This time it's me

[Shari]

Hi Anne,

I feel for you regarding the hospital staff situation, I was stuck in the Heart Ward because they were out of beds on the Ortho floor. They had no clue what to do with me. Congrats on getting out so soon, I took all my meds right before I left and slept most of the way home.

I have to agree w/ Jimbo, even after almost 5 yrs, I still remember.

Take it easy,
Shari

[mbeckoff]

Your stories about nurses being not available at night just reinforces my decision to hire Private duty nurses.

I believe that a person cannot stay in a hospital by themselves.

When a patient needs something, they need now. Not a hour later

Melissa

[debbei]

Your stories about nurses being not available at night just reinforces my decision to hire Private duty nurses.

I believe that a person cannot stay in a hospital by themselves.

When a patient needs soothing, they need now. Not a hour later

Melissa

I LOVED LOVED LOVED my private nurse, and it was worth every penny spent on her. She took wonderful care of me, and she was also companionship in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep.

Editing to add that I had the private nurse only at nights when my husband wasn't there.

[Radiogirl]

Wow..where do you guys hire a private nurse from? That might be a great option for me, as I am going through this alone.

[debbei]

Wow..where do you guys hire a private nurse from? That might be a great option for me, as I am going through this alone.

The doctor's office/hospital made the arrangements for me.

[dianeh]

This time it's me

I had an LPN as my private duty nurse post surgery and she was excellent-
even called me at home afterwards. I needed to be readmitted 4 weeks later because a pain control doctor in my town accidentally overdosed me with a Fentanyl patch and my husband hired a nurse again-this time an aid who was
awful-ate and snored the entire night. I should have complained right away but my mind wasn't clear at all obviously. My husband was 2 hours away and she was fired the next morning so they did follow up and take action, but a bad memory for me. I wish we could have gotten the same LPN but she was not
available. Dr. Lonner recommended hiring a private duty nurse after the surgery or I'm not sure we would have thought of it.
dianeh

[Shari]

Wow, the private nurse is a great idea. I wish I would have done that. I had family in the day to fight for me, and take care of things, but night time, was really a nightmare.

It's strange that even though you are heavily medicated, how much you can recall later.

The private duty nurse would have made my hospital stay much easier.

Good thinking,
Shari

[Doodles]

I'm with Shari--I wish I would have had one too! My husband was there most every day AND night but sometimes that wasn't enough to get the meds. Some nurses were wonderful but there were those few who just didn't care. Janet

[Singer]

My private nurse was also excellent...the hospital made the arrangements for me when we asked for one, so it was the luck of the draw. She was a sweetheart, a real motherly type - just what I wanted and needed. Worth EVERY penny.

[LynetteG]

Hope you don't mind me asking, but how much does it cost approximately to hire one of these private nurses?

[debbei]

Hope you don't mind me asking, but how much does it cost approximately to hire one of these private nurses?

Mine was $40/hour.

[titaniumed]

free nursing help

I didn’t have a private nurse in the hospital. I'm sure that would be a nice thing, most of the problems in the hospital that I experienced were very simple. Things like reaching for my cell phone, and of course laying on drains hurts. Hoses are an issue, I had quite a few of those. Finding that damn remote with the "nurse button" was always an issue as there was always someone else moving it while I was sleeping. Simple things.

There is not all that much anyone can do for major pain other than a shot of liquid morphine, dilaudid, or lortab. This is run on a schedule, and strictly monitored and rotated. Mine were every 4 hours and not a minute sooner and of course, they are trying to taper down. The tapering down has to happen at some point. Since I had an A/P done, with a broken shoulder, and an Ileus, I had a little pain....

One of the things that happened was they brought in these young nursing students, from the local community college, and they were great! Anyone going in for surgery might suggest this as this is a free option. They asked me and I told them to bring the whole college down.
Ed

[Singer]

My nurse was also $40 an hour....I had her at night only, which was the worst time for me. She told me stories about growing up in Jamaica and she helped me resposition myself when I wanted to turn over. Most importantly, she made sure I got my meds on time so the pain didn't get unmanageable.

I still get worked up when I think of how cranky those HSS floor nurses were. One nurse was handling me a little roughly and when I said, "Ouch!" she said, "Well, it was your choice to have this done!" I was flabbergasted and too doped up to reply. I think she (and maybe others) thought I was some vain suburban housewife having the surgery for purely cosmetic reasons.

[RitaR]

I can relate to "cranky nurses". approximately 3 years ago I had college student nurses in my hosp room and one of those nursing students unhooked all my monitors/tubing, including call light, so we could have a bath in the bed. Have you ever heard of such a thing? I asked her if she was sure she was supposed to unhook everything? Of course, with all my dope, who was I? Then, she was so rough! It was awful! Then she couldn't figure out how to hook me back up. I fired her from my room!!!!!!!

[debbei]

My nurse was also $40 an hour....I had her at night only, which was the worst time for me. She told me stories about growing up in Jamaica and she helped me resposition myself when I wanted to turn over. Most importantly, she made sure I got my meds on time so the pain didn't get unmanageable.

I still get worked up when I think of how cranky those HSS floor nurses were. One nurse was handling me a little roughly and when I said, "Ouch!" she said, "Well, it was your choice to have this done!" I was flabbergasted and too doped up to reply. I think she (and maybe others) thought I was some vain suburban housewife having the surgery for purely cosmetic reasons.

OMG Chris--that's horrible. Did you report that nurse?