Hospital Horrors

Hospitals. The sound of that word makes most people cringe. If you have ever been hospitalized, you know how unpleasant the experience can be. The dreariness from all the illness encompasses you as the smell of sterilization makes you want to gag. Hallways seem to stretch on for miles as you catch a glimpse of each patient lying helplessly in their own misery. No matter how high you turn up the heat, there is always a coldness that lingers in the air.

Unfortunately, I have been hospitalized too many times to keep track of. I have been to many different hospitals, all with various levels of technology and advancements. The Mayo Clinic had touch screen monitors with all of the fixings, while Baylor in Dallas had monitors that were desperately crying out for attention. Some hospitals offer around the clock food service, while others have set times for meals. Either way hospital food is anything but desirable, and you are always left longing for a home cooked meal. Most hospitals have televisions that are older than your parents with basic cable, but sometimes you hit the jackpot and score a flat screen TV that gives you access to HGTV, and maybe even BRAVO. Despite all of these things, I have realized there is one important aspect that immensely contributes to a hospital’s credibility: its employees.

I have encountered every type of employee there is; from the nice to the mean, modest to the arrogant, and the ones that are great at their jobs to the ones who should have never been hired in the first place. This applies to all employees, but I am narrowing in on nurses. Unlike doctors, you cannot choose the nurse you will have in the hospital. Sometimes no matter how sick you are, nothing can stop Cruella Deville from walking in to be your caregiver.

I could write a book filled with all of the experiences I endured, and that's just the bad ones.  I have had too many nurses with chips on their shoulders from the moment they walk through the door.  On one occasion I vividly remember, a nurse with a BIG chip walked in and my pain was off the charts unbearable.  My fever was 104 and my head throbbed so intensely I thought it might burst right off of my body.  Admittedly I was quite hysterical under the circumstances, and this nurse was not equipped to handle the situation.  She elevated her voice and screamed out "YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN! Its not like you're dying."  For the first time in my life I was at a loss for words and in complete awe.  I couldn't comprehend how a person whose job description centers around being caring could be such a careless bitch.

The next night when she returned to "care" for me, I wasn't sure what I should do.  Should I endure another night of mistreatment to avoid controversy?  But then it suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks.  I never chose to be sick or to be lying miserable in this hospital bed, but she decided to become a nurse, and it wasn't my fault that she was a crappy one.  I explained the situation to the dumbfounded charge nurse and never saw that nurse again.  That marked a time in my hospital career that I vowed to never allow another nurse's mistreatment to go unnoticed by a higher authority.

Unfortunately that wasn't my last bad encounter.  I have had nurses who take hours to bring my medication, nurses with big attitudes who could care less about my pain level, and nurses who take out their frustrations on my veins.  Some nurses have no clue how to administer a shot as your skin is left to suffer like a casualty of war.  One nurse dropped and broke my bag of nutrition.  Instead of admitting what happened, she told me the doctor said I didn't need nutrition that night.  I knew she was lying because getting 12 hours of nutrition administered through my veins every night was the major reason I was there.  Not to mention the spilled liquid that was all over the floor outside my door.  How can you entrust your care in a nurse who you can't trust?

I once had a nurse who I took a liking to because we were the same age.  We would talk about everything from my illness to makeup and guys, and I confided my emotions of always having to go back to the hospital.  Imagine my surprise when she went on to say in so many words, that the reason I kept coming back to the hospital all these years was because I wanted the pain medicine. Yet again I was left bewildered and very upset.  Why would I want to put myself through the hell that is the hospital just to get a pain shot? The hospital requires getting painful injections in my stomach twice everyday to prevent blood clots, sore veins because they constantly infiltrate from the numerous IVs, and a bed so hard it made my back throb. Not to mention the crappy food, lack of entertainment, and no social life. Nobody in their right mind would put themselves through all of that pain for a shot of dilaudid.

Being hospitalized is never a fun experience, but you do expect to receive the best possible care.  I have been fortunate enough to encounter several caring and hard working nurses that treated me like their own daughter.  But the harsh reality is that bad nurses greatly outweigh the good ones, and a negative experience leaves a longer lasting impression than a positive one.  All I can say to any nurses or future nurses out there, do to others as you would do to yourself.  Being a nurse requires a big empathetic heart that can endure long hours of very hard work. The bad ones are the people who chose this profession for the wrong reasons.