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Sunday, September 12, 2010

Breaking out the video camera

       So, here is somewhat funny story (perhaps I've been in a high stress tiny hospital room for far too long that I find this funny), Ryan and I had noticed Nolen alarming for low saturation levels often during the day (and no one responding, granted we were spoiled on the PICU where we had our own nurse, but these nurses are far less responsive than even the local hospitals peds nurses). So, when Ryan got tired of waiting on someone to respond, he went and got someone. They dismissed the alarm as Nolen's movements interfereing with the read (which can happen, but on day 10 of our hospital stay we are well versed in what is and isn't a good read). So, after Ryan voiced his frustration to me, I suggested that he video tape the next alarm because (as bad as this sounds) I was going to sleep.

     About thirty minutes later I wake to hearing Nolen alarm and start to cry and see my husband actually video taping the event. He then calls the nurses and shows them the video tape (yes, by this point I am hiding in disbelief). Low and behold, we end up having three nurses come in (one was Dawn from yesterday, our very pregnant-35 weeks with twins nurse, and one other lady I had never met). THEN to pacify my husband we ended up having a doctor come in. Long story short, Ryan has them marking the frequency of his desats to see if it's getting worse (which it is because in over two days, today is the first day we have had alarms for desats in addition to the other alarms we get).

I am sure we are the butt of the joke on the unit tonight with our videotaping of alarms, but if it gets Nolen attention then it's well worth it.

Other things that Ryan has said during our hospital stay that still make me smile
"If I was this incompetent at my job, I would have died by now" (regarding Nolen's diagnosis)
"If there was an alarm on an airplane you would be demanding attention too" (regarding his alarms)


**Tonight, the alarm system that alerts the nurses to alarms in a patients room is not working, so it looks like I'll be getting my exercise getting nurses**

2 comments:

Gidget Girl Reading said...

i hope those nurses and doctors start paying attention to those alarms i mean that is their job!!! UGH!!!

I'm glad you taped it to show them hey we know what we are talking about.

prayers for no more destats!

Kim said...

I used to work in veterinary hospitals, and I swear the animals got better care than your baby is getting. Our clients all asked if they could come to us for care, because doctors tend to be so nonchalant about their patients. It's awful. I'm glad you made them pay attention - whatever it takes, make them do their job!