Being bullied at hospital.

IHD

Clutterfree, do you know why she complained? Do you know what she said that was rude? Is it not possible that the nurses are not doing a proper job? I would imagine in ten years you would learn a lot. How long have you been doing it ? Do you know much about your treatment. Im suprised you think a nurses job is to chat and have a laugh? Be pleasant to patients by all means. What excuse is there for being given the wrong treatment when you tell a nurse you shouldnt be having it and then because you report it, they refuse to treat you . Should i have kept my mouth shut? I take it you heard the conversation between the nurse and the patient? It seems strange a patient would be rude for no reason. I have a good relationship with the decent nurses. So your hospital made a big error with your dad and he accepted an apology because he has to have an ongoing relationship with the hospital ! Wow! Would you have been so forgiving if they had killed him with that error? You only have to read to see that people are abused every day by nurses, plenty of people on here have confirmed that. If you have a happy , fun unit then lucky you! Hopefully the nurses wont be too relaxed if theres an emergency! Sorry but i had to pick up on the negatives in your post, but i have also read the positives.

Molly41

With respect - you dont have to have an ongoing relationship with that hospital. You have choices about where you want to be treated and by whom. That is a core of the NHS.

I was badly treated at a major hospital and now make that choice to not return. You too have that choice - if you want to exercise it !

wondercollie

I used to work in Dialysis and I know that there are patients that none of the nurses want to go near. The patient dislike certain nurses, comes in moody and grumpy and always wants to be the first off the run. They don't want new staff caring for them.

The head nurse used to try and rotate these patients with a different nurse every treatment but everyone would dread their turn. Nothing will ever be done to the patients satisfaction. You can't ask them why their weight or blood sugars are so out of whack that day because they know better than you and will get snarly the moment you open your mouth.

It's not that easy to get a move to a new dialysis site. There are six in my city and it takes months to arrange a move. There are also transportation issues to be considered for the patient in question, can they easily get to the unit if they are the first run of the morning? If not the change may not be viable.

The dialysis service in my area is constantly short staffed. Nurses train and either last less than three months or stay for years. I hated it. It's dull, boring repetitive work for the nurses. It's not the most stressful area to work in (I've worked in a few that were basically war zones in the hospital). Set up your machines, get your patients weights, double check the solutions, hook the patient up, monitor, take down and clean the machines for the next round. During the run time, you are getting everything prepared for the next incoming batch. You check the charts, pull the catheters, lines for the machines, solutions, etc. I suppose to some patients it looked like we were sitting around doing nothing. We tried to get our meal breaks then as well. Food and drink weren't permitted on the floor due to it being an infection control risk. Waterbottles had to be kept in the cloakroom. Yet patients would bring in food to eat while dialyzing. I remember one older gentleman that would arrive with bacon, eggs and toast every morning that he had treatment. All foods he knew were restgricted on his diet.

The quinine is on the unit for cramping and acetaminophen. No narcotics in my memory.

When I first started nursing, I had a patient who started Dialysis. He was a lovely man. He took himself off of it because he hated what his life had become, he died within three weeks. It was his choice. He didn't want to be on the transplant list because of his age and heart condition. I went to his funeral and he was one of the reasons I trained in dialysis. Unfortunately most of the patients weren't like him.

Clutterfree

IHD wrote: »

Clutterfree, do you know why she complained? Do you know what she said that was rude? Is it not possible that the nurses are not doing a proper job? I would imagine in ten years you would learn a lot. How long have you been doing it ? Do you know much about your treatment. Im suprised you think a nurses job is to chat and have a laugh? Be pleasant to patients by all means. What excuse is there for being given the wrong treatment when you tell a nurse you shouldnt be having it and then because you report it, they refuse to treat you . Should i have kept my mouth shut? I take it you heard the conversation between the nurse and the patient? It seems strange a patient would be rude for no reason. I have a good relationship with the decent nurses. So your hospital made a big error with your dad and he accepted an apology because he has to have an ongoing relationship with the hospital ! Wow! Would you have been so forgiving if they had killed him with that error? You only have to read to see that people are abused every day by nurses, plenty of people on here have confirmed that. If you have a happy , fun unit then lucky you! Hopefully the nurses wont be too relaxed if theres an emergency! Sorry but i had to pick up on the negatives in your post, but i have also read the positives.

No of course I don't know why the complaint was made, it was hypothetical, I was just taking the info that you had posted and trying to show a different view.

My dad accepted the apology because he knew it was a mistake. The hospitals main aim is to keep him alive. They certainly didn't set out to harm him. Believe me, my father is no pushover but he knows they have a hard enough job without all the bureaucracy that comes with it. As I said, it was his choice not to complain, just as it is your right to complain.

As for saying the nurses are too relaxed to cope with an emergency, I really feel you are wrong. They are trained professionals ready to cope in an emergency. Casing point, my father was on dialysis at Christmas when a nurse noticed something wasn't quite right with him, unrelated to his dialysis. She called for the on-call doctor and he was admitted to hospital for 3 weeks. That nurse saved his life and I owe a huge debt to her.

I have not said a nurses job is to chat and laugh (but as you said you are picking the negatives in my post).
In actual fact I have seen how some patients speak to them, like they are dirt they've found on the bottom of their shoes, like they can be spoken to like servants yet without a please or thank you (again I am not implying you do that).
I am not a nurse, nor do I have any nurses in my family so my views are purely on what I have witnessed. I think they are underpaid and I would not want to do their job for all the tea in China. Of course you will always come across a 'bad apple', but the majority of them want to make their patients life better. For those nurses it is a vocation not a job. Sorry went off on a bit of a rant there!

Of course you shouldn't have kept your mouth shut - it is your body, your life.
I can only go by what you have written on here but the contempt you have for the nursing profession comes off in waves through your written word. If the same contempt from you is picked up by the nurses then perhaps it is understandable (although in NO way acceptable) that they have trouble nursing you. I also understand that your contempt is probably BECAUSE of the way you have been treated by them rather than WHY they have treated you in this way. I hope that makes sense.

I hope you won't take offence at my post. At the end of the day, you need to feel happy and secure in your treatment and the NHS are certainly failing you on that score at the moment.
Perhaps you could ask for a meeting with the said nurses, with someone neutral present and discuss all your concerns. You all need to find a way forward as you do have to continue with your treatment and the air needs to be cleared by all parties because this resentment on all sides is unacceptable and detrimental to your health.

Thank you for taking some positives from my previous post.
I wish you the best of luck in resolving this so that you no longer dread your hospital visits. You can not carry on like this, on that we do agree!
Best wishes and take care.

ipie

Surely its breaking some sort of law to film someone with out their consent? I realize you are filming to gather evidence but if you film nurses who are doing no wrong wouldn't they have a case against you?

lily76

Poor OP. They are obviously doing a revenge to you for your complaints. If you do not have any other options can you ask someone to come with you from higher authority who has no direct link with these nurses to keep an eye one them? I always think the so called 'free medical care' is somewhat part of the reason of the behaviours of some medical staff. They think they are givers and we are beggars. I always support a reform in medical care system.

LittleBoots

Chatting and having a laugh (when appropriate) with patients is a big part of our job.
We are highly skilled professionals performing multiple tasks throughout the course of a shift. Theres tonnes of paperwork, sometimes I sit at the nurses station with a drink (as we don't always get to leave the ward/unit) and work my way through it. Theres forms to fill in, statements to write, boxes to tick for just about every minute we look after a patient (wish I was exaggerating). Sitting at the nurses station patients may only see my head, they wont see the volume of paperwork I have in front of me so it probably looks like I'm doing nothing.
Things aren't always as they seem

IHD

Once again thanks for the feedback. I think some of you think im saying all the nurses are bad/wrong/lazy. Maybe sometimes its difficult to express yourself in written word the same as you would in a conversation? All i can tell you is the nurses that i made a complaint against, officially and correctly are now taking it out on me. I dont have anyone to take with me, so therefore i dont have a witness. I dont have an alternative place to go, so that option is out. I actually find the nurses that are fine with me, agree that the nurses they work with speak/treat a lot of the other patients the same way and im not the only one. Even the nurses find it hard to get on with them. Anyway i dont want to label all nurses and all depts. I would just like to go in, be treated correctly and go home, simple as ...... Thankyou.

piglet25

I have worked in a huge number of areas in the NHS, and with literally thousands of different staff and I have to say that I think you should film them if you feel you are able to catch their failings on film. 99% of the nurses I have have worked with have been devoted and caring individuals, however, I have also worked on areas which have been closed down due to staff 'cliques' making it impossible for the area to function - it only takes a few people to ruin a whole area. I have worked on areas which have had shocking standards of care, and also some areas which were amazing. I have also refused to work with certain nurses because of their lack of professionalism and my mistrust in their abilities.
I think you are being treated differently because of your complaints, maybe they are worried about being the next subject of a complaint? There is no excuse though, and nurses can refuse within reason to treat a patient so there is no need for those nurses to be carrying out your treatment, and its very bad judgement on the part of the co-ordinator to expect them to do so. You do need to contact PALS and ask them to act as an advocate to ensure you receive treatment correctly and with courtesy, also explain about the nurses eating the sandwiches - theft when I worked in the NHS - and the personal calls being made in work time.
Not all nurses are angels, and those who are need these bad apples removing.