last few hours in hospital, a bit long of course

[rubyred]

2:30pm - Dr says "your tests came out good you can go home today.

4pm - nap

5pm - RN says "here are your discharge papers, sign here and we will get you out of here, let us know when you are ready."

5:01 - Me at nurses station - "I am ready to go"

5:01 - Nurse - go back to your room, no one comes up to the nurses station when they are ready to go, we dont know about your paper work anyway, we will get back to ya as soon as we find out more information"

5:15 - Me (pressed nurse button), "When will I be leaving?"
Nurse "we have your paper work and will be getting you a wheel chair soon so you can leave."
Another nurse "here is your discharge papers we will have you out of here soon."

5:30 - Left a message at home that I would be home soon.

5:35 - ordered to go food from a resturant, (no more salt free, fat free, taste less food).

5:40 - left another message at home that I would be leaving soon.

5:57 - Nurse enters room with my dinner tray, I say "I am leaving and have ordered dinner to take out." She says "Just relax and eat since it is here"

6:05 - I ring buzzer, (beginning to feel I am living in the twilight zone, that I am trapped in a room unable to leave), demanding that I be allowed to leave, I feel I may have to chew a leg off to get out!

6:10 - Nurse finally shows up with wheel chair and I am ushered out the door to my freedom! (I get home only to find draboo has to work until 8:00 only to be home at 9:30pm).

[korgul]

Glad to see you again rubyred.

The last hours in a hospital are always the longest. I think that they know that and try to make it last even longer so they can make you upset. Which in turn makes you go back to the hospital, hence they make more money.


Glad to have you back

Interesting analysis, rubyred.

We get ppl out of hospital really quick here. No mucking about. Within a few minutes of the dr saying you can go, the process is irreversibly commenced. We normally try to anticipate the dr's announcement by having all your discharge drugs/papers ready at the desk. Dr says, "you can go home today", and within 20 minutes most times, you are out the door. We have even called your partner yesterday and arranged to have you picked up.

The process is called discharge planning, and means we can fill beds quicker, therefore making more money in the process (we get paid by patient day, not by hours of stay. So the more patients, the more money). And if pts come back unexpectedly, we may not even get paid at all if it's related to their previous visit. Such is our private health funding system.

Sounds like the US have a bit to learn about how to run hospitals efficiently, with minimal resources.

Cheers
Mick

[Brainchild]

Sounds like the Hotel California

You can check out anytime you like
But you can never leave

Sounds like the hospitals around here.My wife has multiple sclerosis,and is frequently in the hospital or ER,and they are really slow.

Ha! The last time I was in, when they said you can go I left! They called the house a couple hours later really


They had been looking for me

[lights]

Rubyred glad to hear you are good.

The floor i work at is like that we have patient discharged before the dr says, then whe they do say your out of here, you are out within mins. at the most 1 hour.
some of the patients do eat their lunch or dinner before they go but it's their choice.

lights

[NeoStarO1]

Glad to hear you doing better RubyRed.

[Terminal23]

You know you can never leave a hospital on your own power. They insist that you ride in that stupid wheelchair. I never have understood that.

It's so you don't fall over and stay longer. They really want to get rid of you when your time is up.

Cheers
Mick

[Brainchild]

Really, I thought it was so they could push you into something and keep ya longer

MO money MO money MO money!