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Mater Hospital
7
Other issues relating to the inpatient stay
The interviews with patients highlighted
a number of issues - other than information and communication
- where patients had concerns, and these are discussed below:
Mixed-sex
wards
Three female patients disliked being on
mixed-sex wards:
FM10 (Admissions ward): But do you
know, the only thing I don't like is the mixed wards
- men and women. It wouldn't be so bad if you were able
to go out and go to the toilet. You see, I'm not allowed
to get out of the bed - I have to use a commode. (Later
on, in medical ward): That was terrible.especially when
I had to use the commode, you know, and men all about,
all round about you. It was very, it is very embarrassing,
it is.
FM11 (Medical ward): .sure, the physiotherapy woman
had to take me for a wee walk and I says , 'well, sure
I go a wee walk', I says, ' every day down to the toilet,
down to the bathroom', you know - outside the corridor.
I didn't used to use the one in the ward because I didn't
like going by all them men.You know, I hate that.I don't
like mixed wards. |
Similarly, the National Service Framework
pointed out that mixed-sex wards can be embarrassing for
older people. One of the above-mentioned patients did not
realise that the admissions ward was a mixed-sex ward until
after she arrived on the ward:
| FM04 (admitted to ward about 2am):
I was surprised to find that it was a men and women's
ward. |
In addition, a male surgical patient felt that placing female
patients in a male ward compromised the women themselves
and he referred, in particular, to a confused patient who
had begun to take her clothes off, in a predominantly male
ward, in view of the other patients.
Male
workers providing care to female patients
A female patient (FM10) was uncomfortable
receiving assistance with care from male staff:
| And then, them lads is on this morning.
Here's me, I just said, 'can I get a girl?' (to help).I
don't mean no harm, like, and probably they wouldn't.
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Moving
patients to other beds or wards
One patient commented that having to move
to different beds or wards is upsetting: MM05:
| .The only thing is this business of
moving around from bed to bed really, you know.I hope
it's not going to be like this when the new hospital
opens, do you know?. When you start in an admissions
ward and then go down to another ward, you get onto
one side of the ward, and then they put you over the
other side of the ward.This is my fourth move.Now, I'm
only speaking for myself, but I'm sure patients would
say the same things. It upsets patients really - getting
shifted. |
Similarly, the National Service Framework
for older people specified that multiple transfers through
the hospital system can impede care and increase disorientation
in older people.
Basic
care provision
A key principle underpinning good practice
in the care of older patients in hospital, in particular,
requires that priority be given to essential needs such
as assistance with personal hygiene . However, two older,
female medical patients commented that they had been unable
to wash themselves and the staff had not given them the
assistance that they needed:
FM16: Basically my arm was really,
really, very, very painful and whatnot, and I got washed
once.(She was in hospital) four days, and one morning
they put a basin of water beside me and didn't ask if
I needed help washing. As it was, I was too sore and
I couldn't manage.
FM10: The staff did "not really" help her with washing
and, as she was not able to wash herself properly, this
"got me down": .there was only one wee nurse. Now, the
wires were all sticking all over me and I had the drip.
Here's me: 'how am I going to manage with this?', you
know, to try and even wash myself. I got my face washed
and that was it. And then I saw the wee nurse and she
says, 'are you washed, do you need a help?' I says,
'I would', but I couldn't do nothing with all of the
wires on me.And I says: 'you wouldn't rub my back for
me, please?' I says, 'my back's sore'. I think it was
the bed.She says, 'certainly'. So, she washed my back
for me and put a drop of talcum powder on me, you know,
and I felt a bit better then, you know, whenever I got
that there done. |
In addition, a surgical patient complained
that he had been very cold while he was waiting to have
an x-ray carried out because he had only been wearing a
hospital gown, and he felt that this experience contributed
to him developing a chest infection. However, a staff member
checked on him later and put a blanket around his shoulders.
Handling
of death on the wards
The issue of how patients' deaths were
handled on the wards was raised by two patients. A surgical
patient who had been in hospital a few times, and had experienced
another patient dying on each occasion, commented that the
staff had handled the patients' deaths well:
| MSO1: . now the staff were brilliant.
The staff in.the undertakers or the hospital people
- I don't know who was dealing with the bodies - came
in and every curtain was pulled around every bed. So,
that they didn't see anything that was going on, if
someone was being took out, which is good, you know.
I wasn't too sure how they would deal with it, you know. |
However, in the case of a medical patient,
the issue of death was handled insensitively such that FM04
was told that she had been allocated a dead patient's bed
even though it was only a short time since she died, and
the interviewee was very distressed about this:
| FM04: .I was sitting talking to her
(another patient) and the woman in the next bed died,
may she rest in peace. They were in with her and got
her ready and everything and then they were waiting
for sheets to come. They hadn't even got sheets - do
you know what I mean - they were out of everything.
And the nurse says to me, because I was sitting in the
armchair - you see I wasn't, I hadn't got a bed - and
she says to me 'we've got a bed for you, Mrs Craig'.
I says, 'yes'. And she says, 'yes, that's your bed there'.
And it still wasn't made up. So, I says, 'no way'. Like
I know, I'm sure there's not a bed in the hospital that
somebody hasn't died in.But it was still warm.I would
have walked out. I couldn't have coped with it.I mean,
I had seen them washing the bed down. I had seen them
taking the woman away and, truthfully, I would have
signed myself out. |
Similarly, some older patients interviewed
as part of the Dignity on the Ward campaign said that the
death of another patient was the most distressing thing
they had experienced during their stay in hospital. In addition,
they felt that the staff had generally not been aware of
their distress. Consequently, the provision of support following
the death of another patient is an important aspect of providing
psychological care to patients.
Witnessing
abusive or violent incidents
Three patients, including one female patient,
had witnessed incidents involving other patients who were
abusive, disruptive or violent and which they found quite
disturbing and even frightening:
MM18: ...The one thing I strongly
object to is these drug addicts and these - I don't
know what you'd call them - louts. The police lift them
and land them up into the wards in the hospitals. They
should land them in an asylum where they should be landed.
It's not fair to the nurses. It's not fair to the patients.Ach,
five times I was in and there was trouble every-time.
A fella was holding this thing over his head, he was
going to hit a nurse.No, he missed.
FM10 (female patient on mixed ward):.it was nearly all
men and then we had a man down the very back (of the
ward). I was scared, to tell you the truth. And, God
help him, it's a pity of him - he's an alcoholic - and
they were having an awful lot of trouble with him and
his family.well the f's and talk of him. They had to
shift two women.they took them out of the ward during
the night and I was left.But he was out one night. When
he came in they had to watch him like a hawk. And I
was called a bad name - he called me a 'fat c'.I must
have fell asleep early but I wakened up, you know, and
when I wakened up your man was standing at the end of
the bed staring at me - that frightened me.(he) tried
every way to get out. The nurses were running after
him.
MM05: (The) incident was on Tuesday night, early Wednesday
morning, you know, that upset a couple of patients really,
you know.they were up and down the corridor shouting,
sure. The fella upstairs - he got upstairs - cut his
head across there and they had to get the others to
bring him back again. But he was definitely well out
of it - he was probably smoking pot or something. Indeed,
the Mater Hospital's Annual Report specified that physical
and verbal abuse of staff is currently a problem in
the hospital . |
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