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On 7/6/98, at 12:09 AM, blane10(AT)juno.com wrote:
>DChare,
>
> Thank you so much for pointing out this idiotic situation. I can
>relate to your experiences totally.
>
> I am a 42 year old man who is also vent-dependant and requires
>part-time nursing care. Most nurses sent to me are just as ignorant
>about vent and respiratory care as the ones sent to care for your son.
>
> The nursing agency supervisor always asserts the nurses sent out
>are "certified respiratory care nurses". Whatever that means! I've had
>nurses out here that can't suction, don't know what a PulmoAid machine
>is, or even how to turn the vent on or silence the alarms.
>
> When I sometimes get angry and frustrated about this stupid
>situation and confront the nurses about their lack of knowledge, they
>usually counter with the same reply, "In the hospital, the respiratory
>technician (RT) usually handled it." In other words, they worked in a
>pulmonary care ward where they had no hands on training or experience.
>This is supposed to justify something?
>
> The problem as I see it is, the medical establishment (in its
>infinite wisdom) is wrongly trying to apply the same standards it uses in
>facilities to private homes. They are so wrong! Home care is absolutely
>nothing like institutional care, or should it be!
>
> They need to wake up and change these standards, before some ill
>trained nurses kills someone, if they haven't already. Good luck!
>
>Blane
>:-)
>
>On Sun, 5 Jul 1998 21:17:00 EDT DChare6704(AT)aol.com writes:
>>We have home nursing care at night; in addition, we have a nurse who
>>goes to
>>school with our son. One of the things I have found very
>>disconcerting is the
>>lack of experience and technical know-how of many of the nurses which
>>have
>>been sent to us by the agency. I have had nurses show up here to look
>>after
>>my 9-year old son who don't know what an obdurator is, have no idea
>>how to
>>put a nebulizer in line on the vent to give an inhalation treatment,
>>and
>>basically don't know the first thing about a ventilator except that
>>you have
>>to turn it on. Most of them have never heard of a pulse ox and
>>wouldn't know
>>what to do with it; many don't know what a sleep study is and don't
>>know
>>anything about CO2 or O2 levels. It's frightening because I speak to
>>the
>>manager at the agency and, because she has no experience with trachs
>>or vents,
>>she has no idea why I'm concerned. Our problem is that there are only
>>2
>>agencies which provide paediatric services - I left one because of
>>problems,
>>and the problems are just as bad (in fact, worse) with the 2nd. It
>>seems that
>>these agencies think that having a R.N. diploma means their staff can
>>handle
>>anything. Has anyone else run into this problem and how have you
>>dealt with
>>it?
>>
>>
Kevin M. Rudolph E-Mail: turbokev(AT)iglou.com
Kentucky Colonel WWW: http://members.iglou.com/turbokev
Louisville, Kentucky 40214 The Bluegrass State