Yay! The next excitement.
Dear Diary,
It would be boring if nothing absurd happened. I'd like to create a new category for it: Patrick's Panopticon.
Panopticon, a cool word. A word rarely used, but one of my favourite terms. Maybe even my favourite, or maybe not, but it is. The Brockhaus says:
Panoptikum [from Greek optikós „concerning sight“, actually „total view“] the, -s/...ken, collection of curiosities, wax museum.
Source: https://brockhaus.de/ecs/enzy/article/panoptikum
I find that accurate. Just too accurate. It so wonderfully describes the environment in which I live. A collection of curiosities.
Carers who first started taking my things when they were empty, then stole them from my friends and now eat each other's food from my fridge. Carers whose hypochondriacal claims about all the health problems I supposedly have bounced off me so coldly that they called my GP to my house for an evening emergency. And tried to argue with my doctor that he was wrong. Carers who called my doctor in again the very next day because the discussion wasn't over yet. Yes, it was, he was going home now because the family was waiting for dinner. Shame to the power of three, is all I can say. Carers who think a sterile glove is sterile after you've held a phone in your hand. Carelessly putting gloves that have fallen on the floor back in the box for the next time. And those who treat a freshly placed PEG wound without any gloves at all and at the same time get upset about how unprofessional wound care would have been in hospital. It's no wonder I caught a germ that suddenly broke out after I'd been home for a long time. If carers would at least wash their hands after pissing...
There are exceptions, of course. But it should not be the exception that you wash your hands after going to the toilet. For me, such behaviour would be reason enough for summary dismissal. Nurses who don't wash their hands after peeing, is that normal? Are you sure I'm the one with the wrong idea here? Yeah, that's what my nurse says, I'll get to that in a minute. Gotta build up some tension here.
Oh yes, I could write about it forever and three days. But some incidents are too funny for me to keep to myself. At least in retrospect. Other incidents are pretty intense. Even when you think back on them today.
And others, like today's incident, can be life-threatening. What prompts me to write today can be explained most quickly if I put the cart before the horse. Besides, it reads better that way. Always right in the face.
Hello XY,
thank you for your answer and the explanation.
I did not realise that a patient in my current state of health with 0% spontaneous breathing would be apt to learn the necessary expertise first.
Kind regards
Patrick
My e-mail to the nursing service management
Yes, heaven help. They're not going to? No, that's not possible, they can't... Yes, they can. At least they think they can.
Once again, a new employee has been with me for induction these days. At least that's what I was told. And that's what they told the carer who was supposed to do the induction. The new carer thought so too. And he's on the rota for next month as normal. The fact that the company no longer wants to know anything about it today - it was only for a taster and he wasn't even scheduled to work here - fits only too well into the all too bleak overall picture.
Anyway, we always assumed that we would be trained and my really committed nurse, who was on duty that day, did everything he could to impart as much knowledge as possible in far too little time. The 2.5 hours that were scheduled still seem ridiculous and far too little in my opinion. The management of my care service can also spare itself the attempts to justify that this is enough time. Because I am the paying customer. And the paying client has agreed with the conclusion of the contract that new nurses will do at least one day shift and one night shift in the company of a nurse who is experienced with me. This was agreed for good reasons and I don't understand what the point is of suddenly wanting to have a discussion about principles again.
The new employee makes a very clueless impression, which should be confirmed quickly. He is likeable, friendly, reserved. Which is understandable when you first meet him. To be honest, I prefer that ten times more than the other kind of applicants who claim to have so much experience and then fail when they try to start the coughing machine.
But...
There is one small „but“. I'll say straight away that what I'm about to claim here is not true. It merely describes what I think I heard and saw during the induction programme. If it hadn't been like that, I wouldn't have reported it to the management straight away. And my carer also sent the same thing to my team leader immediately after the appointment. In his words - and I quote - „hmmmm... ... ...“. A pause follows. Quite a long pause. You can literally feel in the air that he is searching for the politically correct wording. After all, at the end of the day, he is an employee of this company. „No, ... just no.“. As I said, that's just my view of things. The quintessence of the answer regarding my concerns about 1:1 intensive care for an ALS patient requiring 24/7 ventilation is as follows after a detailed explanation:
...which thus contradicts the zero-experience theory...
E-mail from the nursing service management of my nursing service
That's also how I talk to my clients when they have concerns. In my work, it's „only“ about legal issues, but the principle is the same. I always tell them that I can prove that they're wrong. In exactly the same tone:
...and thus proof that if the basic knowledge is available and the employee is motivated to learn, this is also possible.
from the same e-mail from the nursing service management
That's all right. No offence intended. I just wanted to say that sentences like „I can't explain to you how ventilation works if you don't have the training. I don't think I'm allowed to.“.
I struggle to convey what is going on inside me when I have to read such responses to my expressed concerns. Not even a fortnight ago I had my last night-time panic attack because a nurse messed up with my mask and didn't get it. The scientifically measurable result: my pulse is beyond 130 for 24 hours and only calms down by a whopping ten points to 120, even after I've taken Tavor Expedit.
In view of this, I express my concerns. You could also say between the lines: hey, your patient is afraid for his life if you send me a carer for the night who has never had a home-ventilated patient and hasn't even attended a ventilation course to learn at least the rudimentary basics of ventilation. I mean, he must have had his reasons for leaving after demonstrating how to change the mask - after only 90 minutes in total with me - and not even picking up the mask. He didn't want to try changing the mask any more than he wanted to cough and aspirate.
Of course, I expect the reaction to be a legal opinion that ends with proof that I am wrong. Or maybe I don't expect it. No, I expect a lot, but not that.
The full answer was even longer, but that doesn't make it any better. I can't resist a cynical two-liner this time. Or maybe I can? Yes, I can. But I don't want to. Wink smiley. And because you probably didn't really believe it above, and because it's so nice, here it is again:
Hello XY,
thank you for your answer and the explanation.
I did not realise that a patient in my current state of health with 0% spontaneous breathing would be apt to learn the necessary expertise first.
Kind regards
Patrick
My e-mail to the nursing service management
