I had a horrific experience in the ED recently. Being a fellow healthcare worker, I’m quite appalled with the level of care/lack thereof that I received.
I was BIBA with significant abdominal distension, severe tachycardia, vomiting and 10/10 pain with a recent history of bowel obstruction requiring emergency surgery. I was taken straight through to a bed and assessed by a doctor. Following this I listed the medications I had taken at home an hour prior - the nurse proceeded to seemingly ignore me and hung a bag of paracetamol which I had already self-administered an hour prior. They then tried to administer an antiemetic that I was already at max dosage on. Crying in agony and vomiting, struggling to sit up, my call bell was hung on the wall and I couldn’t reach it. I proceeded to ask for help multiple times by staff passing by and was seemingly ignored.
Finally, my nurse came back - after sitting with a colleague looking at their phones, and said I can only have Panadol and there’s nothing else they can do for me. I requested a different antiemetic and I felt I was completely brushed off while the nurses stood there watching me throw up constantly without batting an eyelid. I had to request my nurse to take my vitals (which were never done on admission to the room) given I had been tachycardic around the 130s with palpitations. At this point I believe I could care for myself better at home. Also extremely unprofessional talking about patients within hearing distance in my opinion. I ended up DAMA and attending a different hospital. Overall I’m extremely disappointed in the apparent complete lack of care, compassion and professionalism. As a Triage 1/2 - I had bloods taken and was given paracetamol in the 3 hours that I was there.
"ED on the other side as the patient"
About: Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital / Emergency Department Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital Emergency Department Nedlands 6009
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