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As mentioned before I work in the hospital as an ADNA in the float pool. I was recently floated to a ICU stepdown unit and it was awful. From the moment I arrived to the unit to the moment I was able to leave the unit it was none stop call lights going off and as for me I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. There was 24 patients on this unit and it was only two aides on the floor. What bothered me the most about being on this unit was the nurses physically seeing me running all around doing all of the tasks that I am supposed to complete and the nurses were just adding more task to my list while they were sitting with their feet kicked up, gossiping, and scrolling on their phones. I was getting my quarterly vitals and their was a patient who's vitals I had already gotten. The patients nurse stopped me and ask if I had gotten the vitals and I told the nurse yes, I have a few more vitals to get along with blood sugars. The nurse ask if I could stop doing vitals and to change the patients bedding and she'd be in there in a few minutes to give meds to the patient. The nurse was literally sitting at the nurses station phone in hand. I politely told her no I can not, you should be able to do it when you pass meds and I explained to her that while I was in there getting vitals her bedding was fine and I had ask the patient if there was anything that they needed while I was in the room. I understand I am there to help and assist nurses but it's like they take advantage of that and literally tries to run you down both physically and mentally. There was another incident with a different nurse. After I had gotten all of my blood sugars and vitals for the patients I was assigned to, the nurse came up to me and ask if I had done it and I said yes it was already done. The charge nurse came up to me not even 2 minutes later and ask me the same thing and told me that the nurse wasn't sure if I got them. At that point of my shift I was already over it because I had already been running all around for them. If she was that concerned if I did the vitals or blood sugars, she could've checked if I did them or not or she could have just done them instead of her just sitting there. On this specific ICU stepdown unit, this happens frequently and the nurses could be very rude and lazy. Being that way isn't going to let people want to help you. Something as simple as answering a call light is not hard to do and anyone can answer a call light nurse or aid. The entire day was just super overwhelming and I was physically drained after that shift.

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1. Choose whether to share a positive or negative healthcare experience by posting in the appropriate section

2. Your experience can be:

Personal (anonymously shared)

From someone you know (with permission)

A hypothetical scenario

3. When sharing your experience, include:

What happened

How it made the patient feel

What behaviors from healthcare workers influenced the experience

4. Read your peers’ experiences and engage in discussion through comments

5. Focus on identifying patterns of behavior that either enhanced or diminished the quality of care

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I was working at a hospital as an aide a few years back, and decided to meander down to the gift shop on my lunch hour. I usually chat it up with the cashier every time I come down to browse. So, when I walked in, *Carrie (names have been changed for privacy), who was usually chipper and smiley, was not acting like herself. Not thinking anything of it, I went to candy aisle to pick out a candy bar. I looked up at Carrie, and she was tapping her head with her fingers looking down at the counter. “Carrie!” I hollered. I kept calling her name and she wouldn’t answer. She slowly started to sink down the counter when I immediately ran behind her and held her up. My instincts kicked in. She was an epileptic and having a seizure! I held Carrie in one arm and grabbed the nearby phone. I called the operator and told her the situation, and I asked her to call a Code Blue overhead. She did just that, and security was the first to come. He brought in a wheelchair in as I tried to sit Carrie down, but then she started convulsing. I ordered the security guard to help me lay her on her side in recumbent position and wadded up my warm- up jacket for her head. Emergency personnel came and took her on a stretcher after she came to. A week later, I received an envelope at the front desk. Inside was a ‘Thank You’ card from Carrie. Inside the card she wrote: “Thank you for saving my life.” I still have that card and tear up just thinking about it. Whenever I am down and feeling worthless, I think about that time, knowing I made a difference.

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What happened: My mom was battling breast cancer and ended up in the ICU. She became unresponsive, and my sister and I became the decision makers. We were in denial and argued with the healthcare team, who knew she was far gone. We stayed by her side for weeks, sleeping in the room with her, because we didn’t want her to be alone. We had different nurses throughout her stay.

How it made the patient feel: While my mom was unresponsive, we believed she may have been aware of her surroundings. The ICU nurses (some of them..) made sure she was comfortable and spoke to her, treating her as a human being. This likely provided a sense of peace and respect for her.

What behaviors from healthcare workers influenced the experience:

Positive behaviors: Some nurses were compassionate and went above and beyond. They cared for my sister and I as well as my mom, offering us breaks, hygiene products, and emotional support. They talked to my mom while caring for her, and one nurse even shared a personal story that helped us come to terms with the situation and make the decision to let my mom go. This same nurse cried with us and gave us comfort during my mom’s final moments. These nurses showed empathy and treated my mom with dignity and respect. Their kindness helped us through a deeply painful time.

Negative behaviors: Other nurses showed a lack of passion, doing the bare minimum and spending time on their phones. They would often check on my mom late, even after we had already pointed out that something seemed wrong. They treated my mom like a task on a checklist, not a human being. This made us feel as if she wasn’t important to them.

This experience made me hyper-aware of patients who are mistreated or who are unable to speak for themselves, such as those under anesthesia. It reinforced the idea that every patient is a human being with loved ones, not just “another case.” Because of those kind nurses, it inspired me to want to advocate for patients and ensure they are treated with respect, regardless of their condition.

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What Happened: Back when I was 12 I had started complaining of shoulder pain. I basically ignored the pain and then lived with it until I was almost 20. At that time I had finally decided that I was tired of my shoulder hurting daily and at that point the pain had become very severe and I had started having instability in my arm. I went to see an orthopedic surgeon who did an MRI without contrast at first. The surgeon stated that I had a possible partial tear of my labrum but that with the imaging that was taken it could not be confirmed. I was given a few different treatment options which included physical therapy to try and strengthen the muscles surrounding my shoulder, a cortisone shot to help with the pain, and the third option was surgery. Although when the surgeon had stated that surgery was an option he also stated that he would not do surgery even if it was the only thing he could do because of my age. At that time I was feeling very defeated, it felt as though my pain wasn't being taken seriously and I still did not have a confirmed diagnosis. I consented to try the cortisone shot, which only lasted about a week, and then I attempted physical therapy which ended up leading to more severe pain than I was already in. I decided to stop physical therapy seeing as it wasn't helping and I never received another cortisone shot as it had failed the first time. I then lived in consistent pain for another 3 years, when I decided to seek a second opinion. By that point I had a full anterior tear of my labrum and they were concerned with the tear also being posterior. The second surgeon I had seen told me that physical therapy wouldn't have helped in my injury, and that surgery is the only option to try and fix my pain. I will say that I do still experience pain in my shoulder, but it is much more manageable now that it has been fixed.

How this experience made me feel: This experience made me feel honestly like I was going crazy. I wasn't "feeling" the pain although I knew I was in pain and I was losing abilities in my arm that I had once had. There were a lot of scary events that happened including my shoulder partially dislocating. I felt like the first surgeon didn't listen or care about what I was going through and it felt belittling during the appointment.

What behaviors from healthcare workers influenced the experience: The first surgeon immediately saying that even if surgery was the only option for me it still wouldn't be one that he would do based solely on my age was something that I did not agree with. I feel like at that point everything that had been said by me was kind of thrown out and ignored. It also felt like the surgeon didn't care about me as a patient.

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A time where I had a negative experience was when I was about six or seven years old. I was a very shy and nervous child until I was much older, I had never enjoyed going to the doctor or meeting new people. When my mom and I realized I had a wart on my armpit that was quite large we tried healing it at home. There was no success with the many attempts we did, natural remedies and over the counter. It ended up becoming infected and a hair follicle was also infected. We went to my usual primary care doctor I knew and trusted as much as I did any stranger. She started the exam and before my mom or I knew if she took a lancet type of item to my armpit. Naturally as a child I did not react well to the sharp unexpected pain, my mom had absolutely no idea they planned on this. The doctor simply said after oh I did not want to cause me more stress and worry. My mom was understandably furious with the doctor’s actions, this left me feeling even more untrusting of doctors. I am not sure why the doctor felt it was appropriate to not even tell my mom her plans for action and care. As I grew older I still became nervous around doctors and still do not love going in for illness or annual exams. While no child enjoys sharp instruments being used on them there was a much better way of going about this situation. I’m sure if I knew what was going to happen I still would not be excited but would may have understood a bit more and knew what to expect. I heard stories later on in the area I’m from that this doctor was known for acting like this and not properly informing patients or guardians. From an early age children are impressionable and can become accustomed to situations if properly handled. Thankfully this situation did not deter me from healthcare and did no physical damage but it did make me more patient. It give me the ability to better relate to patients who are scared, worried or confused. I am eager anytime I get to hold a patients hand or give a kind wave with a smile even if they just see it in my eyes because of masks