Q: Could you describe your perception of the hospital culture including your interaction with specific professionals at that time and how you adjusted?
A: The culture was desperately overworked. And greatly understaffed. Specialized members at any hospital I was at, whether the doctors or therapy personnel were few and far between. I only saw my neurologist, the physician overseeing my case once in the five months I was at one hospital.
Which left nursing staff as my primary exposure to professionals. Tired and cranky are two words that immediately spring to mind. But in defense of a few members of the attending staff, they understood my visible signs of frustration and did their best to try and rectify it. But rarely did it help. You can only do so much with what you have to work with. And sadly I wasn’t in any position to “adjust,” so to speak. I was just left to wait.
And there inlays the problem. And a rather huge problem at that. Being overworked leads to job dissatisfaction and, sadly eventual disengagement. For whatever reason, not for me to say. But it seems to be the case. All too often I hear about nursing care that I was personally witness to, as numerous call bells are a ringing there was a group of ward staff gathered, at the end of the hall, sipping coffee and gabbing.
Now I’m not trying to paint you a picture that this behavior is one plaguing every hospital floor in the country. That isn’t a fair assessment. But from what I hear, it’s still happens…