Hey Hey Are You Okay? Part 2

So I saw my angkong in the MRI room be placed in that machine. I also heard the nurse saying the NECESSARY health teaching that should be disclosed to the client like the entire procedure, the dye etc. He aslo told me that the procedure will take aound 1 hour and led me to the waiting area.

It was almost 3am when we got back in the ward and after which, not a single nurse went in to do health teaching post procedure.

COMMENT: As far as i know, after a procedure in which a contrast media was infused, it is the responsibility of the nurse to encourage the client to increase oral fluid intake to wash out the dye out of the body, and yet not a single nurse went in our room to tell that. If they assumed that I am nurse, even so, that is their responsibility and therefore they must do it. I am frustrasted so I myself did the job of advising my angkong to drink lots of fluids and explained the rationale behind that action.

4th day, July 7, 2006 (3rd and last day of duty)

My mom came early to accompany me because she assumed that I would be sleepy related to the procedure done to my angkong and because I would be heading home that day after the duty of 3 days and 2 nights without going home. It was around past 10, I am in the CR and the nurse for the day came. Let's name her nurse Z.

Nurse Z: Ma'am na-MRI na po ba si sir?

Mom: Kaninang madilang araw pa tapus dba?

Nurse Z: Ah sige po thank you.

COMMENT: Doesn't she know that the procedure was already done? Didn't she read the chart before going to the patient? Doesn't she attended the endorsement of the staff. Gosh...

My mom was irritated with that and even more when I told her the incidents the previous night. She was shocked with the nurses because of the fact that my angkong was confined in a US accredited hospital and in CVU unit.

So, I went home after lunch, that was my break after a long duty in the hospital... That night, my mom called up and told me the good news about the discharge orders the next day. So I am already relieved with the situation.

5th day, July 8, 2006 discharge day

My mom and I went as early as possible, around past 8 in the morning to pay the bills so that we could go home early and to prevent the room rate to be charged for another day. The Previous day, July 7, my mom talked to Nurse W, and told her about the PF of the doctor. (USually, doctors don't leave those kind of information in public for confidentiality reasons) She requested Nurse W to follow-up the PF so that we could already pay the hospital bill and be discharge as early as possible. But it turned out that it was not done, and was not endorsed to the next shifts. My mom was really angry and talked to the Charge Nurse of the day. She was very sorry for the inconvinience and told mommy that it was not endorsed, verbally nor written in the worksheet.

So, we went back to the room. A nurse came to remove the IV of angkong. I told mommy, that he looks familiar, that maybe he is a Thomasian. My mom told him about the incidents that happened previous days during my duty. She then asked:

Mom: San ka nga pla graduate?

Nurse: Sa UST po.

Me: Kaya pala you looked familiar. Batch ano ka?

Nurse: 2004. Kaw?

Me: Kakagraduate lang...

Nurse: E, tapus na ang baords, pasado na.

Me: Hindi pa, wala pang results kasi nga may leakage. dba?

Nurse: Ah oo nga, pero hindi yan, papasa ka, sure yan.

Mom: Ei, huwag kang papartner kay Nurse X dahil ang daming gnawang mali (then she told the incident one by one)

Nurse: Ma'am I'm very sorry po sa nangyari. Sana sinabihan ninyo yung nurse para alam niya.

Me: Yes, sinabi ko ung mga mali niya pero masama naman maging harsh kasi I'm still a new grad and without a license pero aun, sinasabi ko kapag alam kong mali.

Nurse: OO nga tama yun. Ma'am sorry po ulit. And also will follow-up yung discharge papers nyo. Sige po.

COMMENT: Finally, a Thomasian graduate. At least he knew the principle in management to say sorry when the patient verbalized incovinience with their service but not really accepting the wrong doing of the collegue.

After the incident, the Thomasian Nurse and the Charge Nurse did a lot of follow-up so that we could obtain the PF, the last requirement for the billing section. They even used their own cellfone load to call the secretary of the doctor to accomplish the task. At least, even for the last of stay, nakabawi kahit papano.

The sisters of my angkong wanted me to do a letter of complaint for those nurses who have negligence on their duty as a nurse and a letter of commendation to the nurse who did well like the Thomasian and Charge Nurse because they saw the issue as an urgent matter that needs to meet by the institution to serve their clients well and I agree on them.

REFLECTION:

With that experience, I realized that indeed, the quality of nursing service in our country is in decline. And sometimes, schools are to blame because they didn't mold their student with the necessary competencies, a nurse should really possess. On the part of the staff nurses in the incident, except for the Thomasian nurse, they were already regular pay nurses , and it is sad that they still don't know the right attitude on how to interact with clients and their responsibilities as nurses. They didn't assess for the affected are-the infected wound which was the chief complaint for admission but only checks the IV and I & O when the end of the shift came. What would they chart if that's the case? They just carrying doctor's orders without knowing the rationale behind each action they are doing, they're just contented to say that it was ordered by the doctor or a hospital policy to be followed.

I know, I am still a graduate without license compared to them that they practise what they learned but why is it like that? That despite the fact that I'm a graduate without a license, I know the responsibilities to be done that they neglected to do.

This experience served as a lesson to me as a future nurse, when I passed the licensure exam ( I hoped), to do justice - to give what is due to my patient, and not to repeat the mistakes of the nurses I have encountered in that hospital.

And to other nurses, do you want to be like them? I dont wanna be like them.