What follows is something didactically unwise. I'll show you what's wrong. But since all the talking hasn't helped, I hope that pictures will explain the problem more clearly. Because no, this is a serious matter and no, I don't find it funny or hilarious when my breathing mask is ripped off my head again. It's about as incomprehensible to me as when my carers tell me they know that I can hardly breathe on my left side and that I practically choke on my own saliva all the time. But it's easier for the carer that way. Haha, laugh. There it was again, that almost awkward-looking laugh. No, I don't find that funny either. I put up with it because, despite everything, I feel like I'm in good hands here. And let's face it, what choice do I have?
That's when you realise how jaded I have become after three nursing services. There were friends with me, some of them intensive care nurses themselves, when this statement was made. The look wanted to express something like astonishment. One could also say sheer horror. Well, that's how it is. There are worse things.
Even with regard to the shitty laugh, I have experienced worse. It's psychologically interesting that the nurses who complain the most about their own colleagues are no better themselves. It was less than a week ago that they put a mask on me at night with half of it missing. Tales follow about parts that must have fallen under the bed. Or the colleagues from the day service are all disabled. Haha, laugh, that's never happened before, how funny. Wait a minute, you're about to get the old mask again, but I'm really laughing my head off, it's so funny.
Hm, but I disagree with that. Firstly, I'm the only one here who is disabled, officially 90% severely disabled and otherwise severely disabled. LOL. Nevertheless, I am capable of checking a mask before I put it on. In the case of a patient with - I'll just call it that - a known anxiety disorder due to ventilation anyway, but also in general. It's a mystery to me how you can forget something like that. In any case, the colleagues are not to blame, the mask cushion was cleaned and put to one side to dry. So it's not under the bed either, you banger. And secondly, at the risk of repeating myself, no, I don't think it's funny at all. Not funny. Not a laughing matter. Indisputable. I've had it.
I will not be able to change anyone. But I can at least keep pointing out what is often done wrong in the hope that it will at least happen less often in the future. And because the subject of masks is apparently still a spectre for many nurses, let's start with exactly that.
| Right: | Wrong: |
|---|---|
The tube lies loosely on the bed in a loop. | The hose hangs down from the mask directly to the edge of the bed. |
When straightening the mask, the tube has enough play and the caregiver pays attention to it. | The tube is pinched by the carer's body. |
The hose hangs loosely in the direction of the hose connection.  | The tube is in an unintended direction and lifts the mask away from the nose.  |
The tube has no influence on the sitting posture.  | The too-tight hose pulls my head to the side.  |
Before turning on the side, enough reserve was put on the bed.  | A lack of reserve has already led to the hose being torn off often enough.  |
