I Am Totally Responsible For All Deaths In The ICU.

[StevieJD]

Way back when.... I was the hospital flunky on the 11PM-7AM shift on Fridays and Saturdays.

One night, about midnight, the hospital lost commercial power thus causing the backup generator to kick in. Commercial power right came back up thus kicking the generator back off. Then commercial power failed and the generator came back on. At the very moment the generator kicked in for the 3rd time the commercial power came back up. There is a lot of equipment in the hospital that is 480v 3ph power pulling 100 or even 200 amps of power. One of the safeties failed. Some of that stuff just got hit with double power. Most of the equipment is quite durable. I think we lost a total of 3 pieces of equipment.

I spent the night in front of a piece of lab equipment hand recording the results 'cause the built in fancy printer got fried.

One of the Administrators had to come into the hospital after midnight to hand write purchase orders for emergancy parts to be shipped to the hospital.

That built in printer part that was broken cost like $200. The hospital had to charter a plane to fly the part in. Maybe 1 AM Saturday AM. Part arrived before sunup. I heard the charter fee was $10k. That was 30 years ago.


If that fax machine was that F******* important I am sure some hospital administrator would have found his credit card and visited WallyWorld to buy a cheap fax machine (or all in one printer or whatever it took) and taken care of the problem until the real machine could be fixed. No administrator with credit card in hand, fax machine must not be very darn important.

[BlackIronCrown]

And right here is where the smartass in me would have said, "Well, gee, if the ICU is open 24 hours, than I would expect your accounting and office people to be there 24 hours, too."

Probably followed immediately by my firing.

I was tempted. So very tempted.

It would have gotten the Idea across

man what a total moron you should have totally waived the fee so her patients wouldn't die and by "receive faxes all night" she really meant we occasionally get a medical record from another hospital or doctors office

Damn straight. Most of my AH calls are hospitals. The only ones who will say "Yes we accept the charge." are ER units - they're usually hard-up and desparate. Nor do they even hesitate or complain about the charge.

Thankfully, I am TOTALLY forbidden to waive the fee. That has to be approved by the local Service Manager with a secondary approval from a Regional VP - under a completely different hierarchy than I, too. So, I get immunity on that.

And everyone commenting about getting a temp fax from Wallyworld? Straight. That's actually what MOST of the hopsitals do.

[Broomjockey]

The only ones who will say "Yes we accept the charge." are ER units - they're usually hard-up and desparate. Nor do they even hesitate or complain about the charge. )

Okay, having read this thread about 3 times now, it wasn't until this time through with this post I realized that it was the ICU, not the ER. For some reason my brain flipped the bit and thought they were the same or something. This revelation has brought my disbelief at the temerity of this nurse to a new high. >_<

[mattm04]

I know a guy who works in the IT dept of a hospital. All critical systems are redundant. The place has two totally separate phone systems, generators to back up generators, etc. If it is a piece of equipment that is that critical they either have backup machines at the ready and/or people on-call to authorize charges or come down to fix an issue. I call BS on the nurse.

[CanadaGirl]

So.. a patient could honestly die if they don't receive a fax... but she thinks $1200 is not worth the life of a patient? Excuse me, but what a bitch.

[Primer]

When I worked at the animal hospital, we ran out of printer ink on Easter Sunday. I called in an extra warm body to cover for me, and *I* ran around town till I found someplace open that had what we needed. Never even occurred to me to try to call the owners or anybody else.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

The Petaluma Valley Hospital is located at 400 North McDowell Boulevard in Petaluma, California. There is a Wal-Mart located just about nine miles away at 4625 Redwood Drive in Rohnert Park. Wal-Marts sell inexpensive fax machines (under $100) that can hold up to being used for one evening. I doubt seriously that there are constant faxes being sent into an ICU at night. Was there anything preventing someone from the hospital taking forty-five minutes to go to the store and get one for this “emergency” if the fax machine was that vital? It would not take much to get authorization for such an expense if this truly was to prevent patients from dying.

Gee. It will cost a minimum of $1,200 to get the machine repaired tonight or about $95 to buy a temporary replacement until the machine can be fixed in the morning under the contract. I wonder which one the administration would prefer…

True that, but given the byzantine nature of corporate purchasing requirements, probably not all that feasible.

Nurse is a complete fuckhorn. She should've unplugged her own fax machine and taken it down there the first time, before calling OP and getting all screamy, if it was so vital to have a working fax machine.

[marasbaras]

Gotta agree ... nurse is an idiot. She just wanted someone to go do the work for her and do it CHEAP.

[myswtghst]

SC: Well no, why should I request it? This machine is in the ICU of the hospital! We work 24 hours so I would expect to be serviced 24 hours!

Me: Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way, ma'am. Our technicians only work from 0800 to 1700 local time; AH service is only automatic if you have a service contract for it.

SC: Well, so we're a hospital! Why aren't they out there?

Me: Because your hospital did not opt for AH service. Only normal service is listed on this contract.

BIC - I completely sympathize. I work with the radio and dispatch equipment used by 911 call centers, police officers and more. And I get the same type of calls - informing them that their contract does not cover something they want is one of my least favorite types of calls - especially because they seem to believe it's my fault that it's not covered - couldn't possibly be because their company didn't want to shell out the money.

Oh, and don't get me started about how they rant if I have the gall to tell them that I have to *gasp* page someone out for service - they can't believe I don't have someone sitting next to me, just waiting for their call.

Me: All right, ma'am. That's not a problem, we can place a call for AH service for this machine. Since AH service is not included on your contract, there will be an additional charge for service. We'll just need the name and phone number of a person who will authorize payment directly.

[...]

SC: Are you STUPID? Accounting and all the office people have gone home for the day! Why can't they just bill us?

Me: We no longer just bill for AH service due to numerous difficulties we have had securing payment.

SC: This is BAD SERVICE. Your incompetence on gettign a technician out will cost the patients in the ICU to DIE!

[...]

SC: *grumpy* Well, fine. What is the charge for AH service?

Me: It is a minimum of 4 hours at $300.00/hour.

SC: *shrieking* THAT'S $1200.00!!!

Me: Yes, ma'am, that is correct.

SC: This is HORRIBLE SERVICE! WE ARE NOT PAYING THAT! I am going to have to unplug my personal fax machine and TAKE IT DOWN THERE and that's YOUR FAULT. Those prices are RIDICULOUS!

And this reminds me of when we ask for a PO for after hours support on a "demand" contract (meaning they have no paid contract, just that we have their info on file, but need billing info to proceed) or if we suggest a Next Flight Out if they need parts ASAP. (Just FYI - an NFO usually costs a minimum of $600, plus the cost of the parts, plus the cost of the courier/flight - so it's not cheap)

I understand that it's an emergency, but someone still has to pay for the parts, the courier and the flight. I highly doubt the airlines are going to do it out of the goodness of their "hearts," and I know we're certainly not going to eat the costs - as if they'd even give me the authority to approve that. We didn't cause the lightning strike/power surge/spilled coffee that caused the issue.

And as for "it's YOUR fault?" Um, no, it's not. I just work here - I didn't write the policies and procedures that state this is how it works, and I certainly didn't sign the contract without after hours support.

ETA - I also do not understand why none of these people/places/agencies ever think it might be handy to have back up units or replacement parts on hand in case of an emergency. It only costs you the price of the part to put an extra in the storeroom, rather than paying all sorts of fees to have it expedited and shipped. Just a thought.

[Princess-Snake]

So, if I die right now in my hospital bed, does that mean I can blame you? Seriously though, I certainly hopes that this woman never gets a job at the ICU where I'm currently staying at. Or any other ICU's for that matter.

[LifeCarnie]

So, lessons learned:
1) Folks, if faxes are that critical for you, have a backup machine available. Borrow it from another ward if necessary.
2) Plunk for AH service. It's costly, but effective.
3) If you have relatives that died in the Petaluma Valley Hospital ICU, it's all my fault.

I so feel for you right now. As someone who works regularily with health care professionals, I can assure you that this is not an isolated incident.

I've been threatened with the "dead patient" trick a few times. I love how hospitals pass the buck onto everyone else.

"Yes we're a 24 hour facility, but no we don't want a 24 hour service contract, we can't justify the expense!!."

And than something goes wrong and it becomes.

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!!"

Seems like that expense just became justified to me.
***********************

I've had customers place special orders for specific patients, than call us back to find out why they never received the order. 90% of the time it's because their receiving department gave the carrier a delivery appointment that was days after the surgery was scheduled, or better yet, signed for the freight and never entered the product into their system as received.

Of course it's always my fault that their internal system is a failure.

[chainedbarista]

i was under the impression that nurses were fairly intelligent; i'm sad to see just how wrong i was...

i'm hoping that if i'm ever in need of ICU services, that she doesn't get tagged to care for me; if she does, it's time for the family to make 'arrangements.'

[South Texan]

i was under the impression that nurses were fairly intelligent; i'm sad to see just how wrong i was...

i'm hoping that if i'm ever in need of ICU services, that she doesn't get tagged to care for me; if she does, it's time for the family to make 'arrangements.'

I know you did not mean that as a slur toward all nurses. It takes a lot of intelligence to be a nurse, and most nurses are very good at their jobs.

This nurse, however, showed she might be a good at nursing, but is incapable of thinking beyond that. Intelligence and common sense do not always go hand in hand.

[chainedbarista]

no, southtx, not against all nurses; i do know that they take a rather in-depth cirriculum and have heard from other nurses that the field is 'intensely competitive.'

that's why i said under the impression, but worded it wrongly; i should have included somethign that meant i applied it to her only. (sorry 'bout that)

book smart and common sense foolish do go hand in hand, but i still questiong this one's smarts on any level.

*previous post was not intended as an insult to nurses in general; i meant it to insult that particular one's lack of reasoning skills and intelligence. apologies to anyone offended my miswording and lack of clarity*

[Demonoid Phenomenon]

Heal thyself.

Those prices are RIDICULOUS!

And I wonder what four hours spent in the hospital would cost the average patient...