Doctors
Humans of New York (follow them on Facebook it's a pretty neat thing that guy has started - and good for him) is doing a series out of Sloan Kettering in NY about cancer and raising money, etc. It's an interesting installation.
He has followed one nurse in particular, who was quoted talking about nurses and how great they are and she said MD's build the treatment plan, nurses get it done.
And I just ... bristle.
Her tone, and it's hard to tell on the internet, throughout the piece which is like 6 pictures long, is that nurses do all the work and doctors play golf.
I have had too much exposure to doctors. Not as much as the patients or parents at Sloan Kettering, they're cross to bear is extreme and my heart goes out to them. They have a heavy burden, trying to fight cancer and coming through the other side. And there are miracle worker nurses - as evidenced by the stories shared.
But the doctor is the one that bears the burden of getting that child - and dozens others - through.
I've had two children hospitalized. Which is two, too many. David was 9wks old and was in respiratory distress due to RSV. The nurses, while competent, were not awesome. He was a tiny baby. And they never checked on him. We had to call them in.
Four months later Lewis. His doctors were amazing.
His nurse didn't call me when they took him off the ventilator. Lewis, after he woke up from sedation a few hours later, had to ask to call me, well after midnight. A full 12 hours on ventilation longer than scheduled. And he - the one who had just had heart surgery - had to manage the words "call my wife."
They had been told - explicitly - call me when you get the order to take him off. They did not.
The problems go on from there. There were many. So, so, so many. If you - the caregiver - don't have the ability to stay at the hospital constantly, round the clock - the care for the patient suffers. That is what I've learned.
When G was in the hospital last October. The nurses kept forgetting the dosage of his meds. They kept forgetting how he took his inhaler. Pulmonary came in with a spacer and was getting him sitting up and I had to stop him - what are you doing? Giving him his inhaler? He doesn't inhale it. It's for EE. BLANK STARE.
He was in the hospital from Saturday till Tuesday. It wasn't until Monday that they brought him in video games - and he was quarantined. He hadn't left that room since Saturday. That may not seem like much - but it was a big thing. The doctor had said he could walk the floor. But the nurses said no.
So forgive me if I think nurses aren't that awesome, all the time.
Our doctors have saved my husbands life and kept G thriving. They know his case, they know his name. At shift change - the nurses don't even bring in the paperwork and don't bother learning his name.
Forgive me if I think nurses aren't that awesome, all the time.
The nurses at our pedi are fantastic. I love them. They take fantastic care of us.
But the nurses that I have run into under hospitalization, at two different hospitals, were competent, efficient ... but not kind. And not informative.
And that nurse that did not call me to tell me they were taking him off the ventilator ...
I am not ready to think kindly on you yet.
He has followed one nurse in particular, who was quoted talking about nurses and how great they are and she said MD's build the treatment plan, nurses get it done.
And I just ... bristle.
Her tone, and it's hard to tell on the internet, throughout the piece which is like 6 pictures long, is that nurses do all the work and doctors play golf.
I have had too much exposure to doctors. Not as much as the patients or parents at Sloan Kettering, they're cross to bear is extreme and my heart goes out to them. They have a heavy burden, trying to fight cancer and coming through the other side. And there are miracle worker nurses - as evidenced by the stories shared.
But the doctor is the one that bears the burden of getting that child - and dozens others - through.
I've had two children hospitalized. Which is two, too many. David was 9wks old and was in respiratory distress due to RSV. The nurses, while competent, were not awesome. He was a tiny baby. And they never checked on him. We had to call them in.
Four months later Lewis. His doctors were amazing.
His nurse didn't call me when they took him off the ventilator. Lewis, after he woke up from sedation a few hours later, had to ask to call me, well after midnight. A full 12 hours on ventilation longer than scheduled. And he - the one who had just had heart surgery - had to manage the words "call my wife."
They had been told - explicitly - call me when you get the order to take him off. They did not.
The problems go on from there. There were many. So, so, so many. If you - the caregiver - don't have the ability to stay at the hospital constantly, round the clock - the care for the patient suffers. That is what I've learned.
When G was in the hospital last October. The nurses kept forgetting the dosage of his meds. They kept forgetting how he took his inhaler. Pulmonary came in with a spacer and was getting him sitting up and I had to stop him - what are you doing? Giving him his inhaler? He doesn't inhale it. It's for EE. BLANK STARE.
He was in the hospital from Saturday till Tuesday. It wasn't until Monday that they brought him in video games - and he was quarantined. He hadn't left that room since Saturday. That may not seem like much - but it was a big thing. The doctor had said he could walk the floor. But the nurses said no.
So forgive me if I think nurses aren't that awesome, all the time.
Our doctors have saved my husbands life and kept G thriving. They know his case, they know his name. At shift change - the nurses don't even bring in the paperwork and don't bother learning his name.
Forgive me if I think nurses aren't that awesome, all the time.
The nurses at our pedi are fantastic. I love them. They take fantastic care of us.
But the nurses that I have run into under hospitalization, at two different hospitals, were competent, efficient ... but not kind. And not informative.
And that nurse that did not call me to tell me they were taking him off the ventilator ...
I am not ready to think kindly on you yet.
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