Medical Mistakes. Have you been a victim?

I am a nurse practitioner. You would imagine my experiences with the healthcare system would be flawless based upon my background and knowledge? Nope just the opposite. Every time I become a patient it is a disaster. Why? You are probably thinking to yourself “oh she has lots of health problems or takes a lot of medicines. Nope none, no allergies, no co-morbidities, no medications. Do you want to know what I think has happened. Providers see me and sum my health in about 30 seconds after reading the chart and looking me over.

I generally don’t disclose my professional background when I enter the healthcare system. I prefer to be anonymous. In 2007 when I was a patient in a local hospital going in for a “routine” procedure I am lucky today to be alive. A surgery which was estimated to take about 2 hours stretched into 6 + hours according to my husband. The surgeon told me husband “he cut something he shouldn’t have and I was in the PACU getting blood. I was in a lot of pain and told the nurse I was hurting in the vaginal area and she asked me “do you have packing in there?”   The nurse who came into restart my IV was a co-worker from dialysis. She poked me until I told her to leave and get another person who could put an IV in. I saw another doctor because of complications caused by the surgery. The new doctor sat there and read the 19 page operative report and shook her head. The first thing she said I would have never done this surgery with a resident. I would have had another attending and this procedure is not done anymore. What do you mean???? I put my life in this person’s so called competent hands.

The next day was 2/14/07 and we had an ice storm. The surgeon came in and said you can go home now? My husband said she can hardly walk. I can’t take her home in this. The day of the storm the garbage overflowed in my room and no one on day shift came to take vital signs. My husband roomed in with me and was there as a witness. I called the nurse manager a month later to tell her my vital signs were not taken and she told me they were right there in the chart. No one even suggested those could have been falsified at the end of the shift as the nurse assistant finished their charting. I could go on and I know you get the picture.

As a nurse practitioner I understand why providers seem aloof or gruff. Sometimes these are the best providers. I don’t want my providers to be my best friend and I don’t care about where you went on vacation or the new baby. I want your 100% attention focused on providing competent, quality care with good outcomes.

Health care is not a job. It’s a vocation, a calling, a ministry. It’s all about the patient. So when you are there at your job be present in the moment, listen attentively to what the patient is saying, don’t worry about your cell phone, or Saturday night and focus on me! We make too many mistakes in healthcare and fortunately for me not all are fatal.

I often shudder when I think I could not have woke up from the surgery. So many things left undone, unaccomplished, so many things left unsaid. We can’t prevent patients from dying but we can do the very best to make sure we follow procedures, take time to observe and chart, use all our senses when assessing patients. No one should be injured or die from a medical mistake by a doctor or nurse