Care and compassion - the most important 2 of the 6 C's

Nurses make you better. Doctors chop you up and solve the problem but nurses are the ones who care for you and make sure you get better.
There are many ways in which nurses can make you better and I have been amazed by the difference shown between nurses. They are overworked but still have to treat each patient with care and attention even if the patient before has wound them up or treated them badly.
After I had my first PEG feeding tube fitted I was awake during the night and I couldn't stop crying. The PEG was much longer than I had expected it to be and I was panicking that I would roll over in the night and trap it. Possibly even pull it out. In the very early hours of the morning a nurse came in to change a drip and I tried my best not to cry. He changed the drip and checked I was okay. When he saw I had been crying he asked me what was wrong. The flood gates opened. I couldn't stop. He stay with me and explained how well I had done and how everything was going to be okay. A few minutes later another nurse came in. He also explained how it was good the PEG was so long as it meant I could manage it myself and not need help.
These two nurses sat with me for at least ten minutes calming my fears and making sure I was okay. I had no medical needs but they spent time with me anyway, truly showing the care and compassion nurses need.

After my partial laryngectomy I had two drains in my neck, a tracheostomy tube stitched into my neck and stitches running from my chin to my chest to stop me moving my head. Needless to say everything was very sore. A nurse came to clean my wound. As he was doing this I oohed and aahed a couple of times due to the soreness. I couldn't speak as part of my larynx had been removed so these noises were not that loud.
The nurse stopped what he was doing and started shouting at me. 'Joanna, Joanna,' he shouted. My name is not Joanna and because of the stitches I could not move my head to look at him.
'Joanna, I have to clean this or it will get infected,' he shouted. I mouthed that I knew that. He finished cleaning the wound, redressed it and left me crying in my bed.
This nurse was also the third nurse on this ward to get my name wrong. When I mentioned it to one of them she said, 'well it's close enough.' Another example of not really caring about the people you are treating.

The first example was Rotary Ward at William Harvey, the second example Guy's hospital. Round three goes to Rotary and they lead 2-1.

What you need to do is rest - In a hospital?

Many people will tell you that when you are ill what you need to do is rest, and above all get plenty of sleep.
However in a hospital this can be virtually impossible.
First you have a drug round at about 10pm, then depending on how much you need monitoring you will need your blood pressure etc. taking at about 2am and if like me you are a trachi patient you trachi will need checking and cleaning during the night. Depending on your feed regime you may need a new bag of feed at around about 4am and then there is the drug round again at 6am. Consultant do ward rounds between 8 and 9 and then it is time to get up.
As you can see sleep is broken at best and this assumes you can get back to sleep quickly.
Rotary Ward at William Harvey Hospital were very good at trying not to wake you up. I have woken a couple of time to find my feed bag had been changed without me having woken and the lights are turned out and for routine checks the nurses come round with little torches to ensure you are disturbed as little as possible.
Guy's hospital did things a little differently. Even thought I was in a side room the door was never fully closed so I always had the light from the corridor shining into my room. But what they do is they give you a welcome pack when you are first admitted and the two most important things in that welcome pack are a pair of ear plugs and a sleep mask. These are invaluable at ensuring a good nights sleep.
Considering how cash conscience Guy's were in everything else they did (more on this in later posts) this one little thing did make all the difference.
Sorry Rotary but this round goes to Guy's 1-1 for now.

Confusion in the NHS - Well for this patient anyway

Recently I spent a lot of time in my local NHS hospital - Wiiliam Harvey in Ashford. Due to issues and complications last month I had to spend two weeks in Guy's Hospital in London. I could not believe the difference in the two hospitals and I'm guessing you'll be surprised by which I thought to be the better.
The thing that has struck me the most was the differences between the two hospitals when it comes to discharge.
With William Harvey my consultant wrote me a sick note signing me off work for an allotted amount of time. He said if I needed more I could go to my GP and get a continuation but that in his opinion I should be feeling well enough for work by the end of the sick note.
Upon discharge from Guy's hospital I asked for a doctors note. 'Oh no we don't do those here,' said the nurse. 'You need to go to your GP.'
I have been discharged from hospital on a bank holiday weekend. On Tuesday morning I need to get myself to the GPs surgery and sit amongst people with colds and other transmitable diseases just to get a sick note.
When I eventually get into see my GP I need to explain the surgery and ask for a sick note. I am not sure how she is supposed to know how long I need so I am guessing she will give me a note for a fortnight and then I will have to repeat the process in 14 days time, assuming I can get an appointment. Oh and I have to do all this having had part of my larynx removed and not being able to speak.
This is taking up my GP's time and exposing me to unnecessary risk of infection all within days of being discharged from hospital. I would love to know how at anyone at Guy's hospital can think this is a good use of NHS resources when a doctor could have written this note out for me during his rounds on the day of discharge.

One - nil to William Harvey I think, don't you?

Keep checking out the blog for further posts on how William Harvey know a thing or two about patient care.