Bedridden patients are very vulnerable and weak. 90% of the time they are intubated and receiving IV lines of very strong sedatives and muscle relaxants, specially those who are hospitalized in the intensive care unites. Most of patients in the ICU can’t communicate. They latterly need ” total ” Nursing care like bathing, feeding and changing position( lifting them up or let them lay on the other side of bed .. etc). Not All patients in the Intensive care unites are in a coma, some of them are conscious and aware of whats happening around but they just can’t express themselves.
You have no Idea how horrible it is to be alive and not be able to move or talk. It feels pretty much as if your soul is trapped. Being Bedridden and in need for a total nursing care can be emotionally devastating. I have been there and I know exactly how it feels and how uncomfortable it is to have strangers bathing you. I was healthy, strong and independent. However, When I had brain surgery last Oct I had to be hospitalized in the ICU. Now I know how my patients feel because I have been in their shoes. Those patient’s had a job, they were strong and independent too. Its not easy to be totally dependent when you are adult. Its kind of humilating and embarressing as well.
Today I started My first day in the Intensive Care Unite and I have to say that It was a bit depressing to me because I was suffering from bad memories flashbacks every time I walked into my patient’s room. It was really tough day.
Students are supposed to follow their preceptors and whatever procedures the staff Nurse do we try to help or watch and learn. We do some procedures but it have to be under the preceptor’s direct supervision. My preceptor today wanted to bed-bath her patient and I went to help her. Bed-bathing is done in certain way, there are rules to protect human dignity. When it comes to bathing patients , we must not fully expose the patient. for example, when you start from the upper body you must cover the genitalia and lower body and once your done with the upper body, you cover it up and then you go on with the other areas.This is how its supposed to be.
I couldn’t believe it when My preceptor fully exposed the patient in front of 2 other nurses who were there to help. At the beginning she asked me to fully remove his gown but I only exposed the upper body knowing that we must not fully expose the patient right away. It’s not only respecting patient’s dignity but the patient will get really cold.
However, she didn’t seem like she cares anyways. The patient was consciouse and knew what the Nurse is doing when she started making very rude comments and jokes about him that I honostly can’t write it here because the jokes were extermly disgusting and sick.
I can tell that the 2 Nurses who were helping her didn’t like the fact that she was saying dirty jokes and chuckling while the patient was fully naked, it was very obvious from their facial expressions.
I was there, I didn’t say anything though. Who am I to report an ICU Nurse !?
Good day!This was a really fine subject!
I come from roma, I was luck to look for your website in yahoo
Also I learn a lot in your blog really thanks very much
Hi Omaima …
I think you should report that incident, at least, for starter, to someone you trust in whatever place you are in!!
And what do you mean ‘Who am I to report an ICU Nurse !?’ … I cannot totally get whatever happening in the medical field these days!!
salamunalaikum.
it seems that today a patient’s purse is more important for doctors than the patient’s pulse.
Omaima, If ever I am helpless in an ICU, I very much hope to have a nurse who is like you. You are not in control now, but one day you will be. One day you will be the teacher.
this happens sometimes with patients on the regular wards too. Some are bedridden and not able to move and nurses will do the washing rather “ruthlessly”. Ive seen this many times when Im helping another nurse, especially ones of asian nationalities unfortunaetly do not share the same sense of being discrete than I think muslim nurses would.
Ive heard comments on the sizes of male patients genitalia and female patients private parts too, which really disgusts me. What if it was their father or mother that was lyng there helpless? I get really angry when I see this happening and do tend to try and stop it, but it still seems to be normal and acceptable for these nurses
I reported an ICU nurse..Two of them, in fact. One for outright rudeness and a failure to educate herself on the patients by not reading the charts until 6 HOURS into a shift. The second also for rudenes and failure to wash her hands before entering my husband’s room.
That ICU was horrible. They had my husband restrained, was giving him Seroquel and Haldol and, against my wishes, morphine and it’s derivatives (Dilaudid and Fentanyl). I did not deny that my husband needed pain relief after back surgery but he had a previous morphine sensitivity that they ignored totally. He was hallucinating, the drugs were so bad. I will NOT put him through this again, nor will I permit ANY hospital to do it to him.
Patients, no matter what their background, religion, or ethnicity should always be treated with dignity. You were taught very well. I agree with Mary that I would hope to have a nurse like you the day I am incapacitated and must rely on others to care for me. The nurse you described acted in very poor taste and without compassion for another human being – these are not qualities a nurse should possess.
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Who am I to report an ICU Nurse
A friendly remainder would do the trick I guess.
It is best to participate in a contest for the most effective blogs on the web. I will advocate this site!
your blog gave me an idea of what an ICU is all about,and enlightened me that the patient’s life if very crucial to handle,most especially to a student nurse like me who are a beginner to be assigned in ICU…it was a beautiful and challenging blog…THANK YOU SO MUCH…
I am happy that this post has enlightened you Iyna. Wish you the best in ICU career. Its not easy to be a nurse.. it takes a superwoman to do so. good luck.
Hello Omaima, I am a muslim doctor living in USA. I recently lost one of my beloved sisters to cancer, in her last few days she was in Adult critical care unit. Since I did not work in the hospital where she was admitted, I can not begin to tell you how painful it was to see her laying helpless and at the mercy of doctors and nurses. She herself was a doctor who served that community for thirty years, but there was no such thing as compassion or care in the tone, actions and communication of doctors at all, though nurses seemed very caring and dedicated. I think there is no simple way to inculcate compassion and dedication required to be a care giver, but it comes from fear of future, love for humankind, and love of Allah.
Your blog brought back bitter memories , though its and older post but it befits my sister’s situation!
Hello Anjum,
I am very sorry for your loss. * Huggles*
Yes, I agree with you. It comes with love for humankind by showing respect and compassion to the sick ones.
I am sorry for your loss Anjum. Yes, you are right. A lot of times nurses and doctors deal with patients this way after working long time and seeing smiliar cases.
a good nurse or a good doctor never loses his or her compassion toward their patients though. My way of dealing with my patients is by looking at them as family relative. if an elderly woman is my patient I look at her as if she my grandmother and I treat her a way that I would be treating someone I love. because I know that those patients are ” fathers, mothers, sisters, or daughte” they have family that loves them so much and want them to be treated with love too.