Re: What about person centred care and dignity?

Hi Rhonda, This would be my greatest bug to bear, It has become so hectic in nursing, I work in chaos every shift the hopital I work at operates at 100% full bed occupancy and we struggle every shift to find beds for our booked post operative patients (elective surgery) and unexpected ED admissions or the push from ICU for transfer to ward. I guess my point is nurses no longer have the time to stop and assist our frail elderly pts because the toilets are so far away from the bedside, so a slow walk to and from the bathroom with most likely 2 assist needed for pt safety takes too much time and the burnt out or frustrated nurse has taken this pathway ie got a pad use it! I too am disgusted at this but I see 20-22 pts vs 4 nurses daily, management are not concerned about this, management do not acknowledge the human beings in our beds; its all about budget, patient flow and meeting the Governments target for orthopaedic surgery to gain a grant, (thats most likely just a drop in the ocean). I dont believe its uni training, its all unreasonable workloads and the nurse trying to do her job. I feel for our patients and I will always toilet my patients regardless of what my day has install for me..IM with you bring back patient focus, hospitals should be about people and treatment..not patient flow and budget...the government of today and yesterday have a lot to answer for.

Re: What about person centred care and dignity?

Sadly the issue to do with the basic human right of using/being assisted to use a toilet is not isolated to only the acute sector, it also happens in the sub-acute sector! A story relayed to me recently by an 86 year old woman (who is now fortunately back in her own home after being hospitalised for an acute infection). She is functionally incontinent able to self-toilet but requires the assistance of a walking frame to get herself there. One night at 10.30pm she rang her call bell to ask staff to position her frame closer to her bed so she could use the toilet only to be told she would have to wait because according to the PT she needed to be supervised to walk to the toilet and as handover was in progress there were no nurses available to assist. She waited a further 20 mins and rang her call bell again when the "boss" night nurse attended and told her "we will get to you you in a minute, we are starting the toileting from the other end so you need to hang on and if she couldn't hang on just use the pad she was wearing and when we get to you we will change it". By this stage the woman had soiled her pad, was very distressed and asked the 'boss' nurse to position her frame closer to the bed so she could go to the toilet. The nurse turned and walked away and over her shoulder said "just wait until we get to you". She laid in her bed for 2 hours soaked in urine and silently wept while she waited for the nurses to arrive. I cringed as I listened and felt very embarrassed and at that moment ashamed to say I was a nurse. Excuses about management do little to restore human dignity, I believe nurses use the management line far too easily to excuse their poor practices and would do better to consider how it is they deliver their so called patient care. In this case it is patently obvious there was no regard for this woman's dignity and self-respect. In fact the time it took the nurses to inform her that they were not free to assist could have been better spent by giving her her frame thereby maintaining her independence, dignity and meeting her most basic need.

Re: What about person centred care and dignity?

I am apalled at the way the system is in most of these great organisations whom claim to be very caring and the client, resident or patient is first priority. From what I have seen in an Aged Care Facility that I worked at for five years is disgusting at the way people that call themselves Director of Nursing, assistance in nursing, personal carers or nurses have no damn respect for the elderly. I witnessed an incident of the Director of Nursing yelling and screaming and practically threw the single wardrobe across the room in front of an elderly couple whom asked me to see if I could get permission for Mrs ..... (I will not mention names here) to move her husbands room around so it was comfortable for them when she came to visit her husband. I told her I would speak to the DON when I had finished my duties for that day. Another nurse over heard our conversation and went and told the DON. There were two other witnesses to this incident and one registered nurse resigned. I resigned later as I was given an ultimatum to demote myself from my nursing duties and to work in the kitchen as this DON wanted me terminated from my position as an AIN.She falsified legal documents to try to get me fired. I had to have a meeting with the QNU and this still did not help me as I had put a formal complaint to the head office of the DON and her actions. I am voicing my views here because I am not happy with the insensitive minds of others who just simply do not want to do their job and my belief has always been, that you treat the elderly with respect, make sure they have privacy and dignity and you must always answer their call bells you do not leave them ringing for minutes on end. It is their right to be cared for and assisted to the bathroom or toilet. There are so many people out there that need to be re educated of how to treat the elderly with respect. I wish I could make a difference and let the world know of the apalling attitudes of some of these so called nurses and DON. It actually gives a bad impression on those beautiful nurses out there who are doing right by their clients, patients, and residents. I for one am one of those nurses. A certificate III does not say that these people have experience in the nurturing and caring and communication skills they are suppose to have. I am a professional nurse who cares for the elderly and if I see what I witnessed by anyone ever doing wrong by an elderly person ever again, I will voice my opinion strongly. Catherine I would like to say that what happened to your patient happens all the time everywhere and I am very sorry to hear that this dear woman was treated very unprofessionally. Maybe the governing bodies and the Health and Ageing Department need to rethink the education system concerning Certificate III candidates.