Becareful before praising all healthcare workers...

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Some CNA and Nurses are hardworking and dedicated to pacient care.  A significant number of then could never keep a job anywhere else, as any fastfood or retail worker who spent so much time neglecting their work or had such poor customer service would be fired. 

[Phishfan]

Seems rather random but it feels like there is something behind this. I'd say praising all of any group is going to include bad apples.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I was a victim of being hit by a car while crossing the street.  I spent time in the hospital followed by now being in a nursing home/rehab center. 

While there are few very dedicated and caring nurses and CNA, the vast majority  are lazy and uncaring.  They always claim they are understaffed and too busy.  But most of them spend more goofing off and complaining about being overworked then they do actually working.   At first I was confined to a bed and completely dependant on using the call bell for assistance.  I was constantly being told that their were caring for multiple pacients and that was the reason for extremely long response times.  Once I became more mobile I was able to observe CNAs ignoring the call lights so they could play on their phone, watch TV, socialize etc.  Keep in mind this was time beyond their actual break time, which they always left the floor for. They are extreamely rude to the pacients and expect us to treat them with kid gloves.  Any McDonalds or Walmart employee who was as rude to a customer as the staff here is to pacients would be fired immeadely.  Likewise if they spent as much time goofing off. 

I was told *I was being unreasonable* when I called the switch board to complain I needed assistance, after first spending 30 minutes pressing the call button so I could get assistance getting to the toilet and then 30 more minutes waiting to be cleaned up after lying in my own shit.  Apparently the nurses feel it is not unreasoable to let someone sit in their own shit for up to two hours. 

There are some good nurses and CNAs but they are rare. 



 

[Sunstroke]

^^^ They may be rare...among the finite group of healthcare workers that you have personally dealt with.

I've had the exact opposite experience, and my life has literally been on the line 4-5 times in the past 2 years.

I am, however, interested in hearing about your experience with bumper cars whilst crossing the road. Bet that was a hoot...hope  you're doing better.

[CF DolFan]

I know some hospitals are quite known for being great service while others are the opposite. Knowing some of the staff at both it seems evident that certain places require top notch employees while others are just happy to be making money.

I was very involved with my grandmother and father during their time in rehab/nursing homes. From what I've seen the level of compassion is different in those facilities as well.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

You are correct that different units have different quaiity of personnel. 

I actually had four different experences:

First the ER.

It was absolutely horrible.  12 Hours in the hallway, with no TV or anything else to distract me fron the pain or trama.  Due to the stress of being hit by a car I was extremely thristy.  It was almost impossible to get a glass of water and when I did it was only about 2 oz at a time. The ER was absolutely freezing the workers that were running around wore multiple layers of fleese yet getting a warm blanket was almost impossible.  Promises to get back to me in a few minutes were never honored. It took 45 minutes to get someone to bring me a plastic urinal to pee in.  She then hung it on the side of my bed about a foot away from where I could reach.  It took 20 minutes and 10 people were too busy to spend 5 seconds to hand it to me even though they were literally doing absoluletly nothing.  It was not particularly busy,  More empty beds than filled ones, I was in the hallway because I had a low risk of crashing, only people at high risk of needing the crash cart get rooms.  There were more than enough rooms for nobody to be in the hallway. 

Second was the recovery in the hospital. That was 5 days.

That was pretty decent.  But constantly ran into the issue of people placing things outside the area I could reach.  Me calling them needing multiple things, they running away before getting to the second item and then them getting mad because i was hitting the bell too often.  It was way harder than I thought it should be for me to get hand sanatizer to use at meal time.  Keep in mind I was stuck in bed peeing in a plastic bottle.   

Third was the discharge unit I only spent about 8 hours there but it was horrible. 

In particular the 30 minutes I was hitting the call button to get someone to help me to the toilet and the 45 minitues I spent lying in my own shit, because they hadn't helped me to the toilet.   After an hour of my call button being ignored -- 30 min before shitting and 30 mins of lying in my own shit I used the phone to call the main desk to complain that I needed assistance.  Rather than anyone appoliges or show empathy for what happened, I was told they were busy and I was scolded for calling the switch board.   

Fourth is a rehab/nursing home.  1st floor where I am is short term; upstairs is long term.

I came here becuase I can;t go home unless I can climb a flight of stairs.  I am much healther than the majority of the people here.   This is where I got to sit in the day room and actually watch CNAs ignore call lights while goofing off.  Where I had CNAs and nurse complain to me that my roommate hits the call button too often.  Not only is that unprofessional but also my roommate had a stroke is totally dependant on their assistance, my empathy is with him not them.  This is where a CNA referred to me as "a fucking Jewish bastard"  to another pacient and my complaint was dismissed as unfounded.  This is where I dropped my toothbrush on the floor and a nurse picked it up and handed it back to me to wash off rather than offer me a new toothbrush.   Getting my pain meds has been a constant struggle. 

As for the actual accident, I was crossing the street in the cross walk when I got clipped by a car breaking my left leg.  Fortutally for me I did not fall and remained upright and managed to hop to the side of the road and fall on the grass, if I had fallen were I was hit, the next car through the intersection would have killed me.  NOBODY stopped.  I took my phone out of my pocket and called 911.  While I was on the phone with 911 a women walking her dog saw me and stayed with me until the police arrived.  Amazingly my only injury was the broken leg. Was surreal watching the news story of the hit and run on TV from my hospital bed.   

[CF DolFan]

No offense but I've never heard anything close to what you describe for your hospital visit ... even at the so called "bad" hospitals around here. That does sound absolutely horrible. Where did this happen?

[Dave Gray]

Did they find the person who hit you?

[Sunstroke]

I'm in on both of the last two posts. I've never had anything even close to that level of horrible service... and I'm curious on whether they found the guy.

Wow...just wow.

When I relate the high level of care I've had, that is about half with the VA Center (basic care, physical therapy, lab work and such) and half with specialists (cardio, nephrology docs and surgeons).   Among all the MD personnel I have dealt with, there really isn't a single one that I felt gave bad service.

I'm sorry you have had a bad experience in this area, and hope your recovery goes better.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Baystate medical and Agawam North.

My mom died Nov 2019 in the Baystate ER, and I had absolutely nothing but postive things to say about the staff that tended to her.  According to multiple people the ER went from great to horrible because Covid-19 caused such an exodus of good people and staffing shortage that required hiring anyone.  I have heard from others that they refuse to go to Baystate prefering other area hopitals.  I was unaware of their reputation beforehand. 

Likewise I have heard the rehab/nursing center was much better pre-covid.  While many of the nurses and CNAs are crap, some are really good.  And the therapists and recreation staff are all outstanding. 

Also the Ortho doctors office is outstanding.   

I do feel like I am living in the worst of a "Nightline exposes" episode. 

They never caught the guy.  There isn't a camara at the light and the police checked all the area houses that had security camaras. 

[Phishfan]

Jaywalking and extra needy..Sounds like you are the problem. 

[Fau Teixeira]

You're actually fairly close to where i live. Random observation

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Jaywalking and extra needy..Sounds like you are the problem. 

I was in the crosswalk, so no to jaywalking. But I was viewed by some of them as a complainer. 

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

You're actually fairly close to where i live. Random observation

Go to Mercy or Noble instead of Baystate, per many people with cronic health issues. 

[Fau Teixeira]

Not that close, ha! My choices are between Lawrence and Backus. Both ok from what i hear.