How to behave in a Hospital (Long list)

[Lace Neil Singer]

Wow Lace, you must have been "mowed" over. I've been hit twice on my motorcycle and suffered nowhere near what you did.

Lucky then. I was hit at 40mph; I was actually luckier than most, as I was wearing my leathers and didn't sustain any scrapeage by going up the road under my bike. The fact that the bike landed on me was why I got the broken ribs and hand. My head was fine; they just apparently had to X-ray me just in case.

[chainedbarista]

sounds like i had bad luck; i broke my right hand last october and had a nine hour wait before they did anything, then i had to turn around and return the next day because they made the cast so big and awkward that i couldn't put on clothes without great trouble, wear a coat or use my right hand even for minor things.

yay; i had them alter it, so i could actually function with it. thank god the tech i saw had a clue!

[Dips]

I hope you don't mind my adding to this list:

When a nice doctor asks you to vacate the elevator so he can transport a four-year-old patient heart patient to the ICU, you should do it without arguing or being asked more than once.

The sign directing you to wash your hands upon entering the ICU is directed at you. Yes. You need to wash your hands.

This is not a fine hotel. If you wish to stay with your hospitalized child, try to help. Or, at the very least, don't make MORE work for the staff. Make your bed and put your dirty towels in the hamper. It's right there in the room, next to the wastebasket. That reminds me. There's a wastebasket there. Do you need instructions for using it?

If your child has been discharged please vacate the room. Do not decide to camp out in the room for two hours because you were expecting a lunch from the hospital kitchen and scoring a free meal of hospital food for your kid is more important to you than getting your family home.

If you break the above rule and the lunch is delivered, please eat it or take it home. Do not leave the untouched tray there for someone else to clean up.

This is MY bed. ASK before you park your luggage or your ass on it. This rule is especially important if I happen to be sleeping in it. What. The. Hell?

Visitors are nice. However, inviting 20 of your nearest and dearest noisy friends to visit while your child's roomate is trying to sleep is not considerate. Perhaps you should consider using the lounge or the lobby for your family reunion, or, even better, the hotel down the road.

Did I mention this is not a fine hotel? Don't complain to the parents of other patients about how the amount of money your child's stay costs should entitle you, the parents, to free gourmet meals, valet service, free phones or an in-room DVD player. The sign on the door said "Hospital" not "Luxury Family Resort and Spa." Asshat.

The TV in your child's room is there to entertain your child. It doesn't get the playboy channel. Deal.

Keep in mind that you are sharing the shower with your child's roomate and his parents. They would appreciate that you remove the pube-covered cake of soap and the soiled washcloth from the shower when you are done. K? Thx.

[Myra]

The bit about people asking "How did that guy die?" don't people even know anything about privacy laws? HIPAA people!!!!!! When I worked at the nursing home, I got that beat into me regularly. If a resident died, the whole process of removing the body was so silly and complex, but it was only so other residents didn't know who had died.

If I was working in an ER and some heartless bastage asked me about a dead person, I think I'd quote the HIPAA manual to them. That oughtta aggravate 'em.

[Kiwi]

Latex gloves are not some freebie, don't take a purse-load of them home.Wow, bet you can tell I had a bad day.

AHMEN to you condemming the glove comment!! I came home from my kidney operation to find the entire house (inside) covered in them, lightblubs, door handles, strung up like christmas garlands blown up like cows udders ..... did I mention how terrfied of them I was....

cried for hours... stupid gloves!

hospitals have to be one of the most stressful places to work!!! kudos to you for retaining your sanity... or at least a small part

[Primer]

I've had to take the DH in to the ER a few times relatively recently; nothing too very serious, thank goodness. I can empathize with what the workers have to go through. We tried as best as we could to sit quietly out of the way until it was our turn. It really amazed me how suckily someone with a stubbed toe could act, and how patient a guy with a broken jaw from a bar fight could be.

[South Texan]

When my new born daughter was in NICU for three days after birth (wet lungs) I was told by the head nurse not even to look at the other children in the NICU as that was an invasion of privacy. I always went straight to my daughter, though I did meet other parents in there who openly shared their stories of their children.

I cannot fathom anyone being so stupid and insensitive as to stop and ask someone what is wrong with a patient or how a patient died.

[XCashier]

When a nice doctor asks you to vacate the elevator so he can transport a four-year-old patient heart patient to the ICU, you should do it without arguing or being asked more than once.

I used to work in a hospital, taking patients from their rooms to radiology and back. I can't tell you how many times visitors insisted on using the patient transport elevators, despite them being clearly marked as for patients and staff only!

I'd be hauling a bedridden patient with five I-Meds on a flimsy IV pole, the bed and equipment barely fitting in the transport elevator, and some idiot visitors would try to squeeze in and complain about the lack of room!

[RichS]

When my new born daughter was in NICU for three days after birth (wet lungs) I was told by the head nurse not even to look at the other children in the NICU as that was an invasion of privacy. I always went straight to my daughter, though I did meet other parents in there who openly shared their stories of their children.

You reminded me of something that happened when me and my wife were visiting my sister's newborn in the NICU (very small hole in the heart that would naturally seal, they wanted to monitor him in the meantime).

While waiting to see him, there was a Code Blue, and through the window we saw 2 doctors and a nurse work on a baby whose heart had stopped. The parents were there also...well, the baby didn't make it.

All during this time, there was a relative of the parents on her cell calling family, trying to get in contact with their priest, etc. Only problem was, all along the room are signs posted telling people not to use ther phones because the equipment is sensitive to them.

I just have to wonder if she could've hindered the life-saving efforts of the doctors, not to mention the risk to all the other infants, by using the cell.

[Mighty Girl]

I was a tiny bit offended by the unemployed/SAHM reference, but I'll get over it. As much as they would like to be at home with their kids, a lot of us would like to get some adult conversation and clothing that doesn't have juice or formula stains on it...

But moving on- when my daughter was in the hospital, as we were being discharged, there was a code blue in the next room. I was really impressed with how fast everybody got there- I heard a HUGE stampede in the hall. It scared me, and at the same time made me so thankful that we were leaving. The baby in the next room couldn't have been older than maybe 4 months old. I sometimes wonder if she recovered. Whenever I get a little stressed, I remind myself of the expressions that the baby's parents had, and it puts things in perspective.

The people that ask how people died- that's totally disgusting, but not surprising. When I was pregnant, people (men and women) asked me the most personal questions and constantly wanted to feel my stomach. Are you going to breastfeed? Do you have a name picked out yet? Boy or girl? Do they kick a lot? Did you get varicose veins? Where are you going to deliver? And these were complete strangers. Nosy idiots.

[beercashier]

Don't eat in the waiting area, somone with gastritis won't apperciate it and will probably ruin you meal when the get sick.

This is so true!!! I had my dad at the ER when he feel and broke his kneecap one night not too long ago and there was a family of at least 10 people taking up 1/3 of the waiting room eating takeout and basically having a party! I thought that was incredibly rude.

[RogueOne]

Tet shot = owie!

Not as much as the damn painkiller injection. I got a deep cut on my index finger near my knuckle. Doc said the tendon was fine (He could SEE it) . X-ray looked okay. Went to inject Lidocaine (sp?) and that farkin' hurt worse than anything else. Still hurts once in a while.

[Crosshair]

If a resident died, the whole process of removing the body was so silly and complex, but it was only so other residents didn't know who had died.

I can see that now, "Hey, anyone know where Bill is? I haven't seen him for a week."

All during this time, there was a relative of the parents on her cell calling family, trying to get in contact with their priest, etc. Only problem was, all along the room are signs posted telling people not to use ther phones because the equipment is sensitive to them.

I just have to wonder if she could've hindered the life-saving efforts of the doctors, not to mention the risk to all the other infants, by using the cell.

Probably not, it's more of a CYA (Cover your ass) thing more than anything. Vital equipment used to keep patients alive and well is tested every way possible before being given FDA approval. It's the same thing with airliners, there is a 99.999999999999999999999999% chance that nothing is going to happen, but why risk it.

[South Texan]

If a resident died, the whole process of removing the body was so silly and complex, but it was only so other residents didn't know who had died.

At the Hospice hospital my grandmother ended up in, they had a special cart that looked like an empty gurny but with a large storage area beneath it. When a patient died, the body was placed in the storage area and the cart then was wheeled off to the morgue. All anyone in the hall saw was what looked like an empty bed being moved. At first I thought it was rather silly, but I began to understand that it really was to avoid the spectacle of removing a body and to spare the families of the other patients from being reminded of what the fate of the loved ones soon would be. In many ways, it preserved a dignity and privacy for the family of the deceased.

Of course, there were jerk visitors who would see the cart being moved and ask if it was "in use" at that moment. The nurses would just answer that what they were doing was none of the visitor's concern.

[Becks]

Tet shot = owie!

The last time I got a tet shot, the soreness of my arm the next 4 days FAR outweighed the pain of a needle in my arm.