secure our health without your help. God bless you all.
My already very high respect for you was sincerely increased when you said that one should not pass over the nurse because they think the doctor can do it better. Doctor's rely very heavily on the nurses/PA/Paramedics/ER Techs to know what is going on and what patient needs what. they also notice quickly when something is going wrong.
Or the stupid “you’re better now and that’s all that matters. Who cares if you get even sicker some other time when it could have saved your life to know what caused the problem.”
Disagree. You want doctors to communicate when they do not know. Diagnosis is a process of ruling in and ruling out potentially many conditions, and the purpose of acute care is to treat and stabilize the acute condition. What you do want to do is ask why specific tests and procedures are being ordered and make sure you are giving a correct history.
5:32 Story time! The only time I ever wanted leave AMA was when I was in the ER for COVID-19. My family & family friends (who have experiencing being EMTs, Nurses, Respitory Therapists, etc.) said it was almost certainly a mucus plug that I choked on and could barely breath until I coughed it up. The nurse that took care of me just kept telling my mom and I that she shouldn't have called 911 when I was on the floor almost not breathing, I shouldn't have taken an ambulance, I shouldn't have gone to the ER, and implied I was overreacting. Look, I COMPLETELY get that I was exposing workers and other patients to COVID even if I was iscolated and wearing a mask. I also get that the nurse was probably seeing patients who were on their death bead and had seen much worse... I just wish he hadn't berated me and my mom to our faces. Say what you want to your coworkers, I don't care. But like don't keep me in the ER for hours (not discharging me) while simultaniously telling me I should just go home.
The quiet rule is definitely a thing at my post office as well. I get people to stop what they're saying right as they say "Oh I've never walked into a post office without a line before!" It's literally a calling for 10 people to hop into line at once
I'd love a more detailed video about advocation. A personal example was being in the emergency room for about 17 hours without even being scanned. My husband said after the first hour talking to lots of staff, someone checked on me every 3 hours. After requests for updates and information was ignored I decided to leave. I was told it would be AMA because "if you leave you could have a stroke" and my response was "if I stay here I could have a stroke." Found out at a neuro appointment 6 months later that I did have a stroke. My symptoms were worst before arriving, which is why I decided to go in. They told me I was to young to be having a stroke. I think that's why they didn't prioritize treating me. Also it was a December Friday night in Wisconsin. I know they were busy, but that doesn't seem to excuse failing to examine and treat me... I'm sure there was a much better way I could have gone about this situation. I'd like the opportunity for everyone to learn how to go about speaking up for ourselves and what to do if our concerns don't seem heard.
Great to see your hair back ! I'm really jealous of that since I barely have haha. I love the fact that Mike keeps saying he doesn't want to scare us but keep us smart about the facts he is teaching us!
Hi @Doctor Mike! Here's my story about getting discharged quickly. I was discharged by the same emergency room/same hospital twice due to abdominal pain. They ran some tests (blood test, ultrasound, fecalysis, urinalysis). They didn't see anything, they sent me home with a diagnosis of acute gastritis, and a prescription for proton pump inhibitor. On the same night, I went back to same E.R. because the pain is unbearable, they gave me some pain meds through IV and sent me back home. The next day, I can still feel the pain, I requested to be brought to a different hospital, they ran tests including a CT, endoscopy and colonoscopy, and there, they found out that I have a CECAL MASS. Since then, I am very anxious at getting discharged sooner rather than later. I never came back to that hospital who discharged me twice at the same day ever again because I felt neglected, even if it is a simple physical exam, I do not go to that hospital anymore who discharged me twice on the same day.
When my mom had a hysterectomy, she brought her phone with her so that she could text my older sibling after the surgery. But when she woke up after the surgery, she was told that she wouldn't be able to get her phone back until the next day. She was really emotional, and I guess that might have caused a someone to feel bad and go looking for it because she got it back sooner than expected.
I work in Communications and I've more than once turned around as I left an elevator and said, "I'm Comms, but you guys would be in a lot of trouble right now if I'd been a reporter. Think about everything you just said."
To be fair, I had 3-4 different nurses trying to put in an IV and finally the anesthesiologist finally came in and got the job done. I was covered in bruises.
Oh wow i had a similar experiece! I fractured my collarbone so the nurses were trying to put in an IV, they were in training, and they put it in wrong twice! It hurt so much!
Omg istg, like whenever I have to get iv in or like multiple blood draws, the nurses struggle. And the worst part of it is, i hate needles and now i feel bad for the nurses lol
You might have a bad vein status, that's why they called an anestesiologist and not any other doctor, because they are even more used to it, especially if they work all day in the OR. Doesn't mean at all that the nurses aren't capable enough, like Dr. Mike said, they are definitely more versed on it in general.
I have terrible veins. I also have a lot of medical conditions that make me an unfortunate somewhat of a regular patient. when you are in the ER and they are about to IV attempt you can tell them you have bad veins and to please use a vein finder machine or ultrasound. instead of getting poked 5 times by 3 different people, they almost always get it on the first poke if you ask for the vein finder or ultrasound
4:40 this happend to my dad. The patient insisted that he a( family med Dr) should drawl his blood not the nurse. My dad laughed and said " The last time I drew blood was residency 7 years ago so you could have a nurse who dose this everyday or me, you would be the first real person I've done it on" the patient went with a nurse lol.
Thank you for especially clarifying the quick discharge circumstances. I work in a hospital, and many people think getting the patients home quickly is related to money, but what you said is so true. I’d also add that depending on insurance, some patients have a limited number of covered hospital days per year, so discharging safely, but quickly, also helps to save those days in case the patient needs to return to the hospital again within that timeframe
I've had to do the advocating a few times. Once it was just asking for information for my mother, who had just had dental surgery. She was fitted for a top denture, but her jaw bone somehow went too low, so they had to SHAVE the entire bone! I went with her, took care of her after the surgery, and picked up her medication. When the Dr handed me the prescriptions I had a bad feeling. I didn't have an obvious reason, I know my mom, she is always careful about these things, but I couldn't shake it. My mom had just gotten out of surgery, and was in no condition to talk to anyone, so I asked what the antibiotics were. The Dr told me a drug name I hadn't heard before, but I still didn't feel right, and asked what it was exactly. He said it was a kind of penicillin. My mother is allergic to penicillin, it would have put her into anaphylaxis. I informed the Dr, he got mad, said my mom should have told them, then wrote a new prescription. I know she would have, someone in the office must have messed up, but I didn't argue. It must have really scared him to think the he could have had a part in killing a patient.
Yes always advocate for yourself in the hospital. Back in March I was in the ER for heart symptoms due to me being extremely week from Covid. I Was already told I would be hospitalized and they were going to put a IV in. I asked them to use my port instead because my veins are horrible and IVs don't keep very long. The nurse said no because they didn't have a bed to do a port right then so I asked if we could wait tell they did because I didn't want to be stuck over and over. The nurse got mad so I let her put the IV in instead of fighting her. 3hrs later the IV infiltrated I was upstairs in a room by then so I begged my nurse to access my port, he asked why the ED didn't do that in the first place so I told him the story he informed me if in the future that happens just keep asking for them to access my port that if I request it they are supposed to do it. After he looked for a vein he accessed my port even though it is supposed to only be accessed in the ED at my local hospital, my nurse said that if the keep trying for a vein they would just be causing more pain that is unnecessary when I have a port. So recently when I went for outpatient Surgery and they couldn't find a vein I mentioned my port even though they usually us a IV because they don't access it but once, my nurse said can we access your port then we don't have to keep searching, of course I said yes.
These tips were great! Not to hate on all doctors but when I was little and was constantly throwing up the doctors were gonna send me home with just some Tylenol or something like that but my mom knew something was wrong and so they drew my blood and I think that’s how they found out I was super dehydrated or some other test they ran. I ended up having to get an IV and staying in the hospital for I think around a week. So I would argue that in some circumstances it’s good to trust your gut and push for more tests!
The first time I had an obvious seizure, I had a second one in the hospital while they were trying to figure out what was going on. (I only know this thanks to a couple friends who kept near me as much as possible; my memory from that night is EXTREMELY fragmentary.) A few hours after I'd been admitted, in the very wee hours of the night, my friends were told to pack me up and bring me home. While they were trying to get me dressed, a different doctor came and said no, it wasn't safe for me to leave until I could do so under my own power. Then they were told again to take me out. I woke up on the couch at home with no clue what was going on; my friends had ended up just carrying me, because I was never even awake to leave on my own. Also, the only connection the hospital had to go by beyond what my friends simply claimed, the closest thing there was for verification, is that one of them had been the person to call the ambulance (and then separately drive in). I wasn't capable of confirming I'd ever even met them. When I was in high school, there was a time my mom got sick enough that she decided to head on in to urgent care (my family has typically been the sort to attempt to "power through" anything that isn't a very obvious problem that can't be ignored, and there are a few reasons for that). She tried very hard to tell them that something was wrong, that it wasn't like other times she'd been sick. They insisted she had the flu or something and sent her home. Late that night (arguably early morning by then), dad rushed her in because she looked spaced out, was unresponsive, and was bleeding from one ear. She had viral meningitis. It destroyed her left inner ear (permanently deaf on that side and needed a cane to walk for years while she re-learned balance) and left her with minor brain damage. The doctors told dad that if he had waited until morning, she'd have been dead. A friend of mine dealt with going in and out of the hospital frequently for months because not only was nothing helping/letting her get better, she was steadily getting worse. A couple of those visits included ambulance transport. She was barely eating, and it was getting difficult for her to even handle much water; on at least one occasion, she was brought in because the lack of nutrition and hydration left her barely able to move, and they just gave her an IV for a few hours and sent her home without any attempt to look for the source of the problem. Her anxiety was spinning out of control, and it was being added to massively by how poorly her medical visits kept going (one of the issues being having to sit in the ER waiting room so long again and again, since they kept sending her home still sick). It took months of this before they finally figured out she has Celiac's and it just decided to make itself known in the past year or so. I don't doubt that the intention behind getting people out of the hospital ASAP is to prevent hospital-borne illness and address the needs of more people. And I get that such a high-stress environment is going to lead to more mistakes, even as they do all they can to reduce mistakes. But rushing people out when that actually leads to worse outcomes really does seem to be a significant issue.
Many years ago, my grandfather left AMA. He knew he was about to die and, he said he wouldn't die in a hospital, that he wanted to die at home. He also said, there were too many things at home to take care of before he died. So, when he was given the news, he probably wouldn't last another day or two, he checked himself out. He went home that morning, took care of his garden and a few other things around the house, as well as some paperwork, then around supper time, he said he was going to take a nap. Gave his wife a kiss and hugged her, sat down in his recliner, put on the tv and went to sleep for the last time. He always said, he'd know the time he was going to go.
):
That’s sad
@@_The_RFG_Club_ Nah, at least he went away on his own and with dignity.
@@_The_RFG_Club_ thank you but, not really. I respected him for things like that. He knew when he was going to go, and wanted it to be on his terms. He was a good man, and lived a good life. He knew there was no fighting the inevitable.
@@macD723 We all have to go but he went in the way all of us dream, peaceful in mind and body and on his own terms.
When my mum was in hospital at the end of her life she was unable to talk about D.N.R. She had talked to us (her children) about it. I had to tell the doctor that she did not want her life prolonged if her heart stoped. They resuscitated her 10 times before I was so upset that I screamed out enough she did not want this. They then rang my other siblings to find out what I said was true. So yes please talk to your doctor about a DO NOT RESUSCITATE order. It will take a lot of stress off your children
Having worked ER registration, I cannot stress enough how important it is. Some people would get upset when I asked if they had a DNR or advanced directive, but I've seen situations exactly like you described. It's super important to have that stuff lined up not just for you, but also for your loved ones. I'm so sorry you had to deal with that. I don't know if this helps, but I can explain what might have contributed to that situation. Part of the problem is the whole liability issue. If they don't have a notarized DNR on file, it can blow up in their face and become a legal issue, as with there being no official documentation, they could be sued over it. Then there's also family members that are trying to get away with something. That's why they had to call your siblings to confirm. We all the time had family members who had medical power of attorney that thought they could override the patient's decisions because they had POA... WHILE the patient was very much conscious and capable of making their own decisions. Then there's family fights and disagreements, people giving the doctors and nurses conflicting information. It's really frustrating to know that a few rotten people end up making all these extra hoops to jump through. It puts extra stress on everybody and can delay care or important end of life decisions like this. Anyway, sorry about the small essay. I'm sorry about your loss, and I hope you're doing well.
Absolutely agreed. My mom's last hospital visit, she was just lucid enough to tell us that she didn't want the breathing tube OR CPR/etc., and my stepdad and I made sure the doctors and nurses were aware of this. They honored it, even without paperwork. Gotta have an advocate who knows what you want when you're in that situation.
In most countries it is best to prepare something in writing. Place it somewhere readily-available to your next of kin and make sure they know about it. (Add something about your preferences regarding organ donations.) Very useful and stress-reducing for the next-of-kin.
Absolutely disgusting behaviour from the staff. I’m so sorry that you had to go through that.
Edit: I mean they shouldn’t have done it that many times even without the dnr order it would have been traumatic
I work at primary care and I tell every patient over 65 to do their directive. Hospitals often contact us to get their last official copy (patient is supposed to give us a copy). So many patients don't do them and its frustrating for exactly this reason. I know it is scary to think about end of life but I tell them it's really a gift for their loved ones so the trauma you experienced doesn't happen. I'm so sorry you went through that
Yes, advocate for yourself! The doctors almost gave my mom the wrong chemotherapy drug before she had a stem cell transplant. She kept telling them it wasn’t right, it wasn’t the one her oncologist told her she was going to have and they insisted it was. She kept insisting until a nurse who had picked up an extra shift and wasn’t even supposed to be there noticed how nervous and worried she seemed. The nurse asked what was up and my mom explained. The nurse was the one to finally convince the doctors it was wrong. The next day the entire department, including all the heads of it and a bunch of other hospital higher ups appeared in her room begging for forgiveness and for a second chance. My mom said “I literally don’t have a choice. I will die if I don’t have this transplant and no one else anywhere near here will do it.” They were extra extra careful after that and were almost obnoxiously nice to us. Advocate for yourself until they’re forced to believe you!
I’m so sorry that happened I hope your mom is doing better. I’m scared to advocate for myself or others because I’m shy and insecure and I know it’s a big thing but usually it’s like the seniority mindset of doctors that makes me think they should know what they’re doing but I’ll learn from your story to do better in sticking up for myself and others
We're they sorry sorry? Maybe they were. Did they want to avoid complaints to the AMA and. lawsuit? Yes they did.
For me, the few times I've been in the hospital, I've had to advocate for myself regarding blood draws and IV's. First, I've learned to not let just anyone stick me. I'm a hard stick, so I always tell them this and insist that they get the ultrasound tech to do it. Sometimes they try to convince me they can do it themselves, but no, I know my body. Get the machine.
The other thing was that one time I was in the hospital for a very bad case of mono. (My tonsils swelled so much, my throat closed up.) They came in my room 3 or 4 times a day to draw blood. And this was before I knew to ask for the ultrasound machine. So each time they stuck me, they would stick me multiple times. I had bruises all over. It was horrible. So finally I got so mad about it, I told them they got to take my blood once a day, no more. Especially since it was mono. There was no real reason they needed my blood.
During my mother's final illness, I had to do some pretty forceful advocating for her. I made sure they understood that she was DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) and I questioned what medications they were giving her. The hospital was sold in the middle of her stay, and they immediately lost access to the computer system they were using. They had to go to paper records which wasn't working well.
Another time a couple of years before, I had to insist to a surgeon that yes, my mother needed a few opiate pain killers to take for a few days after the procedure. I told him that my mom had a low pain threshold, and that she wasn't an addict, which she wasn't. I was polite, but I think he realized I was going to make trouble if he didn't prescribe them. I understand that doctors are afraid they'll lose their license if they prescribe opioids, but in this case, I felt she needed them.
Although I 100% the "advocate for yourself" advice, it's also good to keep in mind that you, as a patient, can be wrong too; so for whatever the issue is insist on being shown evidence/proof that the doctors/nurses are correct and you're in the wrong. In the case Allison described I would demand the hospital get a hold of my oncologist to confirm with them and me that they had gotten it right and I was wrong. In other words, it's OK to believe you're right, and to insist on some way of settling the issue; but be willing to admit you're wrong if there's convincing evidence you are. In all matters of factual disputes (in hospital or anywhere else in life) evidence is king.
Imma come clean: one time I was in the hospital for sepsis infection and one of the night time nurses was being extremely rude to me basically saying I was faking my infection symptoms for attention and I simply said "I hope you have a quiet shift sir"
Surprise: it wasn't a quiet shift for him
i love this comment 😂
Evil asf
Kinda like "May you live in interesting times."
Using it like a witch's curse is definitely the correct action LOL
Murphy law activates 😂
“Never insist the doctor is better than the nurse” OH BOY IS THAT THE TRUTH, in my experience, I spent several months in the hospital, and let me tell you... I WAS SO GRATEFUL when the nurses would do things especially dressing changes. Not to say doctors are not essential and wonderful humans for doing what they do, but there’s nothing like a nurse when it comes to bed side manor and calming down a terrified 21-year-old with a ruptured femoral artery. Love your content !!
OMG yes! I am so grateful for having such great nurses in my intern years, they teach us a lot!!
My friend accidentally cut her arm open while setting up her daughters swing set. The ER doc was super nice and gave great stitches and then bandaged her arm after. The nurse came over to go over discharge paperwork and saw the state of the bandage and flat out said " I love Dr.-------, but let me rebandage that"
It's almost as if nurses are trained in nursing...
It comes from people wanting the best diagnosis. Who does the best diagnosis? The person who knows the most about medical stuff in general, meaning the doctor.
I'm a bit of an exponent of that issue myself, as my mother was nearly killed by a nurse who saw her with CLEAR symptoms of high blood pressure for a blood pressure test, but instead decided she knew everything, refused to do the test, told my mother to go eat lots of crisps and other salty stuff to increase her blood pressure and sent her home.
Anyway, not two weeks later she was in the ICU with a blood pressure of 195/130 on the brink of death and her kidneys are pretty much shot at about 20% capacity left.
The kidney specialist commented that if we'd been 1-2 weeks earlier, it's quite likely the kidney function would've been far more intact.
So yeah, if you ever meet anyone insisting to see a doctor, it could be me, since I'll do that whenever I detect any signs of medical people of any kind going outside of their expertise or trying to just get rid of us out of either busyness or lazyness.
I do by contrast greatly apreciate medical workers being honest about their thought proces. Had a great time despite the pain when I broke two metatarsal bones and dislocated a toe, because two doctors in training couldn't figure it out, a doctor couldn't figure it out, but they admitted that this combination of fractures and dislocation is not something in any manual and they had trouble deciding on a course of action, because every way of taping everything back together also came with a warning label not to do that in case of something else I had.
In the end they called in a professor as well, together with another couple of medical students and had two books open as they decided on the best way to tape everything together.
The foot never fully recovered and this was a huge bugbear during military service, sports and longer hiking since, but I know for damned sure that everything that could be done for it, was done, because they were honest about their thought proces and limitations.
Save the secrecy and "I know best" for the people who lost the genetic lottery and have an IQ where only "I'm wearing a white coat, trust me bro" inspires confidence.
fr both doctors and nurses have important skills and would need each other's help hence why they're a team
I was admitted once and I remembered that the doctors were trying to draw blood from an artery. I have always had a hard time getting my blood drawn. This time it was really painful for some reason. They failed 4x (1 nurse and 3 doctors) and on the 5th try it was like a senior nurse who nailed it. Thats when I knew, nurses are really superior when it comes to drawing blood
When I was admitted from the ER, I was so dehydrated that they had to get the ambulance paramedic to find a vein. He did it in one shot. Love that guy, because of him I was finally able to get pain meds!
Once when I was getting blood drawn, I can't remember what it was for, but it was the doctor's first time drawing blood, and it took her about 3 tries. She never did get any out, 'cause I passed out the third time and scared the sh*t out of her. Had to go to a nurse, and she got it done in less than 5 minutes.
Yeah the people at are hospital cant draw blood i often leave looking like my arm is beaten
Drs and nurses do not draw blood, phlebotomists do it.
Ask for a butterfly needle. If you have small veins, that needle is better.
I had a seizure and fell off a train platform, and I kept telling the doctors and nurses I was in pain. The doctor actually discharged me at 2 am. I refused to leave, the doctor said he would have security remove me. I waited in the waiting room for an administrator to arrive, explained what happened, and she readmitted me and ordered an MRI. That's when they discovered my pelvis was fractured in front and back. When you have a degenerative musculoskeletal disorder and have a fall, the ER staff should always make sure you can walk unassisted and be able to go to the bathroom before they discharge you. If you can't do either, they should not be discharging you.
exact same thing happened to me. I was in a car accident when I was 2 years old and my parents begged the doctors for almost 3 days straight that something was wrong. They continued to discharge me every single time. I got an MRI and Cat scan and then it showed I had a hairline fracture in my neck.
If you fell they should have done imaging regardless.
@@chimaer3743 disgusting behavior
Agreed.
Similar hospital experiences here too, Doctor’s Mike advice should not be treated as the bible and followed 100%. His advice is assuming everything goes perfectly in his ideal scenario when reality is far from that. Doctors are humans too and some simply became one only for the money, not because they care about their patients and will get lazy at times
My law student contribution: Always read the Informed Consent Forms. It is extremely important you understand the procedure and its risks (from the common ones to the rare ones). I cannot stress this enough, read the Informed Consent and ask all the questions you may have before you sign it. No doctor who is worth their salt should refuse to answer your questions; questions are expected and even encouraged.
AND educate yourself on implied consent.
Then why have so many dentists and doctors acted like I’m weird for asking tons of questions?
My law student contribution: Always read the Informed Consent Forms. It is extremely important you understand the procedure and its risks (from the common ones to the rare ones). I cannot stress this enough, read the Informed Consent and ask all the questions you may have before you sign it. No doctor who is worth their salt should refuse to answer your questions; questions are expected and even encouraged.
I remember when I got a colposcopy, they gave me the informed consent papers after the procedure when I was shaking and about to pass out from the pain
Yes yes yes, I almost never see patients at our clinic read the consent form even for riskier procedures. And as much as I feel honored that they trust us to take care of them, I would much rather they read the form.
Then wisest thing I was ever told in a hospital by a nurse: you come to a hospital to get treated, but you go home to get better. This after I complained about being woken up several times the night by folks checking on me or to do blood draws. She was absolutely right, and made me stop and think about it. I have never complained again about being woken up at the hospital.
As a new nurse I will be stealing this, thank you!
Retired R.N. here: Nurses do it with style!
If I don't sleep I got very bad headaches (vomit, dizziness, light sensitivity...) so I complained about being woken up several times the night by nurses checking on me and I explained my condition. Because, I will have two problems to face (the one i am at the hospital for and horrible headache)and that isn't make me go better. Please, Let patients time to rest it's important even at hospital.
@@Rachel-qr8kv I don't think nurses come and wake you up in the middle of the night to be annoying. If they're running some tests at specific hours, there's a reason.
We don’t wake you up because we feel like it lol. We do it to make sure we’re taking care of you in the best way possible. You could have a complication in the middle of the night and we wouldn’t know it unless we woke you up for assessment.
I'm so glad I live in a country where you don't have to worry about money when you are in a medical emergency. My mother had an air ambulance literally across country - a flight that lasted for hours, with her own nurse to care for her, ambulance ready to take her to her doorstep, painkillers and physiotherapy later for the grand ol' price of 0$. 🇧🇻🇧🇻🇧🇻
That is how it should be. We have trillions of dollars and great economy. Everyone should pay little for national health care 💯💯,. It's not communism or socialism. I am from india. Government having some control over medicines and equipment pricing is necessary so that companies don't make billions while people are in debt and die. Check U.S on other side. It's horrible and mind-boggling.
I am thankful I do also
Same here. Yay Denmark.
Just sad we have a nurse-and-hospital-crew shortage currently and for like, the last few years now.
@@ridhamh2966 I’m glad India has cheap healthcare considering all the air pollution, water pollution, and open defecation over there :)
Unfortunately, we in the U.S. do not have that luxury… 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
ADVOCATE FOR YOURSELF. I was in hospital after surgery for a collapsed lung, and I was given pain medication. I reacted terribly to this pain medication (e.g. hallucinations, vomiting etc which is incredibly painful with a tube in your chest) so the pain specialist put in my record that I was to not have this drug again. One day later, a nurse came in with pain meds and told me to take them. I asked what it was, and they were like “oh your pain meds”. So I was about to take them when I noticed it looked like the drug I reacted to. After arguing with the nurse and her telling me to stop worrying and take it, she finally consulted another nurse who confirmed my suspicion
Her not telling you what the meds are called is a massive red flag! ...
Where I go they always tell you the name of each drug they are giving you. And they try to split them in to separate pots so you can easily leave one for later or refuse a specific one...
My kidneys were removed in 2001. When I was in hospital a few months down the track, the nurse came in with a spec jar. I asked her why, and she said "you can't have your ultrasound until you urinate into the jar." I argued with her for 5 minutes (and ended up angry crying) about how I had no kidneys so I couldn't pee. The nurse left to check and never came back
😁
I received a transplant in 2005.
They once gave me the wrong medication 🙃 I told the nurse that it was different from my usual treatment, she insisted so much I took it at the end.
I was sick all night.
Wow! Horrible experience!
What country did this happen in? It sounds like typical NHS England treatment, but at the same time I'm not slating the nurses who are totally understaffed, poor handovers and consultants who see you as a bag of flesh, in my experience. Yet there are some dedicated. caring doctors out there, I've met many but not been treated by many.
Also speak up when you enter into an emergency room if you don't feel right. I went into the ER due to a bad toe infection. But for the past couple of days I had a bad pain in my left shoulder blade. They triaged me and I did tell them about the pain but they were incredibly busy. I waited there for over three hours and I kept feeling worse but I figured I should just go home because I didn't want to be a bother. Just as I was about to walk out they called me back. When they listened to my chest they realized I was having a heart attack. They placed three stents that day. I wouldn't have lived if I had went home.
My nurse contribution: Visitors - never ever let your toddlers/small children crawl around on, or play on hospital floors. Not in the waiting rooms, patient rooms, not ANywhere.
Yes. A thousand times yes.
Eww imagine all the nasty stuff on the floor I can’t imagine letting a small child crawl around in that
Not anyway in the world
Should be common sense but it definitely isn’t 😩.
People think that because its a hospital or clinic the floor must be disinfected but its not true!! Ive seen kids literally dragging themselves on the floor!! 😖 I just cringe!!
I was caregiver for my mom and one of the biggest headaches was keeping track of her meds as they would change often. So being the computer nerd I am I created a spreadsheet with my mom's info, the date the list was updated, contacts in an emergency, allergic reactions, list of medicines showing generic and commercial names, dosage, how many times a day, when she started on the medication, who prescribed it and for what, and OTC (over the counter meds, vitamins, etc). I'd bring a copy along to every doctor appointment, urgent care visit, ER visit, and I made a lot of nurses and doctors very happy it seems by having all of that in one place and easy to read. I also uploaded it to cloud storage so if I didn't happen to have a printout with me I could get online and show it to the doctor or nurse.
I keep one for myself as well. All of my diagnoses, what year I was diagnosed, all meds and times taken, all allergies, all surgery history, all doctors and specialists I see including their office numbers.
So many health care workers have thanked me for providing this, I wish all chronically ill people would do this for themselves and their caregivers.
Have you considered putting it on a USB-connected medical bracelet for when you can't be bedside immediately?
Yes that is a dream for us nurses! Also lets us know that patient is being really cared for by their caregivers bc they're on top of stuff.
It's great that you did that but really sad that you have to do this. No person without medical training should be expected to keep track of an elderly persons medications. Might be regional differences but that would be her GPs job where I live.
@@iz2333 When someone is seeing 5 or 6 different doctors mistakes can happen if the patient (or caregiver) doesn't keep up with what medications are being taken.
After my surgeon sent me home with a punctured colon, I ended up back in the hospital with sepsis. Had emergency surgery and spent 2 months in the hospital. Let me tell you, patience, manners, being friendly, and saying please and thank you go a LONG way with all staff.
Around 13 years ago I was brought to the ER from home. I was having a massive GI bleed. After banding it blew out again and they did TIPPS. I lost A LOT of blood I received 12 bags of blood and two bags of platelets. I had worked in the ER and i’ve never seen anyone throw up so much blood before. So this did scare me about five or six days after the event I was starting to eat, but was so weak that I couldn’t yet walk at all much less take care of myself at home. The G.I. doctor wanted to send me straight from the ICU to home even though I couldn’t walk she said she needed the bed. I really couldn’t believe this. The other GI doctor stepped back and mouthed to me “I’ll be back” Thank God he fixed everything. PT got sent to me and evaluated me. I got to stay about 48 more hours . I got stronger and able to go up a flight of stairs. This all surprised me. This was at a top hospital in Boston.
Thank you Dr Field Willingham. We miss you much ❤
Love the "end of life" suggestion. My mom recently passed, but fortunately, she'd seen an attorney and her end-of-life instructions written down in a folder. We were able to find everything we need and pass it on to her medical staff. (She basically had a DNR and the hospital staff respected it.) Made things so much easier for her and for us.
I'm sorry for your loss.
im so sorry :(
Sorry for your loss and hope you guys are doing well
sorry for your loss, hope the good memories comfort you. She's always with you.
I'm so sorry for your loss. I'm glad that at least your family did not have to worry about what to do. How thoughtful of your mother! In May, my mother went into the hospital, it looked real bad for a few weeks, and we had to have this conversion. It was rough for us kids, but thankfully she had pre-planned a lot of the medical stuff. She recovered enough to come home, and now she and my father are planning their end-of-life finances.
Thoughtful parents like that make the grief less stressful. We need to grieve our loss, not worry about legalities.
One of my dad's coworker died because he left the hospital against the doctors' advice. Dude was super super workaholic and had a heart attack in the office, was taken to a hospital, and when he started feeling better he insisted that he had to back to work. Literally everyone told him it's a bad idea, he wanted to go anyway and iirc he had a second heart attack on the way there and died.
Dude was super super smooth brain is what he was.
Imagine being such a slave to your work hours that you force yourself to death cause you were too desperate to get back to earning money for your boss wowzers. 🤦♂️
@@Loctorak That's a serious problem, actually. Probably shouldn't be passed off as just "smooth brain".
Love your pfp!
Being a workaholic is probably what caused his first heart attack. Stress and no rest.
One time, my mom and sister took our father to the hospital because he was in pain and vomiting (I wasn't there so I am not sure exactly what other things were going on). When they got him to the hospital a staff member said he was obviously just too drunk because he was vomiting and couldn't stand on his own and told us to wait for him to be seen. My mom and sister had to make a scene just to get attention because they knew he had not had anything to drink but the staff did not believe them. Luckily they managed to get someone's attention and he got in. Turns out it was a brain aneurysm. Also we were lucky that he survived it. I know hospital staff are busy people with lots of people to take care of, but to just disregard someone because you think the symptoms they are showing makes them look drunk even when people said they are not, is not right.
Doctors and Nurses go through lots of trouble, but hopefully this sort of stuff doesn't happen in the near future
sorry that happened
WOW, there could have been a terrible outcome in that situation.
Sorry that happened sweetheart and im glad your daddy is okay
I will never trust a doctor or nurse or anybody that can diagnose someone just by looking for 5 seconds at various obvious-visual cues.
That's like me telling you that your car's engine dun work well just cuz I smell burnt rubber, there's a damage to the car and it has issues starting.
It can literally as well be the battery, the fuel, etc. etc. instead.
End of Life Convo is a big one!! I've been a big advocate for palliative care for years and years - I even gave an end-of-life and palliative care presentation at my community college in my early 20s just because I was so passionate about it.
Don't be afraid to have these conversations!! My grandmother told me I was the only family member who ever asked her about her wishes when she was 86 years old. There's a reason she made me her Power of Attorney. When she ended up in the hospital for something that seemed routine? Turns out it wasn't -- and it took them a couple of weeks to recognize that! I had to advocate hard for her comfort, but I knew what she was willing to endure and where her stopping point was because I'd talked to her about it.
DON'T WAIT TO HAVE THESE CONVERSATIONS.
As a nurse working in a hospital, I can verify pretty much all the points in here. When it comes to jewelry, our hospital has a locked box next to each bed and only nurse has a key. Even still, we are very careful and ask patients to pass jewelry and valuables to relatives so they would be more secure.
I would also add a point "Do not rush the staff for whatever reason." I see many patients and relatives trying rush medications, treatments and scans immediadly while the staff is trying to sort things out with the best of their abilities. We are all doing our best and sometimes waiting sucks and there's not a single day when I don't apologize for the wait time especially if there's an emergency going on in another room. It's alright to remind but wrong to demand instant service.
Agreed
the only time i’ve ever wanted to rush a nurse was to get more sick bowls when i had appendicitis, because i was GOING to throw up, and didn’t want to create a harder job by puking on the floor. however, i felt too bad and like there was probably someone in a worse state, so i tried not to puke. i…completely failed and felt awful
Just wanna say thank you for what you do daily at work. You deal with the worst and sickest of us and usually get no thanks or respect (or not enough). Our medical systems would crumble in minutes without you all and people need to know that.
Sorry for the novel, I just have unending respect for what you do 💜
I had to calm my mom down when it took the ER staff over an hour to get me an prescription. I knew they were short staff, and it didn't help that it was during their shift change.
My only time at the ER had a total wait time of 7 hours (with a few 10-15 minute examinations in between).
I only heard 3 hours in they had a major highway accident coming in during that time, with a second one later. I was cold, in pain and tired, but I understood I wasn't a priority at the time and they were doing their darnest to help everyone.
I've shared this before and I will continue sharing it: ALWAYS advocate for yourself! I went to the ER thinking I had appendicitis, doctor asked if I could be pregnant (nope, thank you social distancing), did the abdomen exam, determined I did not have appendicitis and tried to send me home. When I pushed for the CT scan, he said I probably had gastritis, and I probably wouldn't get scanned until 3 or 4 am (it was around 8 pm at that point). I told him I would wait for the scan. Got scanned around 11:30 pm, scan showed I had an abscess in my small intestine. I ended up getting admitted, and further tests and procedures diagnosed me with Crohn's Disease and sepsis. During my follow-up with my PCP, she told me she saw the scan and estimated I was about 48 hours away from medical emergency, and praised me for trusting my body and advocating for myself. (For what it's worth, the ER doctor did apologize for not believing me when he discussed the scan results with me.)
It took 3 ER visits before I was admitted! I felt like I was lying but at least 2 doctors insisted on a lumbar puncture and I was admitted
I wish there was a more universal “believe the patient until you can PROVE otherwise” instead of the “it’s probably not a big deal” until you come into the ER with an immediate life threatening situation. Not just at the ER but with all doctors.
At least the guy who made the mistake recognized it and apologized.
@@C1975-t7p I mean, immediate life threatening situations are kind of the entire point of an ER. Anything else should be seen by urgent care or at a doctors office. People will often go to an ER with any medical issue but they can't really do anything for you outside of acute emergencies.
100% on advocating for yourself and your family/friends. I remember a few years ago my uncle was dying in hospital and needed to have a scan done, and was told he could have nothing to eat or drink until the scan. I arrived after his lunch had and he was so hungry and thirsty, but waited patiently. A junior nurse came in to give him medicine, and left before my uncle took it, and I stopped my uncle from taking it. Chasing the nurse down I asked if my uncle could have the medicine if he wasn’t allowed to have anything to eat or drink, and after checking with another nurse, it turns out that because he had lunch delivered it was assumed he had eaten and got knocked back on the wait list. I told them he hadn’t had anything waiting for the scan, and provided he didn’t take the medicine (he didn’t) he was bumped up the list. If I hadn’t stopped and talked on my uncle’s behalf, I hate to think of how long he would’ve waited to be seen…
smh, miscommunication in a hospital with stuff like that is awful !!!!
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Just FYI, some meds are OK take if NPO ( nothing by mouth). Pt can have orders that say NPO except for meds, because some of those meds are important and should be missed due to a potential scan
Been there done that. I was diabetic while pregnant and after my daughter was born I had to be NPO to get my tubes tied. She was born after midnight and I was scheduled for surgery at 7 am so they wouldn't even let me have water after giving birth. Fine, let's just get this done. Except the surgeon was late and decided to get his morning clinic out of the way first. Then that ran late too. He visited me on his lunch break to explain the delay and had the nerve to eat in front of me. I don't begrudge a busy doctor his lunch, but with the smell of chicken swamping the room, I was hard pressed not to snatch it from him. I hadn't had anything to eat or drink since noon the previous day, and was breast feeding my newborn. The nursery expressed concern that my daughter's blood sugar was low and they couldn't figure out why. Duh, my sugar is low too; I wonder why!
Finally at 5:30 pm they wheeled me to surgery, where the anesthetist and the rest of the team were already half an hour into overtime and...the surgeon calls to say he's running later than planned. My last conscious memory is of the anesthetist cursing at the doctor.
I ended up back in my room after 9 pm. The cafeteria was closed, so the nurses put together a meal from the vending machines--a turkey sandwich, jello, cookies, pudding, and a cola. For a diabetic. Then they had the nerve to be surprised when my sugar went way up. Fed my baby again, and the nursery reported with surprise that her blood sugar also went up. I just wanted to scream in frustration at the lack of understanding something as common as diabetes.
Yesss same thing happened to my mother too she was literally starving the whole day it didn't just happen once but 3 times if im not mistaken 😤
I am a CNA. I was visiting one of my residents in the hospital and they asked if I would assist. The patient has diminished cognition and a history of violence, but being familiar with him I was sure I could help. He was uncharacteristically cooperative, FOR THE FIRST ATTEMPT. By the third try he was extremely agitated, and I was pissed. I insisted on another nurse to draw the blood. I was able to get him to settle down and we got the blood sample. They explained that the first nurse was new at drawing blood. I expressed my disappointment at them deciding to use this patient as a guinea pig. I informed my supervisor but don't know what actions may have been taken.
The point about leaving against medical advice is absolutely spot on!
I was admitted a few years ago with a cat bite that had gone right through my hand. I had had it cleaned, a good dose of antibiotics and a tetanus shot but they wanted to keep me in anyway with my hand strapped above my head. However, I decided I couldn't be bothered to hang around all night and it was silly keeping me in for a cat bite - I felt like I was taking up a much needed bed, so I discharged myself.
Within 12 hrs I was re-admitted with sepsis and needed adrenaline. Had I stayed, all of that could have been headed off in advance and I wouldn't have needed to stay as long as I did. Ultimately, my poor decision almost cost me my life and cost the already crippled NHS far more money than it should have.
I see your point. However even tho it didn't turn out the best your decision was respected 💯
What kind of cat bit you so hard that it went through your hand?
@@alejandromedrano7986 it's acc very possible. Cats a very powerful
@@alejandromedrano7986 my last cat bit the vet right through the bite protection glove. After that I was only allowed to bring her in a special cage that allowed them to push her to one side, so they could sedate her without danger to themselves
My cat was a traumatised cat who was rescued from an animal abuse situation, and she was terrified of strangers and unfamiliar places. I only went to the vet if it was necessary and let them do all other checks and vaccines while she was under anesthesia.
I had the same thing but my doctor convinced me to stay. A really sick person was admitted to the other bed. I felt like an idiot.
I have a history of incredibly painful kidney stones. The doctor I was seeing in the ER thought I was drug seeking. He explained to me that he was a cop during the day, and doctor by night. He looked me up in their system that tells them the last time you've had a narcotic prescribed, saw it had been 6 weeks, then sent me on my way. Two days later, I was back, with a stone the size of a pencil eraser. I ended up with an incredible kidney infection, blood in my urine, and having to have lithotripsy. Sometimes it's no us.
A cop during the day and a doctor by night. I call BS. I’m so sorry you had to deal with that
LAWSUIT
Did you get better?!
That sounds really unbelievable ngl cause hospital doctors work like 12-14 hour days.
I went to the ER one night with an unbearably painful toothache. I was about to rip my own head off to make the pain stop. The doctor thought I was drug seeking. Mind you, I have no history of drug abuse whatsoever. He sent me home after refusing to help me in any way. I got into my dentist's office the next day on an emergency basis. By this time I was nearly delirious. I had a severe abscess which had spread to my jawbone and caused an infection in the bone. My dentist immediately gave me IV antibiotics, (and morphine) and told me that I would have been dead in a few days from a brain infection if I hadn't gotten treatment when I did. He called the ER at the hospital and screamed at them for 20 minutes about their refusal to treat me. I later called the hospital and told them that I would not be paying my bill, and if they wanted to pursue payment I would file a lawsuit. In hindsight I should have filed a lawsuit anyway
Friend of my dads hurt his back and went to the ER, and the doctor discharged him WAY to soon. Long story short, the friend had significant back problems the doctor didn’t diagnose and address and being sent home made things worse, to the point he’s suffered partial paralysis, leading to him sueing the hospital and doctor and winning.
If memory serves me right, it was revealed during discovery that the hospital had this bonus program in the ER, where if a doctor gets a patient out in a short time (I think 2 hours) they got a bonus, so the doctor was more occupied trying to get bonuses then treating patients.
Thats seriously disgusting prioritizing money over the patients care. I hope the hospital admin learned their lesson.
Why would such program even exist? Healthcare is not customer service.
Oh gotta love those hospital administrators
Add on to that crappy incentive system that back problems are amongst the hardest things to properly diagnose if it is not something able to be seen on an x-ray/CAT scan.
@@emmel4fun This is America. Yes, it is.
I've never personally thought nurses were lesser than doctors, probably in part because one of the few things I remember of a hospital trip when I was six was there was a man in scrubs who was nice to me and made me feel a little less terrified (which is quite something, considering over-emotional six year old with a deep, bleeding head wound who would later go on to become a theatre kid), and I talked to Mum about what I thought of this man, and I called him a doctor to which Mum corrected me on that he was actually a nurse.
The other few things I recall with clarity are the medication process before the stitches where I think they tried to give me an oral medication but I was a stubborn little lad and outright refused, so they instead put it right up my nose where I distinctly recall firmly thinking "I am not going to swallow this." only for it to be swallowed anyways.
Oh, and the egg sandwich. Clearest thing I recall of that trip, being on a recovery bed and being given an egg sandwich which I greatly enjoyed and a red apple which sat in the backseat of the car for literal months :P
To add to the rule of lieing and asking questions
if there is ANY drug abuse history in your life you should disclose that
There was a man who was addicted to heroin
Over 30 years before getting injured and because he didn't tell them he was given medication that restarted his addiction and slowly ruined his life
Unless you smoke cannabis once a year in norway, because they will take your drivers license..
@@avlinrbdig5715 you should probably still tell them because I'd rather live and have no driving licence
Then die and still have it
@@PhantomOfFire sure, bro.. you go do that in the middle of nowhere and lose your job. See how your health improves. Lmfao
@@avlinrbdig5715 okay but it's that or actual possibility of death or illness or addiction
@@PhantomOfFire man.. your phrasing is so dramatic you should win a prize bro
as an EMT, I actually do advise patients to take their medications with them to the hospital, particularly if they take multiple medications and can’t possibly remember all the names and dosages. it helps so that the ER staff will easily have that full list of medications. of course, it would be on the ER staff to let any receiving providers know during a future handoff to avoid any double dosing or drug interactions.
At one point I was having a prescription medication compounded into a specific dose for me. I spent the night in hospital and told the nurse what I took, and explained they were compounded. She told the doctor on the phone and Dr didn’t believe her/me because the medication doesn’t come in that dose (… that’s the point of compounding). when my husband returned with my medication I was able to show her and she went and either showed or phoned the doctor to prove that I was right. Ridiculous.
it’s great to bring your medications with you (for all the reasons you said), just don’t take any without checking with the nurse or doctor first!
My Mom always kept an updated medication list in her purse, taped to the inside of the door where her meds were kept along with an extra copy or two (there were times she would only be home for maybe 3 or 4 days before we'd have to call an ambulance again.) This made sure that she always had one for EMTs when an emergency happened.
@@Insertia_Nameia That's so smart 😀
I have a list in my medicin box
My sister had to take a lot of meds. At first she didn't have them listed anywhere, and I told her we need to make some lists. It's important for the person taking them as well as emergencies. The times my sister was picked up to go to the hospital, I always had to give them all of her prescription meds & supplements to make note of before they left, and I always took the actual bags of meds with me when I followed them or went as soon as I could later to give to the nurses to double check they 1. Had all the meds & dosages correct & 2. Use what we had so that she didn't have to pay exorbitant hospital/insurance costs per pill & 3. Not be sent home with the same medicines that cost 10x more (that's only if they would, sometimes they "aren't allowed with their hospital policy"). It also gave me her meds in my purse or the list she kept with them (if they took them to use) so that when I visited I could double check with the nurses that were doing the dispensing that they were all being given still & see what had been added by the doctors, if they hadn't told me already (especially when I was her signed medical liaison for if/when she wasn't able to make decisions. I also advocated for her in telling the nurses & doctors how badly she felt when she didn't have certain meds at certain times or with/without at least a snack. Sometimes nurses won't know these things & they give the meds at diff times or without at least a snack & your loved one might vomit or at least get super nauseous & then they don't know it's not an allergic reaction or new symptom but just how your loved one's body responds to certain meds (especially those they have taken a long time... they know their body, but might not be able to tell someone). I myself don't have a lot of prescription meds but take quite a few supplements & I know some of them can interact with medicines so I always list them.
I love how Doctor Mike tells us such informational stuff in such a humorous manner
When doctors are close to the patients family, they should be extremely careful about HIPPA. My therapist who also happens to my dance teacher and aunt mentioned my case with extreme details to our family, technically she didn't violate the HIPPA law but gave enough clarity in the case to make my family understand who it was about, she didn't do it intentionally but it was a big problem for me as my mental state was revealed. Dear doctors, please be careful when treating your family.
I think it's fair to go a bit further than "be careful when treating your family", just don't treat your family at all unless it's an emergency.
Forgive me, but I can't believe you're getting therapy from a family member. Yikes! Dance teacher too? Therapists should only be therapists.
@@Tracymmo listen I'm broke and she volunteered. Life's life
With the medication thing, my grandmother had CBD gumies she used for her back (she has a really bad back) when she was in the hospital for a triple bypass and she thought she needed to sneak the medication in. so i talked to the doctor for her and he was able to print up a label for her gumies and get them for her. Almost all doctors will work with you if you just ask.
I actually (as a patient) went to hospitals quiet regularly as a family member was admitted, they had a clear "no eating" rule for her, it was strictly fluids (ice was an exception) she "ate" ice, drank water, wasn't allowed soda/other drinks just yet. They gave her a full tray of food,sides, dessert, and a soda on the side now they did realize the mistake maybe 10-15 minutes after they left it there and they told us we could eat it or else it would up in the trash.
Same, when my grandmother was at the hospital, she was refusing to eat anything by her mouth, so she was fed using a feeding tube. Still, the hospital kept sending meals for her and my mother (who was sleeping there with her). One time I was visiting around lunchtime I ate some. If no one eats it, it's going to the trash.
I just got home yesterday from an ER turned ICU 5 day stay in the hospital with my multiply disabled daughter. Happy to say I got so many of these things right. I’m glad you clarified medicines from home; my daughter has epilepsy and I will notice something being “off” when they change a med from one generic to another at the pharmacy and the hospital changed 3 all at once! While I understood that the ones in their system were easy to scan, it was too much for her and she had multiple scary big seizures on the third day there. A thoughtful respiratory therapist helped me advocate for my daughter and I stood my ground with nurses and doctors until they made scan codes for our home medications and used them they way we do at home. Her seizures stopped, she was safe. My heart was pounding speaking up, but ultimately, I’m glad I did.
Kudos for being a good advocate and parent!!!
Dude, them stickers are AMAZING!
My tip: DO NOT STAND in front of an elevator door. You never know if a coding patient needs to get out. I don't know how many times I've been in the employee elevator (I understand visitors don't get this) and, when the doors open, I am face to face with someone trying to get in meaning I can't get out. C'mon people!
As a scandinavian, it's insane (and sad) to me that people have to be told "you can lower the cost of your hospital stay if you shop around :)". Healthcare is a basic human right and should be free (as it is here)
As a Brit, same
@@ep6600 But he said „if you NEED to use an air ambulance“. If you need one in Germany - where I live and where we have universal healthcare - you would not need to shop around since you will not have to pay for it. If you want to use one and there is no need for this means of transportation, you cannot use it and pay for it yourself because it is reserved for the patients that need it. So the use of an air ambulance is always free of charge in Germany - and most European countries as far as I know.
@@ep6600 Hey if you need to be transported by heli (or an ambulance plane for that matter), even in non-emergency cases, it is very much still free here
Sorry, but America's not a communist country (and never will be).
Canadian here. I would only “shop” around since the hospitals here in rural Alberta suck and there are some that are better than others. Plus the hospitals here are so under-staffed that you sometimes have to go to different hospitals to get care
I was in hospital for 4 days. Shared my room with a 80 y/o grandma. We both had gall bladder removal surgery.
We ended up chatting sooo much and shared meals :0 … but we were fine ^^
That's awesome! I'm glad you had a nice room mate!
Always ADVOCATE! As someone with multiple chronic illnesses, unfortunately I spend a lot of time in hospital for often weeks at a time, multiple times per year. Not only do I myself try my best to keep track of my condition, diet, medication, treatment and recovery, I also ALWAYS have a designated family member keeping track too. This is SO IMPORTANT. Sometimes we aren’t strong enough to monitor everything happening around us, which is why having a second person following things is so useful. Prime example… I have a penicillin allergy and was once given a drug containing it accidentally. If my sister hadn’t been there to stop the insistent nurse from hanging the medication refill, my allergic reaction would no doubt have been a lot worse.
I was in the hospital for a broken leg. They had an IV hooked up to me for hydration and antibiotics. I was still thirsty though. My mom asked if I could have Gatorade from the vending machine. The nurses gave an estatic yes because Gatorade helps hydrate and makes hitting the body's blood tubes easier. They always got it on the first try.
I definitely felt hydrated on ivy cause I was never thirsty and hated water back then it just tasted bad except ice
IV
Several years ago my mother went in for a hysterectomy and she kept complaining that she was having difficulty breathing. The nurse would come in and adjust the wrap that was around her waist and after some point told my mother she couldn't adjust it anymore. Granted my mother was heavy dosed with pain meds but it took until the next day for the doctor to appear and check her out to learn she developed pneumonia and said they should have been notified last night that she was having issues breathing but none of the nurses called it in despite her and us alerting each nurse even during the shift changes. Ended up being 3 different nurses we alerted over it... Evening, night, and morning shift nurses. (( My mom has COPD since before the surgery and other complications that has occurred since the operation but not involving her lungs thankfully. ))
I had a c-section and they gave me morphine and I was allergic to it didn't know at the time. Called the nurse who argued with me. I then called my mom and she called the nurse and then called the drs when she wouldn't listen. My mom's a nurse.
my mom developed a different type of infection after hers. she had covid-like symptoms (this was before covid escaped the wuhan lab {my mom has never been to China}), and was in the hospital for a week. for a month afterward, she had an awful cough. she now has bell's palsy
It is important to listen to the patient, they know their bodies, their records, and intuition is on point most of the times. I know health professional have to go by a guideline, but listening to the patient can save some time.
Once I endured 4 days with high fever, I suspected it was a kidney infection. I told doctors I thought it was something with my kidneys, but they told me it was only a flu, because either way i would've had an UTI first. I waited six hours for them to tell me that the test for flu wasnt right. After that, they told me it was a kidney infection and I was close to losing my kidneys.
@@liliandres6056 maybe SARS
yeah
Amen to the nurse vs doctor thing. When you have a patient who wants the doctor to do a procedure instead, it's because they don't realize nurses are usually better at performing procedures because unlike doctors who are good at ordering procedures, nurses actually do them on a regular basis. Practice and experience are essential.
Yeah well, unlike nurses Doctors went to Medical school.
@@patrick-ip4yf Brah. You literally missed the whole point of what I said. If you need an IV placed in your arm and you'd rather have a doctor do it instead of the nurse it's because you're ignorant of how hospitals and clinics work. Many doctors have placed maybe one or two IVs in med school and never did it again. They never even got proficient at doing it. Nurses on the other hand do it every single day and become very good at it. The point is that doctors don't do most of the procedures that they order and are usually not as good as nurses at doing them. If you don't understand that then you don't have a good understanding of how real clinics function and you probably watch too many medical dramas on TV.
@@4dojo I was meaning to say Doctors don't do these procedures in the first place, because they are needed elsewhere, and Doctors all well within there authority to order these procedures as they went to medical school.
@@patrick-ip4yf Obviously your comment was intended to put nurses down, but in the end you just stated what everyone already knows. Doctors go to medical school and they play a different role in the medical field than nurses. That being said, nurses also intensively study medicine in college and the course is extremely difficult and competitive. I'm not pretending that RN programs are as long or difficult as MD programs, but make no mistake that becoming a nurse is far more difficult than obtaining most other college degrees. I speak from experience because I have graduated college multiple times and hold multiple college degrees. At my college the RN program was so intense and competitive that only a small percentage of applicants could achieve a high enough GPA to even get accepted into the program and more than half of those that could be into the program failed out anyway. And by the way, doctors are far from all knowing even in their fields. That's why there are so many specialties and sub specialties. As nurse I have on countless occasions called up doctors and practitioners to point out errors in their orders or even orders that just don't make sense given the situation. No, I'm not on the level of a doctor in terms of pharmacology, but like I said, nurses still need to know a great deal about medicine and pharmacology and we are trained and expected to notice med errors. Not noticing a doctor's prescription errors can actually get a nurse into trouble. So don't talk about nurses like they're fodder.
@@4dojo And when you say fodder, what do you mean?
YES YES YES to the advocacy. Back when I was diagnosed with T1D, they intentionally used short needles since I didn't need anything longer and longer needles felt like they hurt far more. I was terrified of longer needles. Once, a new nurse came in with a needle twice the size of the one usually used to administer insulin to me. I kept insisting that I swore the other one was shorter and after giving up trying to convince me I was wrong, she actually asked someone else to look and found the original needle size. Not that big of a deal, but it make my little brain both relieved and proud :')
I had one with needles too. It happened when I was in my early 20's
Nurse was having a hard time finding the right spot in my hands, after the 4 or 5th hole it was more painfull than I could bear and I started to scream in pain.
The nurse then went shaming saying to everybody hear (it was a comunal room with around 6 or more beds) how I was acting like a little baby and that I was a small kid afraid of needles.
I got pissed and yelled "I'm a regular blood donor, I used to put needles on my hand as kid because was bored, I take blood and get medicine without a flinch. I'm saying this. is. hurting. too much!"
She fronze long enough to a doctor show up to deescalate, he send her to another patient and get another nurse to give me the medicine.
It hurt because my had was already sore but was bearable.
I’m proud of you for advocating for yourself! :)
The needle size matters! If you don't need an 18 gauge cannula (big! Like the Red Cross uses for blood donations!), a 22 or 24 gauge should be quite enough!
To me it seems like she didn't want to wait a "long time" for the insulin to pass through the needle.
Good on you!
@UCHhHuXfqjp7vPNp4eISJzwA
TL;DR
Don't dig with the needle: you're cutting tissue and causing unnecessary bruises. Two strikes (needle sticks) and you're out! Donors don't have to give blood that day and can come back a few days later. On a double-arm machine, neither the phlebotomist nor the nurse could hit my veins. After a long history of giving gallons of whole blood and many double units of platelets, I left and never gave blood again.
Give blood!
Story
For some reason, if someone doesn't get the stick right away, they will dig around for the vein under the skin. They did that to me at the Red Cross with a _big effin' cannula,_ and when I saw what was causing me to hurt more and more, I saw he was digging like that.
"Hey! Hey! Hey!" I yelled. "You're cutting tissue! Take it out!"
When you're donating blood, you really don't need to do that. The donor can leave and come back at another time pretty soon because their RBC's are still mature.
I was giving platelets, a double unit because I had a normally large platelet count. Platelet units are good for clotting factor for hemophiliac patients. They consolidate ten units at a time to make it, so the Red Cross love people like me.
I was giving on a double arm machine, which meant I needed a needle in both arms. One to give, the other to return my red blood cells (RBC's).
I dismissed the phlebotomist and asked for the nurse. If she couldn't hit my veins -which at the time were not hard to hit- I would leave.
The nurse couldn't hit them, either, which is what I expected after all the digging, and I left the blood-drawing site, never to return.
I am proud to have donated over 3 gallons of blood over the years (8 units is about a gallon), and I got my pins for them (a golden blood drop with numbers on it). I also gave many double units of platelets. And I get sad that I can't let myself give anymore (not just placing the needles).
Please give blood! It's about a five minute draw plus snacks to help replenish you. Yes, you have to answer a bunch of questions, and you get a lancet stick to get a hematocrit reading. ( _ouch!_ ) You sometimes wait for a table, but it's worth it.
Every unit helps at least three people with packed red blood cells, plasma, platelets, and more.
The blood supply is a dynamic and living supply. Each unit can only last 21 days in the refrigerator. 90 days IIRC in the freezer. Blood is always needed, and it gets shunted around a lot from blood bank to blood bank to fill transfusion needs.
Rule 4 almost caused us to lose my son, my partner (who suffers from CPTSD) was told she could leave as nothing was wrong and were getting ready to do the discharge papers,my partner fought and fought they said " it's your anxiety of being a first time mum" they reluctantly gave her a scan...the baby wasn't moving all together, rushed into the labour ward and begun inducing, he had breathing problems and had to be in the ICU. he is perfectly healthy now and just turned 1yr old but if we listened...we wouldn't of had our child....
As a pregnant woman, you know your body better than anyone and you SHOULD advocate for yourself indeed. My mom was almost told to go back home on her 4th and 5th pregnancy. She had to say "doc/nurse, I've had 3/4 kids already, I know how my delivery works. Please admit me or I'm going to have this baby right here while "walking out"..."
I gotta say, as a kid I thought labor and delivery always happened in about 5-7 hours altogether (3-5 for (early) contractions and 2 to get to the hospital and get out of delivery room) because that's how I met my lil bros & sis XD
Hi Dr. Mike, you should do a video reacting to crashes, falls, and accidents from telenovelas. They get INSANE!!
La Rosa 😦
@@UnknownUser32100 La Roas de Guadalupe does have very intense accidents!!
@@Ximena_R04 Yes 🙌
I have been straight and honest with my doctors since years about some past drug abuse I've suffered (and have been treated for since). I get the sense that I'm not taken seriously when I really do need to discuss medication. I feel I've been labeled very negatively. Likely as drug seeking. Makes me feel like my mistakes have voided my respect-and-life-pass.
being chronically ill, i'm at my hospital every 2 weeks, and having my specific nurses has helped so much, since they can see if things don't go well from my body language, know my full diagnosis, and I can ask them many things
My mom got the best advice from a neurosurgeon years ago when I was a baby and had to be sent to the children’s hospital. He told her “trust your gut especially when it comes to your children. You know your children better than the doctors and when you know something is wrong and the doctors brush you off, ask for another opinion until someone listens to you. Doctors sometimes believe that they know better but that is not always the case”
It's so sad it always has to come to this in this day and age, ugh !!!!!
My mum was told she was overreacting when she saw two different GP’s about her thunder clap headaches. One gp was nice but dismissive, the other told her that she was overreacting. One thing about my mum is that she has an incredibly high pain threshold. They only took on board what was in front of them rather than my mums very obvious and serious symptoms. My mum told the GP that she would be going to have an mri privately….he told her not to bother wasting her money and they wouldn’t find anything, but said it was her choice.
The morning of the scan results a very apologetic GP rang and told her she immediately needed to go to hospital as she had subdural haematoma!
That’s awful. I hope she’s doing well now
My mom had a similar series of GPs tell her she was being hypercondriatic over a car crash she was in a good 15 years prior now, and eventually it was discovered she had actual spinal damage that was causing the pain she was in more or less constantly. It wasn't until a Therapeutic specialist literally went through the painscale with my mom and adjusted it for my MOM specifically that something didn't add up.... thus hospital MRIs and such right after and, well, my mom is now very distrustful of doctors and nurses and such that seem to be knowitall idiots that toss out diagnoses in minutes without even any direct examination first.
That’s really annoying.
@@zaffytaffy809 Thank you. she had the operation to drain the blood but still suffers from head pain as the area is so sensitive to hot/cold and pressure etc. The area they drilled on the skull isn’t filled back in so she really suffers, unfortunately.
Women are less likely to be believed.
When men and women describe pain with the same words. People believe men to be in worse pain than the corresponding women.
It sucks
I'm glad you mentioned about other people consuming the patients food or beverage. I was hospitalized with a fungal blood infection and I was in septic shock. They kept track of what went in and came out. They would even keep track of popsicles they gave me. I was limited to 64 oz a day of fluids a day. It sounds like a lot but I drank constantly.
During covid my mom was hospitalized for something noncovid. She has chf and I kept calling and finally talked to a charge nurse. She said my mom was gaining fluid rapidly. I ask if they were giving her her lasix. They weren't. If I hadn't been that pesky family member calling, they would have drown her in her own fluids. 😔
What's chf?
@@skydragon84 CHF is congestive heart failure
@@BrittanyScream1 Alright, good to know. Thank you for this information :)
@@skydragon84 No problem :3
So happy you were a concerned daughter and fought till you spoke to someone 💛
Mike is the Coolest Doctor/ UA-camr ever, I wish we had people like him in Australian Hospitals!
Don't read my name.
Frr, English hospitals are full of grumpy old doctors who mis diagnosed me and told me to stand up when I clearly couldn’t cause I was paralysed
Cap
Frrr
I wish we had people like him in English hospitals
Severely dislocated & broke my ankle. They set it, discharged me. Slipped in the rain, and landed back on it, hearing a crunch again. Went back to the ER. Shift change for nurses. The one nurse/phleb put the IV for pain killers in the same arm from just hours before. Although, she missed the vein! I knew she missed the vein because it was forming a bubble and was burning, but she said she’s the nurse, she knows what she was doing. (I briefly had used drugs in my past, shooting it, so I knew she missed the vein). I was screaming as they fixed the re dislocation. I got lucky because a nurse from the earlier visit walked by, saw my mother, heard me screaming and knew something was wrong (because earlier I had a positive attitude and was joking about my misfortune). She took one look, took it out and put it in the other arm. She made a note that the nurse/phleb clearly missed it. She was happy that I stood up for myself and made it known that there was something wrong
I remember when my mom got a concussion, it changed our lives forever. She was ok and got out of the hospital with time. After the events that happened after that, I got really sad. My mom found your channel and showed it to me since I want to be a doctor. I have to say, thank you for brightening my life Doctor Mike.
My son is a brain injury survivor too, so I know what you're going through. Your mom will never be the same person she was, but try to be patient with who she is now and love her unconditionally. She'll be so proud of you when you walk across that stage to get your M.D. diploma. Good luck!
My hospital failed to diagnose my concussion and mild tbi. I now have permanent post concussion syndrome where I am dizzy all the time, have memory problems, visions problems it sucks and I hate that my local hospital is known as the worst one in the province
I spend a lot of time in hospitals. I have 2 serious medical conditions and I have several family members in the medical profession. I was impressed by my last stay (I'm not going to name names). During the shift change the doctor and nurses who were leaving with the doctor and nurses coming on would come into my room and go over all their notes with me confirming everything they were telling the new doctor. This was doubly important because my conditions are rare and we need to make sure everyone is up to speed in case one of them is triggered.
I'm impressed too! So happy you got thorough care.
Here in the UK we have something called protected meal times, where visitors have to leave, thus preventing them from eating the patients meal.
I left the ER once AMA. I had gone because I thought I was having a heart attack or something, but soon realized I was just having a panic attack. They wanted to monitor my heart, but I was so embarrassed that I just wanted to leave. That's the only time in my life that I've had a panic attack and boy do I never want to feel that way again!
As a person who lives in a country with Universal Healthcare, I can't imagine a situation where I have to compare prices for calling an ambulance. It sounds pretty ridiculous to my reality.
Same.
Also, using the meds you have at home to SAVE money when here would be the opposite.
I can't imagine when I was having a stroke doing price comparison. I couldn't see!
Good bless universal health care
A person I knew got seriously hurt, and had to beg her boyfriend not to call an ambulance, because she couldn't afford it. He had to drive her to the ER, with her bleeding (heavily) from the head. She survived and is fine now, but she had to choose between an ambulance or being able to afford food.
@@Vanillastump this world for sure is unfair
In Canada we had to pay for my sister’s airlift to Edmonton
Being a patient advocate for my 90 year old mother. My mom was on hospice care, I had been her caregiver for a few years, taking her to doctor appointments, managing her medicines. I've always liked to research about things so I was going through the drugs in the hospice kit and got to morphine. I researched it and found it was in the same family of drugs as codeine, which my mom had had an anaphylaxis event with. I brought this up with both the nurse and then the doctor who would visit and didn't believe me. I researched further and found something written by an ER doctor about a synthetic morphine that was safer to use. I again talked to the doctor, who was admittedly a little peeved with me at this point but she made two calls to other doctors. The first didn't know but the second, an ER doctor, agreed with me and so my mom was prescribed the new drug, and just in time as a couple weeks later I she needed it and I'd have to give her some a few times a week.
You literally saved your mom's life
That is excellent you noticed and were mom's advocate! People don't realize that Dr's don't know everything, and nurses and pharmacists know a lot!
Great answer on discharge 'early' questions. It is important to get out of the hospital as soon as medically safe to do so. If a patient has issues about the discharge, the hospital can provide a social worker or case manager nurse to help work out a discharge problem.
As someone who works as a receptionist at an emergency veterinary hospital, most of these things are also true for your furry babies as well!
I think it depends when you’re going against medical advice. I was admitted to the hospital and could see smoke and fire from my window. Being in the hospital I didn’t know there was an out of control fire just outside the city. I left against medical advice with my fiancé because I was concerned with what I was seeing out the window. We returned home and we were evacuated that evening. I’ll never forget the amount of fear, uncertainty, everything about leaving the hospital and then having to leave the city. It was insane. The hospital did evacuate but because of where the fire was they went north and it was awful. Glad we were all okay though.
I have questions about how a fire managed to go through an entire city without being contained or halted.
@@brothersandsistersofvalhalla - Sounds like California or Australia shenanigans where the fires are actually unmanageable
@@tomewifecollector9608 You can contain a fire by spraying around the sides of it in a circle or semi circle to make it much harder to keep spreading. Also those are usually forest fires not city fires. And those usually get contained within a neighbourhood never heard of one burning down a city or town.
That's an outlier in my experience. Sadly, most of the cases I've seen of patients leaving against medical advice have been those with addictions they are not able to satisfy while in the hospital. So they leave before the thing they are admitted for is fully treated
I’ve been evacuated from my home in CA three times in the last few years because of wildfires and my boyfriend had to evacuate an entire hotel he worked at. They aren’t even near each other, the whole county was at risk. Not everything burned up, but the fires can definitely come close to a lot of homes and businesses while crews are trying to contain them.
10:40 30 seconds prior, "Kiss, Bear, give me a kiss.." Bear kisses MIke, "It's in my mouth, disgusting..." Bear, "What, you wanted a kiss?"
Thank you for saying the early and safe discharge thing. I am a denials and appeals/utilization nurse and we see so many patients refusing to go because it’s too late (at 8pm) and they’d rather sleep in an additional night or for another non medical or safety related issue. Meanwhile, I was admitted in January with pyelonephritis in my transplanted kidney and I could not wait for my C&S to be back and my fever to be absent for 24hrs to get the hell out of there. Hospital beds give you intense back pain.
8:27 Tell the paramedics everything, tell the cops nothing. A rule to forever live by, quite literally in some cases.
Okay, but here's a story from a trip to the ER that happened to me just about a month ago. I'd had a heart attack resulting in my implanted defibrillator firing off, which worked perfectly and saved my life (seriously; this heart attack would have killed me but instead I got up and walked away in under two minutes. The trip to the ER was just to check out whether the device had behaved properly, since this was the first time it had ever fired). The hospital didn't give me my evening medications until I repeatedly complained, and it turned out that one of those meds is so new/expensive that they didn't have it. In the hospital. The hospital didn't have my medication (just making sure you understand what I'm saying). So, there I was, hospitalized with a heart attack and unable to get my usual medications that I take for, you know, my heart. It created an undue amount of stress (just what you want when you've just had a heart attack) and further medical problems because my body responds to missed doses of this medication by an increased heart rate, which is bad, M'Kay?
Just saying that sometimes you're in the most vulnerable state you can imagine, and the very people charged with taking care of you are standing in the way of your ongoing care. And you need to avoid stress, and those same people are doing their best to stress you out. In the end, you're on your own whether you're at home or in the hospital, so God help you if you arrive at the ER unconscious and without an advocate. I've got a story about that, too; it's the reason my first heart attack escalated from a mild one to a life-threatening problem resulting in my needing open-heart surgery and eventually the implantation of this defibrillator...
Thank you for sharing this information. Hospitals have become such bloated, bureaucratic money-making machines that patients need to keep a buyer-beware approach to receiving care.
@@kateyare4708 It's a different problem here. Healthcare is free (as it should be, being a human right), but it's kinda rubbish... or at least, the wait times are dreadful. Once you get it the care is often good, although they want to get rid of you as soon as they can to treat more patients. All the staff are overworked and underpaid, and there aren't enough of them (can't imagine why), also you have to pay to train to do this undesirable job (undesirable because of low pay, too much work, and stress from not having enough people to do it properly), plus they don't want people to come and help out from other countries when we so desperately need them. The wait times are several weeks to see a GP, several months to see someone at a hospital, and often several hours once you're there. Also people are dying after waiting hours for an ambulance because the ambulances are busy looking after people outside the hospital who are waiting for hours to go in because there aren't people to look after them.
If you're on medication, and have to visit A&E, always take your medication with you
You have absolutely no idea how long the wait time will be
You have no idea if you might not have to be admitted
You have no idea if the hospital will have your medication in stock
If you do need to take it while you're there, if they have to supply it that will involve a doctor writing a prescription and the pharmacy filling that prescription
Much better to take it with you, and then tell the nursing staff you have it ,so they can simply get the OK from a doctor for you to take it
@@helentee9863 I can tell from your use of "A&E" that you are not an American. Here, we are discouraged from having our medication with us in the hospital because the docs like to control things. Beyond that, I had a heart attack and dropped on the street, and wasn't carrying my medication. Since then I've taken to lugging a backpack with me everywhere I go. It has the one medication they didn't stock (because of my heart problems I take about ten medications/day, so can't really have them all with me all of the time). And it has other essentials, like a phone charger, my Kindle... and a pair of pajamas. 🙂
I just spent a week in the hospital with my dad. Nonmedical people brought his food and picked it up. I never saw anyone monitoring what/how much he ate. The nurses could barely manage routine nursing care. Hospitals are so short staffed that you shouldn’t leave anyone alone in the hospital. Someone needs to stay with them to help them with non medical needs - urine receptacles, blankets, water, sweaters, helping them safely move around.
Nonmedical people are perfectly capable of picking up a patient's food tray and charting how much food & fluids the patient consumed. They do it in nursing homes all the time.
@@phaedrapage4217idk if it's different in every country but normally, only nurses have a 'letter signature' that is just around 3 letters for each nurse (3 letters of their name, mine are DMA for example) and only nurses can write on those documents as they are the only ones with the letter signature which make them binding.
It is sad that, especially in Nursing homes, many nurses forget and it causes ALOT of issues (2nd year Nursing student btw)
@@nova.michael7934yes it’s different in US Hospitals. Everything done in electronic record, there’s no writing letters by hand. Hospital techs and CNAs in nursing homes document meal intakes, urine output and bowel movements . You don’t have to be a nurse for that.
Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not happening. They take samples. They probably aren’t testing it because you didn’t see it. They’re all out to get you
The nurses don’t necessarily let you know when they mark down fluid intake or urine output. It’s such a part of their routine that they just automatically do it.
My last hospital experience when I had to get an Iv in before surgery, I was assigned a newer doctor to do it and they made sure I was comfortable with the newer doctor doing it or if I would rather have someone more experienced do it. I was okay with the newer doctor doing it but was so glad they made sure I was comfortable with it!
Regarding the advocating for yourself, I was at a navy clinic for a yearly checkup and the person reading my file to me mentioned I was b- blood type, I politely spoke up to tell him I am O+ to which asked who told you that. My response was "the Red Cross" and pulled out my donor card that listed my blood type. He said well that looks official enough and wrote in the correct blood type. It actually says O+ on my bootcamp dog tags too. Glad I never needed a blood transfusion at that clinic though!
0:10 as hospital security, man I love telling nurses in Triage to "enjoy your shift, hopefully it stays quiet" LOL
lol
My brother spent 15 years as a volunteer EMT. He was on call every other night. We were never allowed to wish him a “quiet night”. We were only supposed to say “have a peaceful evening”!
Also, my dad was in the hospital several times during the last few years of his life. He had congestive heart failure and he also took several falls that resulted in injuries, once a broken wrist, another time a broken back, and another time a broken neck. He, thankfully, recovered from all of it. But I will never forget sitting with him in his hospital room while the nurse was giving report to the oncoming nurse. Dad had been alone for part of the day while my mom and I were both at work. Dad was very hard of hearing and no one ever seems to know how to talk to someone when they’re not able to hear well. They always want to shout and that just doesn’t work. The nurse giving report was saying how my dad was confused and they thought something may be happening with his mental state. I was so mad. I was like “Wait, wait, wait, wait. My dad is not confused, he just can’t hear you.” It took some time, but we did get it straightened out. After that, we always tried to make sure someone was with him or that he had a dry erase board that the doctors/nurses could write on.
I think there are definitely times when the hospitals really are trying to get rid of you. When I was rushed to a UK hospital, it was so regularly overcrowded that I noticed the nurses using unofficial ward numbers among themselves to refer to the corridors a number of patients were left in - one of them seemed quite embarrassed when she realised she’d talked about this in front of patients and tried to cover up. Now, the surgery I ended up having was pretty routine, just a gallbladder removal, the kind that would be in and out if it had been a prearranged thing, but I was pretty sick going in, and was still in a LOT pain afterwards, so when I was told my dad was in the corridor outside waiting for me and that I should wash and dress quickly so as not to keep him waiting, I was pretty shocked. Surely I wasn’t ready to leave. I was struggling to sit up, and felt really off, which I tried to communicate, but I was just told to hurry up, and they complained that I was taking too long. I was rushed out into the corridor, where I met my dad and he took me home, but I started feeling worse and worse. Finally, the smell of food cooking set me throwing up - which was especially painful post surgery - and once I’d started I couldn’t stop, even when I was just dry retching. I couldn’t keep down even a sip of water, and was in so much pain, I just couldn’t cope. It just kept getting worse until later the next day an ambulance was called and I ended up having to have additional surgery because it turned out they’d missed a gallstone when they removed the gallbladder. If the hospital hadn’t been so over-crowded, if they hadn’t needed my bed so badly that they all but kicked me out of the hospital, they would probably have picked that issue up sooner and I wouldn’t have had to go through all that. So yeah, sometimes, they ARE trying to get rid of you.
Yes, lots of people with similar experiences in Ireland too due to hospital overcrowding. I'm sorry you went through this 💛
it's a very sticky situation. When the hospitals are overcrowded as such, either you suffer or someone else receives delay treatment. Though I would say, in terms of ethics, trying to treat every patient well is more important than trying to treat the most number of people
My own experience: I had a very minor surgery, but afterward my throat felt tight. I have some severe allergies, so I recognized the signs of anaphylactic shock. The nurses insisted, nothing I received was an allergen, they snapped that I was faking it, and literally SHOVED me out the door. I got into the car, and by the time I drove to another hospital, I was in full anaphylactic shock. The nurse asked if I had eaten anything, and I instead told them about the surgery in the other hospital. They called up to get a list of every medication I received during the surgery (the days before this was all on computers). Turned out they gave me Propofol, which contains eggs, and that allergen was in giant red letters on my chart. So now I have to remember to list Propofol as an drug allergy, because some doctors don't bother to check.
So yeah, they shoved me out of the hospital while I was turning purple and insisting my throat was closing up. They didn't even exam it. So it definitely DOES happen.
That sounds like what I've heard hospitals in big cities like Manchester and Birmingham are like. I'm so sorry you went through this, and really hope their level of care in that hospital has improved, truly not the standard in other parts of the UK.
@@rhov-anion wtf
You could sue them for mistreatment
I had a young doctor attempt to insert an IV into my wrist. I asked for it to be inserted there instead of the back of my hand because I always ended up having issues with it. Fortunately, for me I have no problems with injections or needles because it took her 7 attempts & one bent needle before she decided to call it quits & hand it over to a nurse. I would have laughed had I not felt so bad for her because it was obvious that she was kicking herself for having failed so spectactularly. But, it was proof that nurses are often so much more adept at a lot of tasks than doctors. In the end, the nurse got it first go with no issues at all.
Clearly that doc was profoundly arrogant as well because if you can’t get it after 2 tries you HAVE to get someone else to try. 7 attempts is just pathetic.
@@haramshibaharamshiba9558 I don't think she was at all arrogant because she was extremely apologetic. I think it was something that she had to learn how to do & unfortunately, it just wasn't her forte. Or, she was having a bad day. And in all honesty, it wasn't painful. As I said, needles don't worry me at all. I donate blood on a regular basis & my veins are so easy to insert cannulas into.
I'm a very hard stick for reasons I feel like explaining below, so it's not uncommon for nurses and phlebotomists to mess up on me multiple times. I've had IVs done in 4 hospitals in the last 2 years, and in all of them, I ran into the policy of each nurse/phlebotomist gets 3 tries (tho one of them had a max 2 tries policy) before they hand it off to someone else (in two of the hospitals, it was usually the dedicated ultrasound-guided vascular access team, one of them learned to just call VascAcc when I showed up). I have trouble believing they had someone try 7 or 8 times.
Reasons I'm a hard stick:
1) hypersensitivities in certain areas makes a needle and/or a bruise in the back of the hand or the inside of the forearm unbearably painful, so those are simply no-go sites. I learned the back of the hand one the hard way when I got my tonsils removed, and it hurt enough I was able to clearly enunciate "get it out" when I woke up from anesthesia with an IV in the back of my hand, when most people won't speak at all for a day or three after the surgery. Wrist, outer edge of the elbow, and side of the arm are the good spots for me.
2) connective tissue issues (EDS-H if you know what that is) means my veins roll, a LOT. As in, you can, with your fingers, move my veins to the side, and for some of them, they can be displaced by half an inch with relative ease. If the vein isn't held in place and basically taut, it will be pushed away by the needle before the needle can puncture the wall to enter.
3) low blood volume means my veins are smaller than most, I have to actively drink a lot of water in order to plump them up. I'm talking I bring two water bottles with me to drink in the car and in the waiting room, on top of what I drank at home beforehand with breakfast and meds.
4) I've had so many IVs that there's some scar tissue buildup that makes the veins hard and tough in some spots. Like, 250~300 IVs if you count the failed pokes.
@@CaTastrophy427 I can definitely relate to the pain of having an IV in the back of your hand. It's not the insertion of the cannula that hurts, it's a few hours later when it feels like the entire back of my hand is bruised & the pain is a constant throbbing. Even moving the hand is painful. Personally, my veins stand out like the proverbial part of a male dog's anatomy so, there's never a problem locating my veins. And, whether you wish to believe it or not, it did indeed take 7 attempts for the young intern or whatever her title was before she gave up. I did tell her that it wasn't hurting at all & that I didn't mind if she kept trying but once she bent the cannula, that's when she finally called it quits.
@@6ixConfessions Sometimes I wish patients were more like you, understanding.
But geeze... 7 attempts. They really need to practice. There are fake limbs that exist for practicing needle procedures.
Imagine if it were a toddler, scared kid, or even just an angry teen. It would be miserable for everyone involved.
Regarding AMA: when I was working in independent living and we did nursing home transitions to get people out in the community on their own - we had to use AMA often, because the LTCFs have financial incentive to keep the patient. LTCFs aren't hospitals. But I just had to comment, sometimes AMA is necessary.
Plus, if you are a celebrity wanting to interact with fans semi anonymously and AMA can be used
Always advocate for a loved one. During Covid, my dad had a lot of heart attacks & a stroke. We had a DNR on him, but since it was Covid, we couldn’t actually go in to the hospital every time. It was all over the phone. Well, one of the doctors went against it. Once we complained big time, we got a phone call for every action taken for my father. We probably should have sued because due to it, he has a failing mental state
I work at a hospital and I overhear elevator conversations about patients happen… every single hour 😂. I’m a transporter so I spend so much time in elevators. Also if you’re a nurse… please be nice with us. We’re doing you a favor and I understand you’re stressed but that’s no reason to be rude and disrespectful.
To all the amazing kind nurses out there. Love y’all, you make my day.
Edit: patients who leave AMA always come back so much worse… AND THEN THEY LEAVE AMA AGAIN as soon as they feel just a little better. 🤦🏽♀️
Regarding leaving AMA, that’s great advice to a point. It requires the treatment being provided to be at least minimally competent and at least involves consulting the patient’s primary specialist. I was 11 weeks pregnant when I had referred shoulder and abdominal pain, not like a miscarriage which I knew from many firsthand experiences. This was an IVF pregnancy and two embryos implanted. When the ER did the ultrasound they found a rupturing ectopic and one in my uterus. They would not speak with my reproductive endocrinologist and announced he had no privileges at this hospital (he did). Since I have a number of complicating medical issues they know nothing about since they don’t have my records, including a bleeding disorder that makes surgery extremely risky if not handled carefully. I asked to be transferred to my physician. They ridiculously invoked EMTALA and denied it. To me, a hospital in house counsel🙄 Even though I would have gone to a higher level of care they still refused. I had no choice but to leave AMA and have my husband drive me to my RE’s office which is co-located with a large hospital. It was all surreal. My RE examined me and confirmed the ectopic and that it wasn’t hemodynamically stable. I was sent across the parking lot to be admitted through the ER (ED). By the time they got me into a gown I had lost consciousness and have no memories until waking up in post op. I required a 2L blood transfusion but hospital #1 was equal parts ignorant and possessive, deeming anyone not on their staff unfit. They talked as though I hired a witch doctor versus one of the pioneers of in vitro reproduction. I received a highly inappropriate ultimatum: undergo surgery by a general surgery resident who had never seen my records or didn’t even take a history for me with no intent to preserve my in utero pregnancy or to leave AMA knowing I was already bleeding internally. I trusted my instincts both in going to the hospital at 0600 on a Saturday and in leaving hospital #1 AMA. And now in a post-Roe, anti abortion trigger laws kind of world people need to know my surgery would have been a violation in most states with the so called trigger legislation. You see, even an ectopic pregnancy has a heartbeat. It’s a completely normal pregnancy that implanted in the wrong place (and for all of the pro life morons who declare women in this scenario should “move the baby to the womb,” you can’t do that as it’s medically impossible.
Watched several people die after leaving AMA. Doctors would say, "I warned them. Here is the signed form".
They didn't like it and were annoyed that the patient wouldn't listen.
The ectopic thing is not true I don’t k ow where your getting that from. It is absolutely false!!!
This miscarriage thing is another completely false narrative. Please read the bills and if you don’t understand the language consult an attorney not tik Tok.
Any surgery or procedures to save the mother that result in the fetus dying is not an abortion and the all the bills are written to allow for that. I mean it’s a duh! Everyone acts like pro life advocates just want to murder women or something. How crazy is that? Pro life advocates are just as concerned for the mothers as they are the babies, they prove it every day in many ways that never seem to cross over into the mainstream narrative.
I'm gonna put my neck on the line and say that I am against abortion. HOWEVER, I am willing to accept medical emergencies such as ectopic pregnancy. I am aware that certain emergencies can and will be fatal to both the baby and the mother if action is not taken. If the abortion is for the purposes of saving your social status, that's where my line is drawn.
Misinformation.
I agree for the part about leaving the hostal against medical advice but my mom did it to me once: after appendicitis operation, i was supposed to stay at the hospital for 3 days and stayed 2 weeks because i couldnt eat anything and would throw up "nothingness" several times a day, no one could know what to do. My mom was sure it was anxiety due to being in the hospital, i was loosing a lot of weight for a 9 year old, and against medicaal advice we left - and i started eating again at home soooooooooo she was right lol
As for the "Quiet" thing can I add to this? It's common courtesy to be quiet or speak in a hushed voice in the ER waiting room for many reasons. Someone may be waiting for news on a loved one, or someone could be there for a migraine headache (My situation last week). People, there are sick, tired, in pain, waiting for bad news. Please be quiet or whisper in an ER waiting room!
To add on advocate for yourself:
My grandpa has a lot of issues; lactose intolerant, gen defect, reacts bad on certain medicine, can't have too much sugar, bowel issues etc. etc.
He was in the hospital for cancer (I believe, could be something else though). He needed pain medication. My grandpa can react severely to certain medicines, he'll become manic and wants to do serious things to himself in a bad way (his mood can change from happy to sad to I want to end everything in 5 minutes). So, the nurse came and wanted to give him medication, that's not weird. The thing is, my grandpa knew he couldn't take that medicine. He told the nurse, even though she assured him everything was alright. He insisted on not taking the medicine though.
Outcome? Turns out it was indeed the wrong medicine. He luckily didn't take it. He is okay now, he hasn't been in the hospital now for quite a while.
I'd add: Be kind to hospital staff and health care workers. They are chronically tired, don't get enough time (or have none at all) to get a meal (much less a snack), are unable to go to the bathroom regularly, are overworked, have to deal with different personalities and difficult hospital policies, and yet they still do a phenomenal job trying to improve your quality of life in small and big ways alike. Sometimes, making small talk is something you can do to get their mind off their intense shifts. Sometimes, giving them a smile or a thank you makes them feel like they are seen and their effort appreciated. Sometimes, we just need to stretch our patience a bit, understand that they are doing the best that they can with what they have, and that their work is beyond just a profession, it is a daily and sincere act of compassion and empathy for those that they come into contact with. Please don't bark at them. Please don't humiliate them. Speak up when you need to, but please be mindful of tone of voice. I've seen firsthand how acknowledging their humanity makes it easier for them to be their best. Thank you, especially to all nurses, med techs, respiratory techs, rad techs, the orderly, and all others for the service and commitment you have. We would not being able to secure our health without your help. God bless you all.
My already very high respect for you was sincerely increased when you said that one should not pass over the nurse because they think the doctor can do it better. Doctor's rely very heavily on the nurses/PA/Paramedics/ER Techs to know what is going on and what patient needs what. they also notice quickly when something is going wrong.
Advocate, advocate, advocate! Ask for the tests to be done, become a nuisance if you have to. Don't settle for "we don't know what's wrong".
Yeessss!!!
Or the stupid “you’re better now and that’s all that matters. Who cares if you get even sicker some other time when it could have saved your life to know what caused the problem.”
Disagree. You want doctors to communicate when they do not know. Diagnosis is a process of ruling in and ruling out potentially many conditions, and the purpose of acute care is to treat and stabilize the acute condition. What you do want to do is ask why specific tests and procedures are being ordered and make sure you are giving a correct history.
5:32 Story time!
The only time I ever wanted leave AMA was when I was in the ER for COVID-19. My family & family friends (who have experiencing being EMTs, Nurses, Respitory Therapists, etc.) said it was almost certainly a mucus plug that I choked on and could barely breath until I coughed it up. The nurse that took care of me just kept telling my mom and I that she shouldn't have called 911 when I was on the floor almost not breathing, I shouldn't have taken an ambulance, I shouldn't have gone to the ER, and implied I was overreacting.
Look, I COMPLETELY get that I was exposing workers and other patients to COVID even if I was iscolated and wearing a mask. I also get that the nurse was probably seeing patients who were on their death bead and had seen much worse... I just wish he hadn't berated me and my mom to our faces. Say what you want to your coworkers, I don't care. But like don't keep me in the ER for hours (not discharging me) while simultaniously telling me I should just go home.
The quiet rule is definitely a thing at my post office as well. I get people to stop what they're saying right as they say
"Oh I've never walked into a post office without a line before!"
It's literally a calling for 10 people to hop into line at once
Seeing Doctor Mike get so happy and giddy when opening the mail and stuff is just so heartwarming...
I'd love a more detailed video about advocation. A personal example was being in the emergency room for about 17 hours without even being scanned. My husband said after the first hour talking to lots of staff, someone checked on me every 3 hours. After requests for updates and information was ignored I decided to leave. I was told it would be AMA because "if you leave you could have a stroke" and my response was "if I stay here I could have a stroke." Found out at a neuro appointment 6 months later that I did have a stroke. My symptoms were worst before arriving, which is why I decided to go in. They told me I was to young to be having a stroke. I think that's why they didn't prioritize treating me. Also it was a December Friday night in Wisconsin. I know they were busy, but that doesn't seem to excuse failing to examine and treat me... I'm sure there was a much better way I could have gone about this situation. I'd like the opportunity for everyone to learn how to go about speaking up for ourselves and what to do if our concerns don't seem heard.
You know it's a good day when Doctor Mike uploads!
Don't read my name.....
@@dontreadmyprofilepicture960 too late 🤓🤓
I agree
You copied my comment
Man everyone I’d gonna think I copied u :(
Great to see your hair back ! I'm really jealous of that since I barely have haha. I love the fact that Mike keeps saying he doesn't want to scare us but keep us smart about the facts he is teaching us!
Hi @Doctor Mike! Here's my story about getting discharged quickly. I was discharged by the same emergency room/same hospital twice due to abdominal pain. They ran some tests (blood test, ultrasound, fecalysis, urinalysis). They didn't see anything, they sent me home with a diagnosis of acute gastritis, and a prescription for proton pump inhibitor. On the same night, I went back to same E.R. because the pain is unbearable, they gave me some pain meds through IV and sent me back home. The next day, I can still feel the pain, I requested to be brought to a different hospital, they ran tests including a CT, endoscopy and colonoscopy, and there, they found out that I have a CECAL MASS. Since then, I am very anxious at getting discharged sooner rather than later. I never came back to that hospital who discharged me twice at the same day ever again because I felt neglected, even if it is a simple physical exam, I do not go to that hospital anymore who discharged me twice on the same day.
When my mom had a hysterectomy, she brought her phone with her so that she could text my older sibling after the surgery. But when she woke up after the surgery, she was told that she wouldn't be able to get her phone back until the next day. She was really emotional, and I guess that might have caused a someone to feel bad and go looking for it because she got it back sooner than expected.
its INSANE to me, as someone who is from the UK, to see anything related to price in this video!! Such different situations, its insane to think.
Yeah America!
Are you saying NHS never makes decisions based on cost?
I was thinking the same thing! So glad I don't live in the US 😅
@@75jvs - In your country, who decides if medical procedures are worth the cost of if they patient should just be left to deal with it on their own?
@@jrstf Cost is never a topic, we all have health insurance. It is about what is best for the patient's health and what the patient wants.
I work in Communications and I've more than once turned around as I left an elevator and said, "I'm Comms, but you guys would be in a lot of trouble right now if I'd been a reporter. Think about everything you just said."
To be fair, I had 3-4 different nurses trying to put in an IV and finally the anesthesiologist finally came in and got the job done. I was covered in bruises.
Oh wow i had a similar experiece! I fractured my collarbone so the nurses were trying to put in an IV, they were in training, and they put it in wrong twice! It hurt so much!
Omg istg, like whenever I have to get iv in or like multiple blood draws, the nurses struggle. And the worst part of it is, i hate needles and now i feel bad for the nurses lol
You might have a bad vein status, that's why they called an anestesiologist and not any other doctor, because they are even more used to it, especially if they work all day in the OR. Doesn't mean at all that the nurses aren't capable enough, like Dr. Mike said, they are definitely more versed on it in general.
Some people have pretty difficult veins to put an IV in. It probably wasn't the nurse's fault.
I have terrible veins. I also have a lot of medical conditions that make me an unfortunate somewhat of a regular patient. when you are in the ER and they are about to IV attempt you can tell them you have bad veins and to please use a vein finder machine or ultrasound. instead of getting poked 5 times by 3 different people, they almost always get it on the first poke if you ask for the vein finder or ultrasound
4:40 this happend to my dad. The patient insisted that he a( family med Dr) should drawl his blood not the nurse. My dad laughed and said " The last time I drew blood was residency 7 years ago so you could have a nurse who dose this everyday or me, you would be the first real person I've done it on" the patient went with a nurse lol.
Thank you for especially clarifying the quick discharge circumstances. I work in a hospital, and many people think getting the patients home quickly is related to money, but what you said is so true. I’d also add that depending on insurance, some patients have a limited number of covered hospital days per year, so discharging safely, but quickly, also helps to save those days in case the patient needs to return to the hospital again within that timeframe
I've had to do the advocating a few times. Once it was just asking for information for my mother, who had just had dental surgery. She was fitted for a top denture, but her jaw bone somehow went too low, so they had to SHAVE the entire bone!
I went with her, took care of her after the surgery, and picked up her medication. When the Dr handed me the prescriptions I had a bad feeling. I didn't have an obvious reason, I know my mom, she is always careful about these things, but I couldn't shake it. My mom had just gotten out of surgery, and was in no condition to talk to anyone, so I asked what the antibiotics were. The Dr told me a drug name I hadn't heard before, but I still didn't feel right, and asked what it was exactly. He said it was a kind of penicillin. My mother is allergic to penicillin, it would have put her into anaphylaxis. I informed the Dr, he got mad, said my mom should have told them, then wrote a new prescription. I know she would have, someone in the office must have messed up, but I didn't argue. It must have really scared him to think the he could have had a part in killing a patient.
Yes always advocate for yourself in the hospital. Back in March I was in the ER for heart symptoms due to me being extremely week from Covid. I Was already told I would be hospitalized and they were going to put a IV in. I asked them to use my port instead because my veins are horrible and IVs don't keep very long. The nurse said no because they didn't have a bed to do a port right then so I asked if we could wait tell they did because I didn't want to be stuck over and over. The nurse got mad so I let her put the IV in instead of fighting her. 3hrs later the IV infiltrated I was upstairs in a room by then so I begged my nurse to access my port, he asked why the ED didn't do that in the first place so I told him the story he informed me if in the future that happens just keep asking for them to access my port that if I request it they are supposed to do it. After he looked for a vein he accessed my port even though it is supposed to only be accessed in the ED at my local hospital, my nurse said that if the keep trying for a vein they would just be causing more pain that is unnecessary when I have a port. So recently when I went for outpatient Surgery and they couldn't find a vein I mentioned my port even though they usually us a IV because they don't access it but once, my nurse said can we access your port then we don't have to keep searching, of course I said yes.
These tips were great! Not to hate on all doctors but when I was little and was constantly throwing up the doctors were gonna send me home with just some Tylenol or something like that but my mom knew something was wrong and so they drew my blood and I think that’s how they found out I was super dehydrated or some other test they ran. I ended up having to get an IV and staying in the hospital for I think around a week. So I would argue that in some circumstances it’s good to trust your gut and push for more tests!
The first time I had an obvious seizure, I had a second one in the hospital while they were trying to figure out what was going on. (I only know this thanks to a couple friends who kept near me as much as possible; my memory from that night is EXTREMELY fragmentary.) A few hours after I'd been admitted, in the very wee hours of the night, my friends were told to pack me up and bring me home. While they were trying to get me dressed, a different doctor came and said no, it wasn't safe for me to leave until I could do so under my own power. Then they were told again to take me out. I woke up on the couch at home with no clue what was going on; my friends had ended up just carrying me, because I was never even awake to leave on my own. Also, the only connection the hospital had to go by beyond what my friends simply claimed, the closest thing there was for verification, is that one of them had been the person to call the ambulance (and then separately drive in). I wasn't capable of confirming I'd ever even met them.
When I was in high school, there was a time my mom got sick enough that she decided to head on in to urgent care (my family has typically been the sort to attempt to "power through" anything that isn't a very obvious problem that can't be ignored, and there are a few reasons for that). She tried very hard to tell them that something was wrong, that it wasn't like other times she'd been sick. They insisted she had the flu or something and sent her home. Late that night (arguably early morning by then), dad rushed her in because she looked spaced out, was unresponsive, and was bleeding from one ear. She had viral meningitis. It destroyed her left inner ear (permanently deaf on that side and needed a cane to walk for years while she re-learned balance) and left her with minor brain damage. The doctors told dad that if he had waited until morning, she'd have been dead.
A friend of mine dealt with going in and out of the hospital frequently for months because not only was nothing helping/letting her get better, she was steadily getting worse. A couple of those visits included ambulance transport. She was barely eating, and it was getting difficult for her to even handle much water; on at least one occasion, she was brought in because the lack of nutrition and hydration left her barely able to move, and they just gave her an IV for a few hours and sent her home without any attempt to look for the source of the problem. Her anxiety was spinning out of control, and it was being added to massively by how poorly her medical visits kept going (one of the issues being having to sit in the ER waiting room so long again and again, since they kept sending her home still sick). It took months of this before they finally figured out she has Celiac's and it just decided to make itself known in the past year or so.
I don't doubt that the intention behind getting people out of the hospital ASAP is to prevent hospital-borne illness and address the needs of more people. And I get that such a high-stress environment is going to lead to more mistakes, even as they do all they can to reduce mistakes. But rushing people out when that actually leads to worse outcomes really does seem to be a significant issue.