Tami just had a pain pump put in yesterday in addition to her internal one, the Hospice called me that morning asking me if we would rather try a fentanyl patch first. Dr Perdekamp decided it might be better to try that, I informed the nurse that if the Dr had been paying attention to Tami's care she might remember that Tami has had a reaction to those patches much like that which has caused death in others (shortness of breath, trouble breathing). The nurse said that the Dr probably just forgot, fair enough, I mean it happens right, you forget something at work, people die, no big whoop right?
The came out and put the pump on, they accessed her port, every time someone has accessed her port they have always flushed it to make sure it is working ok, The nurse did not this time, we started having problems with the pump almost immediately, I asked if she should have flushed the port, she said probably but she things she has it working and left. Of course it started messing up again, I had to have Hospice come out twice more to figure it out, once they tried a Sub Q in the back of her arm, which started to leak because Tami has not meat on her for the fluid to soak into, then the second time the Nurse got the port working properly and we have had no problems since.
I just get very frustrated with this, I am not the greatest worker on the planet, but damn if I wouldn't be ashamed if the customer coming into OSP had to tell me how to set up their file to print correctly when that is what I get paid to do.
It wasn't just these 2 instances above either, its been repeated ever since we started this journey. And I remember back to a nurse telling us that we needed to be responsible for Tami's care when she was in a hospital to make sure she is getting everything she needs, and that statement still blows my mind. Now no one is perfect and mistakes can happen, but it just frustrating to see it happen so often and in situations that could be very serious.
