When one spends as much
time in the hospital as I did, one notices lots of stuff, makes mental notes
and finds he has a few pet peeves. When things run smoothly, as they usually
do, no harm no foul. In a hospital, your dignity can be pretty stripped away,
but for the most part, staff at both Dartmouth-Hitchcock and Valley Regional
were friendly, professional, courteous and respectful. And even the not great
stuff wasn’t that big a deal overall. But I did have a few pet peeves. Hey, you
would, too. Here are a few.
Dear doctor . . . when someone is leaving hospital rehab and
has requested prescriptions be called in to the pharmacy, could you please get
your sorry ass in to the patient and ask him what meds he has at home instead
of assuming he has meds at home (which he doesn’t, since he hasn’t been home in
four months). So instead of writing one script and assuming, don’t ask and
don’t assume the patient is taking the same meds as he was . . . (some are
similar, others have been dropped and two new ones added) . . . that’s lazy and it’s bad medicine . . .
Dear doctor . . . I know you rotate through and are really
busy, but perhaps you could at least glance at the chart to see why I’m here.
The “Oh, did we amputate your leg here?” and another’s, “When did you lose your
leg?” might have been answered before you came into my room.
Three pet peeves: People coming into the room without
knocking (come on, would you like someone coming into your room without
knocking. It’s intrusive.) . . . Doctors not telling patients they’re changing
meds and why . . . and staff buying hospital/therapy supplies.
One doctor changed my diet without telling me, so we had a
long drawn out argument about that and his rather condescending manner. I was largely
unimpressed. As a rehab SNIF patient, medical oversight is limited. He put me
on a “cardiac” diet without asking, then when I said I’d had a lot of nutrition
advice and management at Dartmouth and was happy with the way my meals were
managed. He said, “So you want me to repeat their mistake?”
Oh boy . . . never mind the fact that I was in your
emergency room initially and not given much of a chance, then transferred to
Dartmouth (thank goodness) and the doctors and staff at Dartmouth saved my
life, you’re asking if I want their nutritional advice and recommendations
thrown out because you think you know best? Screw you. He changed my diet back
to the initial recommendations.
Look, I expect good doctors will have strong egos, but I don’t
expect them to talk to me like I’m a know-nothing idiot. Sure some patients are
nothing but whiney pains in the ass, and I sympathize. But most patients just
want to be treated with the respect they deserve as people . . . which is how
you’d like to be treated, too. (Over the next couple of weeks, I will say, that
doctor made a solid effort to communicate better, was friendlier and lost much
of his “you’re a dumb ass” veneer.)
Rotating nurses and doctors leave much more room for errors.
(i.e. Wound care repeatedly done wrong because nurses (different ones every
day) sometimes don’t look at the paper directions . . . directions that
originally came from the Dartmouth wound care team. Doctors make med errors . .
. as at my discharge, with two meds not prescribed in hospital that were called
in at discharge . . .)
June 18 . . . the doctor wants to keep me here another week
to balance any meds. No way . . . He’s had plenty of time to do that and I
ain’t staying another week. I’ll go to the doc in a couple of weeks for a check
up and blood work, but to stay here another week while they screw around with
the meds they’ve taken me off of and put me on . . . nope.
Last but not least, I don’t think teachers should have to
pay for supplies and I don’t think physical and occupational therapists should
have to pay for therapy equipment or activities’ items (like games,
pizza-making supplies, coffee, etc.) It was great having the chance to have a
little coffee clutch or play a board game or two, but the staff should be given
a budget for those things and not buy supplies with their own money.
Set your people up to succeed. Give them the resources to
succeed and then praise them for the work they do, because they’re damn good at
it.
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