My father was admitted to hospital with an infection requiring antibiotics. As expected he developed diarrhoea however this was not anticipated, but was established was not treated. He was losing a lot of fluid and electrolytes through his bowels and these were not being replaced with adequate fluids...."just keep drinking water". Is plain water good rehydration therapy? This continued to the point he became unwell with severe dehydration and ended up in HDU.
HDU were excellent and fixed him and he returned to the ward. No lessons were learned and diarrhoea reared its head again (no pun intended) and again despite raising the point again fluids were again not balanced and back down to HDU where it has taken a lot longer for him to recover.
This is just a brief summary of a particular adverse effect of treatment that was easily treatable ie diarrhoea and dehydration. My father has a complex medical history that confounds things but in my opinion, what is lacking on medical wards is basic understanding, anticipation and management of common nursing and medical issues. I often found that in a day my dads intake was non existent, but was their any documentation of his input and output? No. He eventually received I. v. fluids but often these were detached for hours as no one bothered to hook him back on them.
There are a lot more negligent issues that I have been documenting and will formally share with the powers that be. I am from a medical background and horrified at the level of basic care provided. I pity the lay person who puts his/her trust in the nurse and doctor to look after their cared one. I saw no evidence of patient centred care except in HDU.
"how care in a general medical ward is not "patient centred""
About: Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Glasgow / General medicine (Wards 5d) Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Glasgow General medicine (Wards 5d) Glasgow G51 4TF
Posted by kittens (as ),
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See more responses from Lorna Fairlie
Update posted by kittens (a relative) 8 years ago