Is This The New Normal In the Hospital? | Terrible Nursing Care Storytime 

I’m an RN from Canada with over 40 yrs of varied nursing experience. A few years ago I had surgery on my foot. I was told it would be a day surgery but found myself admitted. Nobody could (or would) tell me why. This was concerning to me. I always tell people I am a nurse because I feel it might keep them on their toes a bit. It started when the nurse who was reinforcing my dressing on OR day dropped dressing material on the floor. She picked it up and moved towards putting it on my fresh post-op wound. I screeched at her. Stop!!! I could not believe she would even consider doing that. It got worse after that. I did not close my eyes for 3 days. I was terrified of what might happen to me. The whole experience was a nightmare. I feel that every patient needs to have an advocate with them. I am childless and aging. I’m afraid of what might happen to me if I ever end up in hospital again.

My friend pulled a great stunt and made his point very well. His 4 year old was admitted, but he didn't feel was adequately supervised. Then he was asked to leave, at the conclusion of visiting hours. However, his child's asthma was better and he thought he could manage it himself from there. So he circled back later that night, and found his child completely unsupervised, and without being seen at all, he took his child home. The next morning he went to "visit his child" and asked where the child was. He was told in room such and such. He said no, he's not there - then they said he was in xray. This went on and on - until the staff realized the child was missing. They called code yellow, and the whole place was looking for the child. After a couple hours the CEO (who happened to be a friend of my friend) got involved. The staff was hysterical, having "lost" this child, and the CEO was hysterical. Then my friend explained that he took his child home the night before, to make the point that the children were not being watched, and the hospital MUST allow parents to stay overnight. Parents have been allowed to stay overnight in that hospital ever since. The whole point is that the child could have just as easily been kidnapped, and no one would have noticed.

I worked as a CNA for 3 years and as a nurse for 39. My last day of work I had been assigned to the Covid unit. Very sick patients. My supervisor also told me I would have to pick up four extra residents as their CNA. I went in a run for 14 hours stressed inside but I made sure I showed kindness and compassion to my residents. That was my nursing style to be that sweet nurse they could count on. I caught Covid and ended up in the ICU with two blood clots in my lung. All of my nurses in the ICU where spread thin like I was but where still very kind. I appreciated them so much. I'm now disabled as I lost the use of my legs after respiratory failure. I'm so thankful I had great nurses and proud to say for 39 years I did my very best to just be kind and attentive.

My Mom was hospitalized 3 times Jan - July. The last time was 8 days. She was never offered a bath. I showered her during the last stay. She wasn’t given water. If I hadn’t been there she wouldn’t have eaten because her trays were brought in & just left. She was 94 & weak. I asked for her dirty sheets to be changed. So sad. That was the same hospital I retired from 12 years ago. When I worked, techs passed clean linens first thing every morning to every room. All patients were offered a bath every day. As a RN, baths and beds were not just the techs job. It was important to me the patients were clean and comfortable. Sad to see the changes. Ratios were about the same 1:6 on days. Don’t get me started on the rehab facility she went to. My brother was bragging on the good care. I asked what care & he said everyone was so friendly. The nursing care was atrocious!!

Positive experience with a nurse: I had my baby 2 months ago and they spent a week in the NICU. I was discharged after only 3 days and driving up every day to cuddle and try feeding them. The fifth day, I came in and my baby's nurse immediately greeted me and ran me through the doctor's comments from that morning. All throughout the day, in addition to checking on baby, she asked how I was and if I needed anything and continued to refill my water bottle and bring me snacks, even brought me a lunch tray. I wasn't even her patient, but she recognized that I was the most important person to take care of my baby, and made sure I was taken care of. She definitely went above and beyond, and I was in tears at the end of her shift, just so grateful to have someone helping me help my baby while I was 5 days postpartum and exhausted driving back and forth and pumping every three hours. And that next morning, he finally got his feeding tube out and successfully breastfed for the first time.

Hi, I'm a retired RN after 45 years .. have always stayed at my husband's bedside when inpatient until his post covid admit, he was negative and I was negative. They ran me out of the building at 8PM... his other family was nor allowed to be there. He died without me, without family. Senseless and cold. I truly hope that never happens to anyone else.

It’s harder to hold them accountable if you’re alone.

I have been a registered nurse with an MBA for 40 years. Our hospitals no longer provide the quality of care and safe staffing levels. Nurses are grossly under compensated. Everyone needs an advocate at their bedside at all times. If I were in collage today I wouldn’t major in nursing. Breaks my heart to say that but it is the truth!

I work at UPMC Altoona and it’s an absolute mess. Our patients are still only allowed two visitors their ENTIRE stay and it’s only 9-9. No overnight visitors. I hate to even say it, but what you described is exactly how my coworkers and I feel. We are running about our days, eating lunch standing up or while charting, completing tasks like a new nurse and having zero time to critically think. We have no care most weekends so the RNs are rushing to get report, pull our meds, getting vitals, checking glucoses. Most of us aren’t done passing AM meds until 11-1130. Our charge usually has a team of 5-6 patients of their own. We have 45 beds and two nurses stations on our unit and most weekends we are crossing to the front/back meaning we can’t see our monitors, can’t hear or see the call bells. We are split between covid and non covid rooms so again, can’t hear or see what is going on. It’s truly a nightmare for us and our patients. Last weekend I could no longer hold back tears. I had 3 critical patients. 2 who had to wait over an hour for their IV pain medications, others who were on continuous bipap, amio and heparin gtt’s. I finally got in to check on one of my patients who told me he had asked someone for a urinal an hour prior and never received one. He embarrassingly let me know that he was incontinent all over himself and that he’s “never felt so dehumanized” in his life. Hearing those words made me hit my breaking point. Not only are we suffering but our patients (our community) are the ones truly suffering. We tell administration that we can’t take another patient and the next thing you see one pop up on our bed board. We need help, not another pizza party or a large gratitude sign in the hospital. It’s a slap in the face.

This is so ridiculously cathartic. I have had SO MANY horrible experiences in hospitals. So many. I'm just glad you are guys, as nurses, are talking about this.The lack of empathy really is the major issue.

My dad was just at Penn for open heart surgery. I never saw a physician after. Was never updated. Still have no idea why he needed a sh@tload of blood products after despite repeatedly asking. Watched one nurse change his insulin drip rate without a second RN to verify. Couldn't believe some of what I saw. I'm a nursing professor. Family should never have been excluded.

My mom with Alzheimer’s could only have someone with her 9-6. She isn’t able to make phone calls, therefore she wasn’t able to phone the room service type for meals, or make a decision to pick something she would off the menu. I would arrive and ask if someone had help her order food or drinks, nope. She didn’t get a shower for several days, or help changing her depends, until I arrived. I am a retired RN and can’t believe the lack of doing what’s best for the patient.

I’m a new nurse not even in practice for a year yet and I already believe every patient Deserves to have advocates there in the room with them regardless of how irritating family can be at times to nurses and docs. Doctors miss things and they come to see the patient for 10 seconds at the crack of dawn. How is the patient supposed to get all that info when they’re exhausted and probably on a lot of meds. Someone else needs to be there as much as possible.

I grad from nursing school in 2010 with a 3.5 GPA and was never able to find work. In addition to my BSN, RN, I also have a prior BS Biological Sciences. None of that mattered. However I have had a lot of time to watch things unfold and see what is happening and why. Literally hundreds of thousands of new RN's have never been able to find work in this country. . Many have gone into nursing because they have heard the clarion call re: the nursing shortage. The fact of the matter is that all the schools and textbook manufacturers are all lying to you to get your money. The real nursing shortage is of experienced nurses. And here is the underlying truth. Many hospitals have avoided going belly up by having another hospital come in and swallow them up. This situation is called an affiliation - because no hospital wants to reveal to the general public that they are in poor financial shape. But the buy-out is not the end of it. Behind that is Wall Street, who has bought out hospitals and bundled them up and sold them to investors as hedge funds. Of course, once that happens, the hospital will want to save every penny for their shareholders. This is one of the reasons they don't want to hire and staff appropriately. They also don't want to train new grads. It used to be that once you had passed your boards you would be paired with a preceptor who would help you get acclimated to the real world of nursing. No more. Upper level management views that as a patient having 2 nurses (because they are paying 2 people) and tries to go on the cheap. All of this has resulted in insufficient staffing which is only getting worse as time goes on.

My fear is that there has been a major culture shift that has absolutely changed the quality of patient care and not for the better. I want to return to nursing, but I don't think I can work in the current environment. It's very hard being a nurse in the role of patient or parental care giver. We know too much and it makes working with medical personal so difficult.

This topic is truly why I am starting nursing school in January. I cannot express how strongly I feel that empathy is fading, I want to help.

I’m an ICU nurse. The first thing my preceptor told me over 20 years ago. “Know what you don’t know. And learn.”

A number of years ago I had bilateral mastectomies and was pretty out of it by the time I got to my room. The call buttons for the nurses station had just been upgraded and were in a rather inconspicuous spot under my pillow, but I was given the new instructions so all was well or so I thought. It was time for pain medication and I pressed the call button for help. I waited and waited and waited...no help. I was now frantic cause I had to use the toilet, had tubes everywhere and was in pain and getting no response. So...I pulled the telephone book from the bedstand, called the hospital switchboard and asked to speak to the nurses station on my floor. It took seconds before half of the hospital was in my room trying to help. The best part was me being reprimanded for not using the "new"call system. And I will never let a loved one of mine stay alone in hospital ever.

If you love someone, you should never leave them in the hospital alone.

I’m a retired RN and spent the last 7 years “protecting” my 94 year old mom!!! She NEEDED me to survive! I was horrified at every turn! She died a few months ago, peacefully, because there was a nurse who stepped up to “be with her” during her final moments! Aside from this special moment, the constant fight to get proper care was horrific! It wasn’t just because of short staffing! It was a problem in the thought process that didn’t conform to any reasonable medical process!!

I’m a retired RN (i actually burned completely out and could not force myself back), and between the horrors of what I saw behind the scenes-and then experienced as a patient-I PRAY to not have to be in a hospital for ANY reason! It’s nothing like it used to be and it’s not safe anymore-on either side.. my uncle died alone with brain cancer in a solitary hospice room with no family allowed 2 years ago-and then his daughter passed of the same type brain cancer under similar circumstances a year later-almost alone! It left a deep and marked trauma on the whole family😢

I literally just had the worst most unbelievable, inconceivable experience in the ICU. So much so, I pulled off all the wires, tubes and pulled out the IV's squirting blood everywhere and left the ICU at 2:30 am. I was in respiratory failure and could barely breathe on my own. The nurse who was more than young enough to be my daughter treated me like she enjoyed yielding some sort of authority over me, like I was in a prison, not a hospital. It wasn't that she was so busy, there were only 3 people in the ICU. They watched as I struggled to dress, didn't offer as much as a band aid for my bleeding from the IV, but did give me one when I asked, weren't cautious about me slipping in the blood all throughout the room on the floor, and walk out of there offering no help, I walked all the way to the ER entrance(a good distance) and sat out in the cold waiting for my very confused ride who'd taken me to the hospital earlier that afternoon. I am beyond traumatized and though I need the help, I have no intentions or desire to go back there or even to another hospital. This is the short version of the events and treatment I wish I had never endured. I must add, I was not a difficult patient in any way. I called on the nurse just twice, once because I was sweating to death and asked her if the heat was on, it was on 74! degrees and I asked if she could please turn it down, and once more a bit later I called to ask to use the toilet. I was friendly, kind and cooperative but for some reason she was not. I now am unable to have a much needed surgery that was scheduled for just a few days after this incident as my oxygen level is in the 'dead zone' because I didn't get the help I needed. I cry every day & night and can't get the whole ordeal to stop running through my head. I know this is long and if it was read to the end I appreciate you. This I suppose was more to help me get some of my emotions out but also to tell the short version of my experience as per the topic. Please be kind people! For all they know or care, I am dead.

I totally agree with you. I was at the hospital ER two weeks ago with my husband and all that you saying is true and I saw it. There was a patient that had been there for 17 hours and was not given water or anything to eat. He was dizzy from dehydration and his monitor was going crazy, he blood pressure would go soooo low then sooo high, it was uncomfortable to watch it.the nurses would come in and out with sooo much indifference . I had to give my bottle of water to the patient. After he drank the blood pressure normalized…unbelievable. Thank you for making this program and I hope many nurses watch this🙏🙏🙏🙏

It seems like empathy and compassion dropped precipitously in the last couple years . Hospitals have always been at the top of the list for loving care to both patients and family , now it's raking your life in your hands being left alone .

I am now a retired RN with 50 years of experience from womb to tomb. I've wanted to write a memoir of my experiences in nursing. I always felt like I worked in a war zone and left with PTSD. I was emotionally and physically exhausted. There are so many things wrong in nursing and medicine. I'm 80 years old now and still would like to do the memoir. I just can't get off the dime and do it. For years I was just so angry that I didn't feel I could write a helpful book. I am terrified of being a patient.

I am a nurse. I had to go to the ER a month ago. My nurse was super. I needed IV antibiotcs. The nurse was attentive while I was there. She explained everything well. ( I don't tell anyone I'm A nurse when Im in the hospital ,unless a past co-worker outs me). I expected less, and got more actually. It wass never an issue about family staying until the pandemic. I don't know why they can't stay now, however. I feel people die of isolation too. I would think hospitals would like the middle of the night help. Healthcare is crumbling like the rest of society.

Until the RNs refuse to work in this way It will not stop Get this thru ur head I know u won’t listen But it’s never ever going to change till they have to close the literal doors Bottom line is only thing they listen to

The comments are really honest about real experiences. I’m so grateful for everyone sharing. Thank you

I've been on both sides of this and IMHO the reason some medical staff treat patients the way they do ("you're being dramatic, etc.") is because they've never been on the other side as a patient. When you're the patient you're in an extremely vulnerable position, you may feel worse than you've ever felt in your life, and if you don't have someone present to advocate for you you're basically screwed.

Maybe 20 years ago I worked on a med-surg floor and some people came from New York to sit outside each patient's room and monitor how often the nurses went into each room and how long they stayed there. I thought they would use the study to change how supplies were given, how close things were to where they were needed, etc... What the report said was that the nurses were spending TOO MUCH TIME IN THE PATIENTS' ROOMS! I guess this is the result.

The stories in this video are so spot on. It's like the staff is taught to deliberately overlook things and to gaslight everyone about everything.

When my mum was in hospital in Australia, I was taken aback by the lack of basic nursing care. I kept on thinking, back in my day, this would be different. For example, an elderly woman doesn't even have a jug of water on her table? Can't get any more basic than that.

I'd love to share some stories but would likely be fired if I were to get too specific. I could fill a book with horror stories and just might write said book after I retire. I've been a nurse for a very long time and have never seen conditions such as they are now. Very scary. Very dangerous. Very unprofessional. Very NOT OK!! Basic nursing care being missed like peri care and providing nutrition. Patients being boarded in ED for days on end. Others being boarded on regular floors for months on end for lack of available beds at more appropriate facilities. Chronic understaffing and overtime. Sometimes mandatory overtime. Being floated to every unit of the facility despite the nurses specialty. Paying nurses to "sit" with patients who are at risk of harming themselves for lack of aids to do that job. I feel like I'm watching a slow motion collapse of our healthcare system. It is morally distressing to say the least

Thank you to all the good, caring nurses in the world. The best nurse I ever had literally grab tissues and wiped my tears!

I am so sorry that you, NurseLiz and Bridgett had those unacceptable experiences. I am a bedside RN in a large teaching hospital and have worked there for over seventeen years. I feel nursing has changed and not necessarily for the best. In my experience, management is focusing more on charting for Medicare reimbursement, Magnet accreditation, and JCAHO compliance than anything else. Management also seems to be implementing cost cutting measures such as cutting back on staff. A nurse is a nurse is what I hear by management wanting to have nurses take on whatever patients regardless of their competency. I am a nurse with over seventeen years experience but I do not know everything! I know nothing of fetal heart tones but know telemetry and peritoneal dialysis for example. Also, on my floor their unfortunately are a couple of nurses who don't have the best bed manner, and the PCA's( patient care techs aka nursing aides) are lazy and insubordinate. I love nursing and taking care of my patients but there is so much put on myself that I cannot do it all! There is so much more charting now, patients are sicker, and are on a lot more medications. In addition, my hospital at least, pushes patients out and before the patients bed is cleaned a new patient comes up from the ER without report! I have cried because I have seen one of my patients miss a meal because the aide never fed them and I was so busy giving meds to other patients, and it's not that I don't have good time management. All I know is that I ALWAYS give 110% at work but I am only one person with only two hands. If I do hear someone's iv beeping, even if it's not my patient, I do check it out most of the time. You never know if it's an important med like Cardizem or the like, not to mention the beeping IS annoying! I also make pain meds a priority or if I know the patient just had surgery, just saying. Also, I educate my patients on every single med I give. I say, "this is metoprolol, it's for your heart and blood pressure, this is Flomax for your prostate, etc." I am an experienced nurse but I freely admit that I don't know everything and had my patients and nursing students teach me things as well. I feel it's important to be humble, honest, and open to suggestion. I know I am not perfect, I can only do my best.. Thank you for all your videos and keep them coming! ; ) 💕

I once had to keep my mom awake in the ER after she was given strong IV pain meds because every time she dozed off her lips would turn blue. The nurse didn't come back for 30 minutes and when she did she offered more meds! If I hadn't been there I'm really scared of what would've happened. She wasn't hooked up to any moniters and could've OD'd and not been discovered for some time. I told the nurse what was happening and she shrugged it off?! So many horror stories with both nurses and doctors. And they instantly treat you like a Karen if you advocate for yourself or loved one, or God forbid point out a life threatening error. Wasn't my only experience with intervening during an over medication of a loved one either. I lost faith in the medical community that we're practically groomed to have unfailing trust in as if they're super human. 100% adore caregivers but there are major problems with our healthcare system.

My mom is an RN and she started working at hospitals on the west coast in the late 80s after getting her education on the east coast. One particular story really scarred her. She was working in the ER and a young girl (middle/high school) came in with an open fracture of her leg from playing soccer. for some reason, back then the techniques/technologies used were different from east to west. They ended up casting the girl...which my mom knew was a terrible idea, but you know how doctors are..can't tell them anything. A couple weeks later, she comes back saying its really itchy. they took the cast off and found gangrene, and had to amputate the leg 😭 She stopped working in hospitals after that.

It's getting worse & worse everywhere I've been. It's so comforting and reassuring to have someone there for ME while I'm going through medical issues. Staff has too much and too many on their plate to know my needs, My significant other was always there with me & advocating for ME during every medical event I had.

How about being in hospital with a horrible case of salmonella and the bedside potty chair was broken and caused deep bruises and pinching of thighs and other tender areas every time I used it...for seven days. I complained but nothing was done and I was too sick to do more than complain, show the red and purple bruises and cry. Nothing at all was done! Nobody drew the bedside drape and I could not do it myself because it was all I could do to g e t to the potty constantly, and I was on display constantly to everyone who came in like the dietitian and phlebotomy nurse. I had nobody to visit so that wasn't a problem but almost all my care was given by students who only had one year of nursing school so they knew nothing at all and could not assist me from bed to potty. My vein collapsed and nobody could put in a new line until finally a qualified nurse was called and placed the line after 5 separate tries by five separate people. More huge bruises. The fully qualified nurse placed it quickly with no drama. I never saw a doctor until I mentioned that I had not seen a doctor and I wasn't improving after five days. Finally a doctor came to see me on day five with new orders. I was sent home still with uncontrollable diarrhea, still dehydrated, after 7 days and unable to properly care for myself. I was 80 years old at the time and live alone. I had a nurse check in once a week, I had a physical therapist once a week and a social worker arranged for a home health care worker after a month. Better care at home than in hospital. I was confused and not functioning well when I got out of the hospital and normally I am capable of self care and am mentally together. Probably dehydration because I improved after a week at home but didn't do so well in hospital. This was at a highly rated HMO's hospital. I am once again bright and mentally capable and still living alone but I will do a lot not to go back to that hospital that warehoused me for 7 days and sent me home unable to sort my own pills without making mistakes.

I woke up “Twice” while under general anesthesia and I STILL GET CHILLS FROM THE EXCRUCIATING PAIN OF BEING CUT ON AND NOT BEING ABLE SCREAM !😱 This happened a month ago 😢

Retired RN here, woke up after a hysterectomy to find a nurse shoving my IV back into my infiltrated IV site and carefully retaping it. It was an infected hole for awhile. Hand was a swollen mess. Her soul was slipping some gears that day I think. I remember leaving nursing because I was burnt out. It is hard to leave a paycheck but getting out of the profession was a freeing experience. I went on to make a decent living working in another field. After 10 years in the hospital, it was time to go.

Today I was speaking with a coworker that I had not seen in a while, he had lost a great deal of weight. I asked him to explain to me what he did to loose the weight. He said “I had to get the weight off by starving myself because I didn’t want to end up going to the Hospital and they end up killing me, they are crazy!”

It’s *despicable* to ban family EVER.

I have a positive story. I work in the medical field (non clinical tho) and I was in a horrific car accident back in December (spent 9 days the hospital). While I could tell the hospital was grossly understaffed, the nurses truly were trying their best. Polite for the most part and very sympathetic. One nurse even bathed me, when she realized the cna did not do it. One of the reasons I applied to nursing school recently and hopefully I get in!

It is dangerous and scary , especially if you go to emergency room. It's like they want you to die. Be very careful. Try to take care of yourself.

I had open heart surgery, CABGX3. My stay at the hospital was a nightmare. A friend came to see me after I was moved out of ICU and put in a regular room. She is a nurse and was shocked that I had no IV bags hanging. I was getting no fluids. When she asked why not, they told her I was drinking in the ICU. I recal taking 1 sip and passing out again.... There were other issues as well.

Oh, my goodness! Listening to all these horrible stories make me realize that the hospital I am employed is top-notched, first class! Praise God!

I've had both good and bad experiences in hospitals where I live. I had a hysterectomy a little over ten years ago, and wasn't going to be able to do much of anything on my own for a few weeks. My mother, who is a nurse, took some time off from her job to come and stay with me for about a week. She arrived a couple of days in advance so we could do some shopping, run errands, etc. I had informed my doctor in advance that she was coming, and asked if she could stay the night in the hospital with me, which he was totally fine with. My surgery was actually done at a women's surgery center and everyone on staff there was great. My doctor made sure I had a private recovery room, (very nice rooms, very much like staying in a nice hotel!) with a bed brought in for my mother. They ordered all meals for the patients from Panera, and even asked my mother what she would like to eat, for dinner, and paid for a meal for her so that she wouldn't have to leave to go get food. The nurses welcomed her presence even though they weren't short staffed, and we never had to wait more than a few minutes for a nurse to arrive, if needed. They were just happy that I had someone there with me for emotional support, and to help monitor me when they couldn't be around. They allowed a family friend to visit for a short while, who wouldn't have stayed long anyway because I was pretty well out of it, with the pain meds I was on. It was just an overall great experience, if one can have a "great" experience when they're having a major, life altering surgery. Fast forward a few years to me having to go to the ER for an uncontrolled migraine that had been raging for over two weeks. My doctor had thrown everything possible at this migraine and nothing worked. The only reason i had gone to the ER was because it was a weekend. The ER staff was awful. I was vomiting every five minutes, I was dizzy... the whole mind yards. It was *that* kind of migraine. I waited for two hours to actually be placed in a room, so my friend who had driven me to the ER kept having to get me to the bathroom so I could throw up. Once they got me into a room, instead of dimming the lights, the PA wanted them left on, and instead of treating me for my migraine they sent me for a chest ex-ray, because apparently everyone now gets chest ex-rays regardless of what they're in for. Then she ordered blood work, which was ridiculous, and when she got the results back she said that they were all good. Well, duh, of course they are. I have a migraine. She said she couldn't understand why I was vomiting, and that she'd never seen these symptoms in a patient before. She gave me something to help with the nausea, and was set to discharge me. When the nurse came in to go over my discharge paperwork, I asked to see a doctor. He said I had just seen a doctor. I said, "No, she's a PA, I want am actually doctor who knows what they're doing." He said that wasn't going to be possible. I left there in the same condition that I had arrived in. My friend was furious. A few years later, I passed out at work, from a sudden onset of a severe migraine, accompanied by vertigo and loss of vision, and I was taken to another hospital closer to where I worked. My boyfriend was there with me (he had been called when I passed out) and before they could even finish checking me in at the desk an orderly was wheeling me to a room, where they dimmed the lights, spoke in hushed tones, immediately hooked me up to an IV drip of saline, and went to get the doctor - an actual doctor - who came in almost right away, went over my migraine history with me, discussed all the meds I take, gave me some meclizine to help with the nausea and gave me a good once over, ordered some pain meds be administered via my IV, and told everyone to let me rest for a while. The nurses would come and check on me periodically, and let my boyfriend stay in the room with me the entire time. I was discharged five hours later and actually walked out of the hospital, not feeling super great, but definitely in much better shape than when I had arrived. The staff at that hospital actually knew what they were doing, and were compassionate. I'll never go to another/different hospital again.

Oh my goodness! I am from the UK and my mum (86 years old) has just come home to us after a 12 week hospital nightmare. I resonate with everything that was said here. Same issues at hospitals here and I’ve heard the same from friends at various other hospitals over here. I feel as if I’ve had a 12 week battle for my mum, who is virtually blind and deaf. It was horrendous (the very least of which was no shower at all during her stay!). Just a comment on family feeding diabetic patients - my mum couldn’t eat the awful food, which were the tiniest child sized meals I’ve ever seen - she lost half her body weight in there, yet they were giving her insulin doses based on this food she was supposedly eating - ridiculously high amounts, which resulted in numerous hypos (which included her being rushed unconscious from a cottage hospital to a main hospital). If I hadn’t brought in food for her she would be dead by now! I ended up removing her before she caught yet another infection there (she went in for broken hip and elbow, which were operated on and improved quickly, she then developed chest infection, uterine infection, delirium, dementia, covid, fast worsening of copd) or died of starvation and dehydration, she is doing better now. However, instead of the normal woman who entered the hospital, she is now careering towards the end of her life and is now on regular morphine. Everything in our health system has deteriorated badly. Apart from the awful medical treatment - I also found her pills on the floor around her feet, no compassion, she was crying pitifully and begging me to take her home as she said the staff were not nice to patients outside of visiting hours and she was fearful of certain staff, she had numerous falls and developed a bottom ulcer as she was left sat in a chair all day until 9pm at night, I could go on! Yes, you are so right, the patient is an afterthought, paperwork is all. Mum was discharged also with a huge bag of meds - included was one pen of her new insulin which I was informed would last a week, it was in fact almost empty!!! Good job mum lives with us, I sorted it! I was lied to on numerous occasions by staff and was verbally abused on occasion once I pointed this out. Obviously some staff were wonderful, but it’s scary as a lay person to have to explain how to treat diabetes and Addison’s disease etc. to medical staff, including doctors. My mum said she “never wants to go back to that place ever again” - says it all! It’s all so very sad. Healthcare, consisting of poor medical training, no compassion, ridiculous amounts of paperwork and where money is all that matters, can never work. What on earth is going on?

gah so sad the way things have become. I was in nursing school until i realized that i dont wanna endure that. i work as as an assistant now and I am always making the extra effort to fill in the gaps, patient comfort, refilling supplies, answering any bells on the unit. Healthcare is all intended to be patient oriented and my entire practice hinges on this principle. No way would i willingly leave a patient on my shift feeling overlooked. We allow one overnite visitor btw.

Speaking as a former hospital administrator of a very large and well-known university hospital--my advice is to stay out of all hospitals until the culture changes back. It may never change back...I don't know. The only reason I would go to a hospital is that if I felt for certain that if I didn't--I would surely die. It's a toss-up at that point. Take care of yourself and your family's health. The roots of this problem are too dark and unbelievable for most people to understand what has and will continue to happen. Stay well and learn medical/holistic treatments yourself.

I’ve been in therapy for several years for PTSD caused by a few doctors when my husband and I were both battling cancer at the same time. I had already had some bad experiences because I’ve been in and out of hospitals my entire life with a separate issue, but chalked those up to the numbers game. When you’ve literally been treated by hundreds over the years, you expect to run across a few jerks. The year I was in chemo, though… I can’t even write about details; I’m still so… I was screamed at, threatened, manhandled, injured, and left in excruciating pain for eight straight hours (five different doctors, three different hospitals). If that isn’t bad enough, the financial aid group screwed up terribly, too, so after hours of doing paperwork while sick as a dog, we were robbed of $6,000+ in medical charges forgiveness that we were entitled to. It left me suicidal for over a year. I can’t even go to an ER now without calling my psychiatrist, who allows me to call him at any hour because he’s so blown away by everything I experienced. When I first came under his care, he spent days going through records, speaking with each of my other doctors, verifying that every word I said that could be verified was true. I’m so honest, and he learned this, that he believes the rest that I’ve shared with him, even as unbelievable as it is. And one of the two worst experiences happened when they knew my husband was literally on the table for a major cancer surgery, open from throat to pelvis, at exactly the time they mistreated me so badly that I have a picture of my normally perfect blood pressure being up to 175/105. I’m hysterically crying from what I’ve written and it’s only the surface. Doctors ruined what little life I had left.

I LOVE this. So many nurses complaining about pt ratios and exploitative institutions but no one is talking about how so many people come into nursing for money while having zero compassion and treat patients like crap.

When I worked in the hospital and came on shift and made my first rounds I checked what everyone needed to include pain relief. By doing this I would have smoother shifts because everyone was as comfortable as I could make them.

My cousin is presently in a teaching hospital in a dementia ward. Despite having everything there that he needs, he was still wearing the same clothes he came in wearing 16 days before. His support worker visited and found him swimming in a bed full of urine, towels tucked around him. He stunk but obviously couldn't get out to use the toilet. He had pretzelled himself into trouble playing with the electric bed buttons. He was a grumpy dementia and they used the excuse "He said no" therefore we cannot do anything for him. To me as an old school nurse - that is just an excuse for neglect and laziness. I kicked up a stink and finally I think they might have done something for him. And they want me to put him in a home?? He gets better care at home!! I am really cranky about this. It's elder abuse!

I was a nurse for 45 years. It has been interesting listening to all of your complaints and discussion of solutions. All of the things your discussing have been a subject that my generations of nurses shared, as well. You have to look from within. Proper nursing managers are needed. They must support their staff. Staff must stop back stabbing each other. Nurses must stop “eating their young”. A shitty staff can run off a future good nurse. Just a few ideas. My daughter, whose 44 yrs. Old. After having four kids, completed a BSN. Has told me the same stories I’ve heard here. Almost sorry I encouraged her to take this path. I loved nursing. When I went home, I felt complete. Being a RN, always put me in the thick of things. RNs were few and far between, we had to know a lot about everything.

I've had many personal horrible experiences in ER's with both doctors and nurses. They made my scary experience worse. They made me feel like I was a waste of their time and that I was a low life especially when they look at your med list and see antidepressants and pain meds automatically assume that you're there for those alone. I went to an emergency room one time with severe dizziness and they left me in the room on a skinny bed with the rails down and no one would answer my buzzer. I've heard them talking about people I know and another patient who has a similar experience as a family member also went through. They were so loud each time that I could clearly hear them from my room. When I talked to the er manager later he made some big excuse up. I could write a book about my horrible experiences

This retired nurse says, "everything is good, until they trick you onto a vent."

Retired Hospital Specialist here. Things in the UK have been going downhill particularly in the nursing field since the early90s. Personally, i believe it started when nursing changed from being a vocational hospital based training to a university training. From then on it seems people who applied to become nurses saw themselves as a sub doctor, rather than having a primary role in caring for a patients needs in terms of emotional support, advocacy, hygiene, and comfort as well as the technical aspects of monitoring and medication.

I’m a nurse and I notice the bad care given to patients all the time.

My first clinical (1986) as a nursing student, I knew the work load would be too much after graduation. I switch majors to preventative care. I've been a patient advocate/sitter for hospitalized loved ones. Never got a chance to read the books i brought. I was too busy advocating. The last time, 2010 as 24/7 caregiver to my 86 year old mother dx w glioblastoma brain cancer. Though we loved her nurses, the overall experiences especially in re to physicians' care gave me PTSD. Barbaric. Mom was 86 going on 20 before GB dx. She had worked out 2 hours a day at a wellness center. She had started weight training at she 72 after hip replacement surgery. We could have sued at least one physician for meal practice. May i never have to be hospitalized. I know too much . . . Mom passed peacefully at home. That was the best thing physicians did for us. Mom's story needs to be told to help warn others.

Thank you so much for this. My husband is 74. I am 72 years old. We live almost three hours away from hospital. My husband had half a lung removed I was notified by phone in my car. I was eleven hours in a car. I find this disgusting.

My friends get so mad at me because I refuse to go to the doctors or hospital when I have injuries or problems. It’s too scary. I am a nurse who is also left bedside nursing.

I worked in hospital bedside from 2017-2020. I still have friends in the hospital. Visitors: the hospitals near me have no visitors after 9 as well. Two reasons I’ve been told: 1. During the day, visitors tend to wear their masks but when sleeping, it comes off. 2. Most families do cause more stress either to the patient or staff or both. Most nurses I know like the rule because they are burning out and it’s one less thing to worry about. Plus nurses and security didn’t have the authority to remove bad visitors unless it was very bad. Rounds: doctors see so many patients back to back and if they tried to coordinate with every family member, it would take more time. On the patient side of course, it’s more beneficial for family to be at rounds but logistically with the system we have now, it takes too much time to coordinate the time. 45 minute call bell: on my med surg floor, we had 1:5 or 1:6 ratio. In my 14 hour shift, I would bring a snack in the bathroom with me so I could pee and get some food. I left the hospital because I couldn’t be the nurse I wanted to be. I am a very thorough person and I didn’t have time to do full care for a patient. All day I would have a to-do list of tasks that easily could’ve been 100+ and I had to prioritize the most important: med administration, quick assessment, coordinate with all the other people involved (PT/OT, specialists, social work, doctors, etc), admissions and discharges. I was burning out fast and was losing compassion because I felt like I was drowning everyday. I feel like the nurses in the hospital now are either burning out or don’t have bedside manner and therefore can emotionally handle the environment. Countrywide we need systematic change because the good nurses and patients are the ones hurting.

I worked for several years as a traveling nurse. It varied from hospital to hospital if someone could stay through the night with a patient. It was my experience that hospitals, physicians ,and sometimes, even other nurses, don’t like nurses who advocate for their patients. In addition it seemed, to me, that so many of the younger nurses lack the ability to think outside of the box to solve even simple issues, not requiring an order from the physician. Sometimes even the physicians aren’t able to think outside of the box. I’ve often felt there was/is too much reliance on treatment protocols. If a patient doesn’t fit nearly into a treatment protocol, too many times I’ve seen/experienced caring for patients who weren’t receiving their best care because they were the square peg trying to fit in the round hole. That’s my rant about hospitals. Now for nursing homes - - they are in a whole ‘nother category of poor care.

"Oh!" I thought, coming across this video by accident, "Here may be some nurses who actually are advocating for the people instead of defending patients and families being literally abused by the Medical Mafia." But, no! Before we know it, they're blaming family and friends for CAUSING falls, etc. If the staff were screaming (instead of having "group whinge") for a return to decent staffing levels and standards, people wouldn't feel they HAD to stay to PROTECT their loved ones. Here's one for you midwives. I'm in Scotland and have two children. I have personal horror stories and still feel like I have some sort of PTSD from giving birth in hospital. People do not want to go into hospital. People are afraid of you all, because you're not taking care of people and the way you talk about "booting out power" makes me feel sick. They "booted out" family members during "C.vid", only to ramp up the Midazolam (Remdesivir?) and Morphine and bump off people who were inconveniently (expensively) old or sick. You may have all sorts of personal excuses for that, but there is no excuse. C.v.d was an exercise in control and most folk fell for it. Science went right out of the window. You all make me so mad. I won't even go into what they did to (and didn't do for) my Mum - I still rage. This is one family (of many) who didn't stand on their doorsteps at 8pm on Thursdays clapping like demented seals. When you see all of the problems in hospitals, it's YOU who should be screaming to have them FIXED, but I suppose having a bit of a giggle over it will have to do. I certainly haven't changed my mind about nurses, that's for sure!

If you are truly sick the last thing you want to do is think about litigation All your energy and focus is used in trying to get well again

I just want to add that though I agree about it being good for the family member to be there, sometimes, depending on the reason the person is in the hospital in the first place, that family member might be absolutely exhausted. Obviously family wants to help but remember that they are not getting paid to be in the room. They aren't getting paid to do things for the patient. That might sound kinda mean but it's true. Don't expect the family member to be a nurse's assistant. They may be completely exhausted from already taking care of that person. In fact, that might be the ONLY time where they don't have to take care of that person. Just wanted to put that out there.

18:00 I’ve had families feed their dysphasic grannies…I once literally heard my patient coughing while walking past coincidentally. Walked in and saw them turning cyanotic. Literally my worst nightmare as a new grad… Families can be a blessing and a curse

Staffing was usually less at night including security. The doctors didn't want to round with visitors because they can't do rounds in a timely fashion because visitors want to all talk to the team. Sometimes visitors are not helpful to the patient, they just want to complain for example 20 people in the room saying hey why can't you get him water even though I said this is where the water is... Also a lot of people in treatment areas create hazard. It also depends on type of unit. I have had incidents where the family tries to get a non weight bearing pt oob. I have also had family members get hurt while helping a patient... A liability for the hospital. People think it's always fun in OB. Sometimes it's crazy and people don't understand and there is no time to explain and if u can't explain they complain about you to admin. and you get written up for it. I have had patients Ask me to please tell the visitor to go home.... Alot. So if we bend rules for some nice visitors, the a-hole visitors will screw it up. *** I am so sorry your friend had an awful experience. Its part of good practice to help the pt oob place pillow make sure all lines are in proper place and def a call light water and take care of any needs before the person leaves. **** As far as white board.. some facilities are not allowed to write any pt info on white board including i and o.... ( Just the messenger) I had surgery and was treated terribly by my pacu nurse when I couldn't move and was crying in pain. The surgeon yelled at her and said "give her something!" Bottom line.. like any other job... Some nurses are good and some are awful!! Please remember that most people aren't in the hospital cause they want to be... Pretend your pt is someone YOU LOVE! Treat people like you actually care!

Wow some of these “nurses” need to find another job. “You are going to be in the way…”. “I don’t have time to explain it to you…” “it’s worse when the family leaves…” Thanks guys! Wow.

If the patient wants someone there with them there shouldn't be any restriction on it. In my experience it seems to be a control issue with hospital staff.

Insurance companies say nurses who are kind have less chances of getting sued. Attitude is important.

We need a new movement to advocate for all hospitals to let family members stay with their love ones over night. My friend is a nurse and to her it is even better when she gets the support of families members to take care of her patients because just by their being there it's helps for their recovery. She also told me some nurses feel better not having a family member staying with their patients making sure they do their job right.

As an MD (and a former RN), I can tell you my experience as a patient at the turn of the century, the state of nursing care was horrific. I had a spinal block and no foley, so I was BEGGING to get someone to address this problem. It took hours wher I dragged myself over to the bathroom burying because the visceral pain of bladder distention was still there. Another “IV nurse specialist” tried to start an IV (witnessed by my 2 RN sisters) by placing the catheter backwards ie with the needle facing the wrong way opposite to venous flow. Outrageous then, and I can’t imagine it’s better now. Can you imagine the malpractice delivered to hospitalized patients during the pandemic??? No one had an advocate, which is absolutely frightening!

my parents had a terrible accident . so my parents were shipped to Upstate Medical in Syracuse, NY. My father survived long enough to have an emergency surgery and my mom went to telemetry. Having rotated to night shift for 10 yrs working in another hospital, I was overwhelmingly grateful for the hospital finding a nurse to take my mom in a wheelchair and a very basic monitor to her dying husband's bedside. For me, the action was unexpectedly sensitive from a Level 1 hospital and I will forever remember the staff that went above and beyond.

First, thank you a million times over, all of you on this panel! It does my heart well to know that you care enough to talk about these issues on your down time. I'm coming from the patient side of the hospital. I have a very rare and terminal disease and it lands me in the hospital too much. I was supposed to hit my 6 month expiration date SEVENTEEN years ago! I'm only 54 now and have no time for being sick. 😂 I'm telling you this because I want you to know that I have so much experience with hospitals. They've never really been good. Because my disease is rare, I was improperly diagnosed and labeled a seeker when the symptoms first appeared. As a proud woman, that was maybe the worst. I've been in ICU where I've heard nurses talk badly about me because I needed them to change my urine bag. I've heard them make fun of me because when my intestines perforated, the smell was NOT glorious. I've had nurses give me meds that stopped my heart because I was allergic and I even had a bracelet that said I was allergic. I could go on and on until FINALLY I had 2 doctors and some FANTASTIC and caring nurses actually care. The tables turned for me and once I was properly diagnosed, my treatment was better at the hospital. I had a nurse, much like you guys, teach myself and my family how to be our own advocate. We still received good and bad treatment from the hospital but we understood that our medical team were human beings. We so much appreciate our nurses who go 1 step beyond and show us humane treatment. We usually always call and put in writing specifically why we felt our nurses should be recognized. We'll send flowers or a gift card. I'm not saying we're so awesome, but I am trying to say that patients need to consider what their nurse gives up for them. Just say THANK YOU and be nice! I've heard how some of the patients verbally abuse their nurses. Anyway.... I could write a book. You asked if it's gotten worse since covid and the answer is unquestionably YES. I would rather check myself into a veterinary clinic. I'm not joking even a little. It's TERRIFYING, as a patient now, to need a hospital stay. I'm not ready for hospice (even tho medically speaking, I COULD go the hospice route) but because of the state of care hospitals are NOT giving, I've finally made an appointment with hospice to talk about end of life stuff. I feel like for me, it's less scary than going to the hospital. Every time I step foot in the hospital, it ends up being a 2 week stay. That can't happen again ESPECIALLY now that I'm not allowed an advocate to stay with me. Usually, after my husband goes home, the night nurses are just not there at best. I hate to generalize like this because there are always exceptions. Anyway, there's my story.

20 years ago my 8 y.o. daughter had 2 breaks in her arm that required surgery & a couple subsquent overnight stays. She had an ill-placed i.v. in her other arm that caused pain with any movement of that arm too so she couldn't even scratch her nose or have a drink of water with both arms messed up (and they refused to move the i.v. to a spot that wasn't in her elbow joint vicinity) The first night the nurse tried to shoo me away to go home. No way! I refused & "slept" on the bench in the room. My daughter still talks about how grateful she was that I stayed 24/7 as she was scared & helpless. I swore after an appendectomy when I was 10 y.o. and no visiting except my mom for about 30 mins a day that I would *never* leave my children alone in a big scary hospital with a mean nurse. So glad I experienced that so my child didn't!

I work PRN on a med/surg floor, but have been floated to other units a lot lately - what feels like every time I work. It's given me good perspective on how the "culture" of a unit can really impact how nurses treat patients. Working on my home unit makes me a better nurse because I'm surrounded by encouraging coworkers, a manager that isn't afraid to answer call lights and give pain meds, and awesome charge nurses that drop what they're doing to come help me. When I float to other units with more toxic culture, I feel like a worse nurse. It's hard to put your foot down sometimes when the "norm" is to complain about family members or how needy a patient is because venting can feel like a relief, but joining in on that negativity has a direct impact on how you perceive and treat others. Thanks for the reminder to not be afraid to push back on the toxicity. It's a really tough time to stay positive when the doom and gloom can be so overwhelming. Like you, Liz, I have a lot of what feels like righteous anger toward The Powers That Be for allowing such horrible working conditions to continue on for so long. Changing that is largely outside of my control, at least in the moment while I'm taking care of patients. While we're working, it's time to release yourself of the burden of all the existential problems, and simply do your best to care for others. It's freeing, but hard to do.

Overworked nurses without adequate support staff either chart on breaks or post shift, or they suffer cognitive dissonance for having to 'cut corners'... or they leave the profession due to frustration. I left the profession due to staff cut backs, severe reduction in health care aides, lack of basic supplies, etc. A manager told me "Bedbaths are optional"! When I began nursing, we were busy busy busy, but we did have time to do our work. When I left, everyone was charting through breaks or after shift - donating their time to charting in order to give the best nursing care they could... It makes me so sad.

A month away from ICU bedside. There were incredible family members that I would gladly fight to keep bedside, others gave me great joy to kick them out during our closed visitation time. We closed visitation from 0630-0800 and 1830-2000. It was basically just shift change and an assessment. I would have liked to have them present for shift change itself because it holds others accountable to actually do bedside report and introduce the next nurse. I always told my patients that I was their personal bouncer, just say the word and I’ll kick anyone out…. I’m now further in. Holy shiitake mushrooms! Where is the pride?! I took pride in my rapport and how my patients felt during our day. I would hop sideways into a room to cheer them up, a messy bed or patient made my eye twitch. Patient care trumps charting. Period.

How can anyone heal in a hospital when they wake you up every hour all night long? My parents got upset with me because, when they woke me up after my one hour of sleep, I started to cry. A nurse threatened to re-insert a catheter in my bladder if I didn't start giving her some urine, like I was purposely hoarding it. I told her "look around, do you see any water in here?" I had an ng tube draining my stomach in preparation for my operation, I asked the head nurse to send someone in to change the collection bottle as it was nearly full. I fell asleep and an hour later I woke up throwing up stomach acid, no one had changed the bottle. In the morning I couldn't breathe, I had aspiration pneumonia and spent a week in the ICU, after having the operation on my hernia. The hernia operation didn't work, the mesh the doctor put in to contain the hernia had incarcerated a loop of bowel, back into surgery the remove the incarcerated section as it had died. In all, I spent a month in the hospital. The hernia could have killed me, it didn't but the pnuemonia nearly did.

When my Momma had a back surgery and stayed with her, I did not see a nurse all night until the next morning when came in told me it was not visiting hours(it was 0630am) I informed her I had been there all night and she had been confused all night. I am a nurse and took her to the bathroom and would reorient her. But I never saw the nurse again.

I'm a CNA, I was my mom's POA, and after falling at an assisted living facility, and having a fractured eye socket that the asst. facility tried to hide from me, but that's something separate altogether. My mom was in a hospital as a result of the fall, she was not given her namenda for her dementia, the hospital said they only give necessary meds like blood pressure, heart and diabetic meds. She was sundowning and becoming increasingly confused and trying to get out of the bed, which they did not have bed alarms. The tried to make me leave after visiting hours. I said "let me get this straight, you don't have a sitter for her, you don't give dementia meds, there is no fall mats, no bed alarms, I'm her POA, and a CNA, I live 3 hrs away, I work in healthcare, and you want to kick me out?" She replied visit hours are over, you have to go. I said I'm not going any G@# d@#36 where, call the police if you want, I will not leave! She stormed out, and I never saw her again! I sat and slept in a uncomfortable chair for a whole week, I had peanut butter crackers, bottled water, ECT to eat for a week. I turned her q2 emptied her Foley, charted it on the board for when she decided to round on her. After a week, they were thanking me for staying and keeping her safe. I encourage my patients POA person at my hospital to do the same.

Depending on a patient’s physical and cognitive safety , a family member may not be able to safely transfer their loved one to the bathroom. I’ve also been in rooms trying to do therapy while there are 10 family members sitting there

This is why people now have a distrust of the medical community. Thank you for bring this issue to the forefront.

I'm so glad you did this! Maybe you can do training videos. Listening to this I just want to tell every single nurse in the world that they do not have to cave to negativity at work. When I hear that all the nurses are pretty immature and rude, (like, in one specific hospital,) it makes me think that probably there's a work culture where bullying is accepted.

Thank you RN /NP Liz for sharing this experience complaints. It definitely makes me feel like I’m not alone in wondering what the heck has happened? I worked in ICU for many yrs, and then had the lovely experience of becoming the patient. All I ever knew was the kind of care given in our ICU: committed, patient focused & advocacy, a tightly built work family owed to working together hrs & hrs of crashing & coding patients, the very best care w/no attitude. (This would all change for me when I became the patient which occurred during Covid, unfortunately) When Rogue NP described the power outage, I knew exactly what she was describing when she said it was amazing how they all pulled together during one of the most dreaded days in a hospital - you hope happens on your day off. Oh how I’d love to share my experience, even fresh on my mind from my recent discharge, which was a nice reminder of the horrible 8 months I spent after 4 bowel surgs, alone bc of Covid. Once home, traumatized by the entire experience. I know there’s a touch of PTSD bc when I was told I had to be admitted a few weeks ago, my heart sank not wanting to enter “that world” again. It’s nothing like I knew before during the yrs I worked, my heart is grieved over it, I don’t understand what’s going on here in Indiana. Everything described by Bridgette NP - all true. I’ve experienced such rude attitudes when I’m at my worst time of suffering, that it caused me in those moments to feel like I was begging for mercy and understanding over complications I had no control over that sent me to the ER multiple times. That position in a patient then causes you to feel a loss of dignity and respect. Once your restored back to somewhat tolerable, then the anger sets in about what just occurred and the overall experience, suffering two ways - physically and mentally bc of their rudeness or lack of care. Having some knowledge on how things “should” work, caused me to be labeled “that patient” or difficult. If the tables were turned where they had to have the “brand new on call surgeon” who eventually was fired for perfing too many bowels, putting in bad drains etc. vs. having the planned “king of bowel resection” that I knew and worked w/for yrs, low infection rate etc. they would be devastated too - trying to navigate through an awful surgery alone, on drugs, septic, ending up w/ileostomy, & trapped for 8 months with no family or friends there to see what WASN’T happening or should be happening to help bring relief from constant vomiting etc - maybe then they might stop and remember the way they behaved, their attitude, too tired for the patient but there for the money, and what it feels like when your sinking to a level where you’re begging for kindness when you’re suffering hard. It’s been some of the proudest yrs of my life, and as a patient, the worst yrs of my life. Maybe it is COVID’s fault? Lol

I work in LTC and we have an attached assisted living/Independent Living apartments. If families come from out of town they can stay in an open furnished apartment for $50 a night and be close by just in case of changes with their loved one. They encourage the visitors to get rest and take a break.

Thank you guys for talking about this. First of all compassion. We as nurses have to have some compassion for our patients and their families. 2nd yes ask if you don’t know something, I’ve been saying this for years. There is so much to learn. I am very worried about the future of healthcare at this moment. Especially hearing your stories and experiences and I hope that is not the way we are going. We need to get back to having advocates at the same time we need to make sure the patients feel comfortable with when they need someone to stay with them. All of that said I stumbled onto this channel and I’m glad I did. Great panel and thank you.

Holy cow! If I get sick, I will not call an ambulance, I will just die, thank you. Hospitals really have become the place where you go to die, with a huge bill to boot.

As a now disabled RN ED and hospice I’m at a loss. Back in 2014 I was in an induced coma for about a month at a large University hospital. My family left overnight one time..my ET tube was pulled out. They learned, moms a nurse. Next it was ripped out during transfer to mri. I was left with post and sub glottic stenosis and permanent tracheostomy at 34. My last hospitalization was much like your friends Liz. One arm was full of IVs and I have had lymph nodes removed from my neck that were affecting nerves and movement. No family was allowed to come visiting hours were from 11 to 2 that was it. But I needed help I had to do my own trach care and asking even for trach kits what is the biggest imposition I ended up getting them from home. Even getting the CNA‘s to spread out the comforter on the bed they would just leave it folded and it was heavy and I didn’t have use of my arms really. And luckily being a nurse I would know how to silence my IV and my neighbors and I found myself hobbling around and helping them as well because I felt bad. At one point there was a woman completely unconscious and they just kept bringing in food and setting it by her and she was just moaning. And then they said they had given her too much pain medicine so they stopped all pain medicine after her surgery but no one was taking any time to feed her and they weren’t allowing any family in. It was horrible I was afraid she was going to die no one was turning her or cleaning her up or doing anything and she just kept moaning. After that eventually I went home with a pick line that was later ripped out and I have course was left with a blood clot and hospitalized again because it was so bad because of my 12 hour wait in the ER with my large blue arm. These last two hospitalizations I have never been treated so horribly in my life I am chronically ill and I don’t know that I will ever go back to the hospital again for anything I have CPTSD and when I called for patient advocate she said she would help and never came. No one did I could hear them mocking me. When i saw the things they charted it was disgusting. Other than my wonder doctor I’ve unfortunately lost faith.

I work in Peds and we let one parent stay overnight. But I don’t find them to be helpful most of the time. They sleep and complain when we come in to provide care. Of course we also get great parents who care for their child’s needs but most do not. However, we would never take that right away, even during pandy.

I was so relieved when our hospital opened up visitation to pre-pandemic policies! I feel like our patients are no longer virtual prisoners. Nursing staffing is still low and we keep getting hit with rounds of illness in the staff-both Covid and post-pandemic, opportunistic, viral revenge diseases! It’s been stressful, but I do believe our admin really cares about quality care. It helps that I’m in a moderate-sized hospital in a conservative community that doesn’t believe in permanent government control! Of course we have to comply with CDC and CMS requirements.

I was in there for Afib and had it previous times. The doctor refused to give me the treatment I needed that I had successuly previously. AI told her exatly when it started becasue I am senstive to the my body and it's natural rhythum. She told me that I did not know what I was talking about. They I told her to call the on call cardialogist. She said no, he will be there in the morning. So, long story short, I ended up being admitted, and was not even seen at any point by the main cardiologist, but they sent in his not yet doctors to examine me 12 hours later. When I left the hosptial I was still in mild afib. Thank God it stopped shortly after I got home. I tried to get that doctor fired and it did no good. When I went to the office of the cardiolist two days later, and asked him if she should have called him, he said, yes, she should have. When I asked him to sign a letter to that so I could send it to the medical board, he refused. So like police, they stick up for each other and cover up. It was horrible. It was like she just wanted me to die and leave her alone. That was Saint Joseph hostpial in Burbank, CA. When I contacted them to complain about her they told me she was an indpendent contractor and not one of their doctor's and they refused to do anything about it. It's disgusitng what has happened to the medical field. Anyway, I am not on any prescription meds, each time I went, they deteremined is wasn't my heart, which is fine. I've been studying and found out a healthy diet, daily exerices and taking my natural supplements, probiotics, disgestive enzymes and finally adding electrolites to my daily intake is what keeps me healthy. As we age, the body gets off it's electrical ryhthum due to bad eating and lack of exericse and necessary vits. and minerals. I have learned to take care of me, because that so called doctor could have ended my life.

My daughter had a complicated break of the tibia and fibula. She needed surgery immediately but was told the surgeon couldn’t pull a team together for a week! So after she finally had her surgery and was taken to her room, her pain was uncontrolled. She was crying and begging for help but the nursing staff ignored her because she was using the pain pump and it was going down. She’s allergic to Vicodin and they only offered her a half a pill of Vicodin..she took it out of desperation and started itching uncontrollably but they told her they didn’t have Benadryl on the floor for her! After five hours of my poor daughter crying and begging, they decided to have a guy come up and check the site where her pain meds were being delivered. When he got there he looked at the site and thank God he noticed that the anesthesiologist had bent the tubing in half before wrapping it. As it turned out the entire amount of pain meds, not sure if it was Demerol or morphine was sitting right at the injection site. He removed the tubing and all the pain med dripped to the floor! Had he not noticed, the entire amount would have been introduced into her blood stream at once and would have killed her! The worst part is that she worked for this healthcare organization and was a current employee. She still does actually but they then sent her a bill for several hundred thousand dollars and refused to work with her to pay the bill! She requested a copy of the op report three times and each time it was heavily redacted. She was unable to find an attorney willing to take her case because this is a very large organization in Washington State with a slew of attorneys. Saddest thing I’ve ever seen. I ached for my daughter and she was out of work for 9 weeks plus months of physical therapy.

What if the only nurses left in the hospital are those who have no compassion? What if they are the only ones who can survive the rigors of skeleton staffing and abusive management, because they don’t concern themselves with patient comfort or safety?

I am a Healthcare professional, about five years ago my husband had an episode of acute kidney failure. There were many issues that were not right during his stay but my biggest frustration was trying to get him some kind of shower or brief clean up just to get him feeling human again. I was admonished for trying myself because I asked for towels. The nurse on duty argued with me about this.. stating it had been done already however the gown he was in was the same gown since he had been flown in because it was stamped with the original hospital info. Five days in the same gown... unacceptable!

You may not even see this, Med surg nurse here of 17 years. Most nurses I have worked with hate visitors, see them as more trouble than the patient, and it is very much a power play. I love visitors and see them as an extra pair of hands. I think administration is trying to keep nurses happy with rules like not letting family stay. The hospital I most recently worked for was good about allowing visitors and changing the policies post covid. Also, some facilities may be lazy or have poor leadership and just have left covid policies in place.

Quarantines were already declared unconstitutional back in 2020 so this is unexceptable and is being used a a form of coercion if still happening...This is why I refused to work during the pandemic bc the mask guidelines went against everything that I just learned about pathogens lol and over night ...