As to the pain medication issue. It’s not as simple as it used to be. In the old days, someone came in in obvious pain, the doctor looked at the patient, verbally “ordered” morphine or something, a nurse walked into a back room where all the morphine was kept in an unlocked draw, he or she grabbed one, went back outside and gave it to the patient.
Well, it doesn’t always work that way anymore!
Now, a doctor has to fully assess the patient including allergies, medical history, symptoms, etc, because they are liable for their actions, and are obligated to treat
correctly, even when circumstances are urgent or emergent. Controlled substances are highly regulated, and dispensed electronically. Once a doctor orders a medication, in all but the most dire emergencies, a pharmacist has to approve it, and set the electronic dispensary so that a nurse can actually get it out, and leave other duties to actually administer it to the patient. All this takes a bit of time.
To the comment that was made yesterday about the appearance of a bunch of ER staff sitting around doing nothing. I have actually experienced that myself as a parent in a children’s hospital, although it was actually a group of nursing students (who looked like nurses) who were like deer in the headlights afraid I would ask them something they didn’t know the answer to. It did bother me, though, that nobody offered to help me when I was looking for help, and I made sure to teach my own DD who became a nursing student later to offer help then figure out the answer afterward, etc.
But playing devil’s advocate, everyone knows that electronic documentation has become the norm over the past decade or so. Some institutions are still relatively new at it. As someone who spent decades documenting on paper, then moving over to documenting everything electronically, I can tell you, it’s all encompassing and completely overwhelming at times trying to keep up. And we all know how important correct documentation is. In somewhere like an ER (and anywhere, really), things are supposed to be documented in real time, ie as they happen. Try doing that with seven patients who all need you pretty badly! Often nurses are torn between giving physical care, and documenting what is happening. I know for myself, I try to document in rooms when I’m in there, but sometimes I have to sit outside the room to document, and I often wonder if patients think I’m sitting around doing nothing. (So I wish! Never happens!) I also have to perform other duties on an iPhone, and I wonder the same thing about whether people think I’m texting my friends or posting on Facebook. (I’m not!) So appearances can be deceiving. Very few ER nurses are going to say they sit around and chew the fat for very long, unless they work in a small ER that’s quiet (not sure how many of those there are) or they happen to have a rare lull. I remember one Saturday morning having a rare lull in the ER where I worked. It was nice, with a bunch of us, for once, sitting drinking coffee. Until the moment we heard commotion at the ambulance bay, and a car-full of people had dropped a dead body off at the door, then took off! We immediately had to jump up, get the person into the trauma room, get an IV in, then give Narcan, which thankfully brought the person back. Unfinished coffee cups sat cold on the desk for the rest of the day.
Not making excuses for anyone, because as I’ve said, I’ve been both a staff person and a patient and family member, so I’ve been on both sides. I’ve also had some horrible and distressing medical visits and hospital stays myself that deeply disturbed me, so I do understand. I’m just trying to help people understand a little of what goes on behind the scenes.
