Observations at a Hospital/Doctor's Office (Part Two)

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This is part two of the post from here on the following questions:

You know what I'll never understand?

1. Why patients with heart related symptoms are made to wait an hour (plus) in the waiting room in the emergency room.
2. Why patients on a "cardiac diet" are fed cheese sandwiches, lasagna, and other such things in hospitals.
3. Why a cardiologists' office serves pizza (ESPECIALLY after a stress test).
4. Why the nurses and technicians in hospitals wake the patients up every 2-4 hours to take their blood pressure, etc.
5. Why the nurses and technicians are so incredibly loud in the middle of the night.

You can read part one about statements one and two by clicking here.

Statement Three: Why a cardiologists' office serves pizza (ESPECIALLY after a stress test).

This goes along with my previous statement, statement two, as it also deals with the quality of food (or lack thereof).

After my dad's heart attack in 2005, he has had regular appointments with the cardiologist of course and has had annual stress tests. Each year after coming back his stress test, he would tell us that they were serving pizza and soda for the patients and their families (fortunately he would choose not to eat that).

It's so absurd that it is almost funny. Here we are at a cardiologists' office and they are serving oily pizza to a bunch of heart patients.

Apparently they have stopped serving food altogether-- so I'm not even sure it was because they realized they were serving unhealthy food or if it was just because

Statement Four: Why the nurses and technicians in hospitals wake the patients up every 2-4 hours to take their blood pressure, etc.

Fortunately I've never been hospitalized, but I've stayed plenty of times with my mom or dad. That said, I probably know my local hospital backwards and forward. But that's not the point; the point is that I don't get why they do certain things at hospitals (or the way they do them).

While it's annoying when they check the patients' temperature, blood pressure, and pulse rate every couple of hours while you are awake, I understand that they have to do that. I get it. What I don't get it is WHY they wake up patients to do it when they are sleeping. I don't think that by not checking for several hours it would be that big of a deal in MOST cases. OF COURSE they are some circumstances where I'm sure it is necessary to check every two hours on the dot-- but it's not all of the time!

Most patients are probably already annoyed and not getting sleep just because they are in the hospital, so a few sound hours of sleep is probably necessary for them. I think my blood pressure would rise every time they woke me up at night ;)... just saying.

Once or twice, I remember, the technician coming into the room and once they acknowledge that the patient (my mom or dad) is sleeping, they just tell me they'll come back later when the patient is awake. But that rarely happens.

You know what I find the funniest during all of this? When the nurse or technician asks the patient bright and early in the morning how they slept? How do you think they slept? You didn't let them sleep! 

I'm going to throw in a statement five in here just because I can :)

Statement Five:  Why the nurses and technicians are so incredibly loud in the middle of the night.

I'm not sure what the deal is with this one, but it sure is annoying.

I can never sleep in hospitals anyways, so I'm usually up all night... which is probably why I noticed all these little things.

I don't remember if I've noticed this happen before, but this past time - a nurse and technician kept talking really loud (essentially yelling to one another) right outside the rooms. If it was for something related to the patients, that they needed help, or something to the likes - it would be more than understandable. But no, instead they were laughing and joking. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!

Several times, my dad woke up from their loud voices. Said nurse and technician even came into our room and continued to do so and I probably gave them the most annoyed look possible because that was when it stopped fortunately.

Have you observed or heard about other similar things happening at hospitals and/or doctors' offices that you found absurd?

Updated 12.17.2010: I was quite surprised to find this question in a survey online at http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov because that indicates that it is a consistent problem, not something that happens on a rare occasion. For the category, 'Patients who reported that the area around their room was "Always" quiet at night.' -- only 52% of the people who answered the survey in relation to the hospital we were at. That's pretty low. Worse, the number was lower for the other hospitals in our area!

P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.

Observations at a Hospital/Doctor's Office (Part One)

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You know what I'll never understand?

1. Why patients with heart related symptoms are made to wait an hour (plus) in the waiting room in the emergency room.
2. Why patients on a "cardiac diet" are fed cheese sandwiches, lasagna, and other such things in hospitals.
3. Why a cardiologists' office serves pizza (ESPECIALLY after a stress test).
4. Why the nurses and technicians in hospitals wake the patients up every 2-4 hours to take their blood pressure, etc.

I'll expand further on each of the above statements, but don't you find each of them absolutely ridiculous and hypocritical?

Statement One: Why patients with heart related symptoms are made to wait an hour (plus) in the waiting room in the emergency room.

This past Tuesday my dad went to the emergency room because he felt tightness in his chest (he had a heart attack in 2005 so of course it was a concern for all of us). We sat in the waiting room for atleast an hour and a half (probably even more) before we were finally taken back into the emergency room. Another 30+ minutes later, he was finally seen by a doctor.

A chest x-ray, blood test, and 2 EKG's later to see if it was indeed heart related we were told that the tests would need to be done several times (one at about each eight hour interval) because just one or two times would be inconclusive. If that's the case, it brings me back to my original question of WHY they take so long in the first place.

I would assume, and rightfully so I think, that if the symptoms indicate that the problem is heart related, immediate action would be taken. I had always assumed that the emergency room was ordered based on the urgency of the situations, but apparently not based on what I saw.

Not surprisingly, my dad was hospitalized -- for two days.

This wasn't the first time, unfortunately, we had to to wait way too long for something that could have potentially been serious (but thankfully was not) -- it happened to my mom in 2008 as well.

Statement Two: Why patients on a "cardiac diet" are fed cheese sandwiches, lasagna, and other such things in hospitals.

I've noticed this happen before as well, but at the same as I talk about above -- I went to ask the nurse if my dad could have something to eat since he hadn't had anything to eat for several hours (he had came straight from work to the hospital). The nurse told me he would ask my dad's doctor and let me know. Can you imagine how surprised I was when the technician came back sometime later and told us that my dad was being put on a cardiac diet for now and asked if a cheese sandwich would be okay when we told him he could eat halal food (kosher-like) or vegetarian.

What part of a sandwich with two cheese slices fits into a cardiac diet? How does that even make sense?

The next day he had vegetarian lasagna (again with lots of cheese) for lunch. Oh, and with each meal came a roll with BUTTER. I can't recall exactly what else he ate during his hospital stay, but a lot of them sure were questionable. When did a cardiac diet come to mean that only the salt quantity needs to be controlled?

Part Two to come soon.  Update: You can read Part Two by clicking here.

 P.S. Don't forget to leave me a comment below on your thoughts! As always, I'd love to hear from you.