I was in the hospital just 2 days when I was moved out of that room to a room just across the hallway. I was disappointed because in the first room I was in the bed next to the window and had a nice view. I actually did not want to go, but the nurse whispered to me; you can't stay here because there is some kind of infection in this room! Yikes, I said, hurry up and move me then!
What shocked me was, two days later they moved someone else into the room I had just been evacuated from. Three weeks later when I was leaving, I met the woman who was moved into my room. She said she was supposed to be in there just one night to have some tests taken. She had just a small problem initially, but now was very very sick. She had developed some sort of infection and they could not get rid of it. She was hooked up to an antibiotic IV and had been on one now for almost 3 weeks and still they could not get rid of the infection! (a friend of a friend who is a nurse told me it was most likely MERSA).
Months later I contacted this woman to see how she was doing and she had been back to the hospital twice since being released the first time. One time she was near death from the infection she had picked up in the room I was evacuated from. She was still very very sick. No energy and infection throughout her body.
The second time I was hospitalized, I requested the house doctor from referrals I received during my first hospitalization. This doctor was much better than my assigned doctor I had to endure for 3 weeks.. He said to me..."we are going to get you out of here as soon as possible. The longer you are in here, the higher your chance is of getting an infection". I told him about the lady across the hall who picked up that infection and he said; IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME!
A couple of things I want to point out: When you are in the hospital, if you are not happy with your assigned doctor; ask around for which doctors are better. I started asking the nurses and other patients. I also observed other doctors who came to call on my different room mates. You probably won't be able to switch your assigned doctor during that visit, but you can ask for a different doctor the next time you are admitted.
The other point I want to make is, a good doctor will do everything they can to get you out of hospital as quick as they deem safe. There is a fine line between needing to stay long enough until you are well enough to leave; and staying too long increasing your chances of being exposed to a deadly infection. Below is a report on infections that I found interesting.
The full list of 105 U.S. hospitals that have tallied zero central-line infections in their most recent reports can be found at www.ConsumerReportsHealth.org.Poorly performing hospitals include several major teaching institutions in major metropolitan areas. Some examples include New York University Langone Medical Center in New York City, the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, Strong Memorial in Rochester, New York, Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in Hamilton, New Jersey, and the Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center in California. Bloodstream infections cause at least 30 percent of the estimated 99,000 annual hospital-infection-related deaths in the U.S. and add on average $42,000 to the hospital bills of each ICU patient who gets a central-line infection.
I also want to mention I have not used the name of the hospital, doctors, or patient to protect their identity.
1 comments:
Thank you Tina, for the very useful information. I would not have thought that we need to worry about such problems in the US hospitals. Though I heard it mentioned before, it becomes much more real when someone you know experienced it first hand.
Wishing you great health and renewed energy.
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