I recently visited the father of a friend who was in the hospital for brain surgery. His dad, a relatively healthy 75-year-old, had just been diagnosed with a large mass on his right frontal lobe that was causing issues and needed to be removed and diagnosed.
It was scary for my friend and his family. But this was familiar territory for me, and I wanted to lend my support.
This big city hospital (which I will not name) had recently gone through a major expansion that changed the skyline as well as changed their ability to provide more services to a growing community. The new building, where my friend’s dad was having his surgery, was stately and grand inside and out.
Well, with some exceptions…
The small waiting area outside the patient rooms had blinds and valances missing on part of the window and chewing gum residue on the carpet next to the uncomfortable chairs. I get it, some things take a while to get finished…
But it was the experience in pre-op that made me anxious.
First of all, the patient chart was left behind. We rolled the bed all the way through the building and to the surgical ward and no chart.
When we arrived in surgery prep, the CCU nurse that accompanied us (who’d been in charge of my friend’s dad while he was waiting in his room) was told to stay by the pre-op nurse, but didn’t agree that she needed to. Apparently it was hospital procedure that a CCU nurse must stay with the patient until 30 minutes prior to surgery. The tension between the two nurses was palpable.
Then, when the anesthesiologist arrived to check the chart (which finally showed up), he realized that the patient’s pacemaker hadn’t been interrogated. So that held up the surgery until a St. Jude’s representative could drive to the hospital, find our pre-op station, open her computer, hook up the wires to my friend’s dad’s chest and get a read on the state of the device so it could be cleared for surgery. The anesthesiologist was irritated to say the least.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I think this hospital has some major issues with communication and follow through. But aside from those issues, who is impacted by witnessing these events? The patient, family and support circle (me).
The medical professionals were distracted and having to focus on non-care and avoidable setbacks. This prevents them from providing total care, total attention, and total responsiveness. They need to be able to make the right decisions, focus on the pertinent items at hand, and deliver excellence.
With all of these gaps, however, my friend’s dad made it into and through surgery successfully and is now home resting.
It left me feeling that no matter how pretty the package is on the outside, the inside can be in any kind of condition. Beware, be cautious, and know what to look for when you are selecting who to give your money to, your time to, or your loved ones to. Make sure that passion is present on the inside, and the outside won’t even matter.
