Owen was in the hospital from Dec 19th to Dec 22nd last week. Then again in the hospital from Dec 27th and hopefully being discharged today the 30th.
Owen has been in the hospital almost every single month this year. Since we are here so often, I have learned many things about nurses.
First I want to say, I love nurses! They work so hard and their schedules are very demanding. They often have an overwhelming amount of tasks to do on any given day. I try to be very forgiving when they are not on their "A game" because I understand they have a lot to do. They are amazing :)
That being said, there are certain things that nurses do that drive me crazy, especially night nurses.
I would love to teach a seminar about what its like to be in the hospital and ask them to be respecful of certain things. I think they simply don't think about what they do before they do it. We have had several nurses that come in at midnight and talk like they are at a concert on a friday night. They say something like, "Hi, my name is . . . and I will be Owen's nurse tonight." Which is a perfectly acceptable thing to say. However, at midnight you have just got your child to sleep because your roommate is a pretty loud teenager and you have just fallen asleep minutes before she says this. I do not like being woken up by a nurse when nothing is wrong. Why wouldn't they just let the parent rest if there wasn't anything wrong? I may not understand all the ins and outs of nursing but I know that when a mommy is sleeping and a baby is sleeping, you don't wake either.
I understand that they need to do their job. However, I think they sometimes forget that their place of work is our place of healing and rest. A hospital room needs to be a place where the patient can get the rest they need for healing. There are always circumstances that prevent that and some cannot be helped. A roommate could be seriously sick and need medical attention, you yourself could need a medical team in the middle of the night. However, if patients are sleeping soundly and are medically stable, why must you wake them up to tell them your name?
In a children's hospital rest is even harder to come by. Children do not understand why you need to take their temperature at night. I know if Owen wakes up while they take his temperature, he screams bloody murder like they are poking him with a needle. So, a parent can only sleep when their baby sleeps. Sometimes their baby is sleeping through all the kaos in the room and they cannot sleep. All the more reason not to wake a parent if they are sleeping and their baby is sound asleep.
This is what happened while we were in the hospital. I was having such a hard time sleeping because our roommate was a 5 year old that didn't sleep at night. They had the light on all night and she screamed loudly every 2minutes. Owen was sleeping soundly. I had just fallen asleep amidst all the noise and crazyness. A nurse comes in, taps me on the shoulder, and introduces herself. I couldn't sleep the rest of the night. Therefore, the next day with Owen and all the things they needed to do, I was such a tired mommy.
Another big thing to me is closing the door. If there are two patients in a room and they both have parents in the room with them, there is no need to keep the door open at night. It is especially frustrating when you lay down on your chair bed for the night, finally get comfortable, and a nurse comes in and doesn't close the door on her way out. On top of that, she proceeds to stand right outside the door and talk about what she did the night before (however inappropriate it may be). This does not make for a happy mommy. Our rommates mom and I were both talking about how the nurses need to learn how to shut the door when they leave.
This is just a friendly reminder to all you nurses out there :) We love you all very much and think you do great things daily!
Just some advice to keep patients rested and happy
Have any of you parents had similar experience? I would love to hear about them
I understand that they need to do their job. However, I think they sometimes forget that their place of work is our place of healing and rest. A hospital room needs to be a place where the patient can get the rest they need for healing. There are always circumstances that prevent that and some cannot be helped. A roommate could be seriously sick and need medical attention, you yourself could need a medical team in the middle of the night. However, if patients are sleeping soundly and are medically stable, why must you wake them up to tell them your name?
In a children's hospital rest is even harder to come by. Children do not understand why you need to take their temperature at night. I know if Owen wakes up while they take his temperature, he screams bloody murder like they are poking him with a needle. So, a parent can only sleep when their baby sleeps. Sometimes their baby is sleeping through all the kaos in the room and they cannot sleep. All the more reason not to wake a parent if they are sleeping and their baby is sound asleep.
This is what happened while we were in the hospital. I was having such a hard time sleeping because our roommate was a 5 year old that didn't sleep at night. They had the light on all night and she screamed loudly every 2minutes. Owen was sleeping soundly. I had just fallen asleep amidst all the noise and crazyness. A nurse comes in, taps me on the shoulder, and introduces herself. I couldn't sleep the rest of the night. Therefore, the next day with Owen and all the things they needed to do, I was such a tired mommy.
Another big thing to me is closing the door. If there are two patients in a room and they both have parents in the room with them, there is no need to keep the door open at night. It is especially frustrating when you lay down on your chair bed for the night, finally get comfortable, and a nurse comes in and doesn't close the door on her way out. On top of that, she proceeds to stand right outside the door and talk about what she did the night before (however inappropriate it may be). This does not make for a happy mommy. Our rommates mom and I were both talking about how the nurses need to learn how to shut the door when they leave.
This is just a friendly reminder to all you nurses out there :) We love you all very much and think you do great things daily!
Just some advice to keep patients rested and happy
Have any of you parents had similar experience? I would love to hear about them
