Wow, sorry that is awful. Start a complaint immediately with the patient advocacy and tell your doctors. Next time go to another hospital. I would have called security and or the patient advocacy when your bg went so high and told them you were not being treated and the nurse was abusive.
I had to have a big fight on my second stay right after dka. I caused a huge fuss and basically let them know I would be treating myself. The nurse told me I was not going to be fed that night and I would not get insulin unless over 200 for mealsā¦ I went bonkers. In the end I was allowed to do meals and corrections and they did my basal. I was only one day out of dka then and they had released me with a dvt.
My last stay, they let me use my pump and I managed everything, there was no need for arguments, they were happy to have me manage it, I was in for high bg and key-tones, close to dka and gastro issues.
They tested my bg before meals I think, maybe after sometimes. I think a pump is better because no one wants to mess with it maybe.
Here is what I have done and it has always worked for me. When I am admitted; I insist that the admitting doctor stipulate that I am responsible for controlling my blood sugar. I am allowed to keep my pump, have my own insulin, and do my own blood sugar checks. They even allow me to manage my own pump during surgery, unless it is many hours long; then they use a sliding scale.
I have had some nurses try to take it away from me. There is always supposed to be a charge nurse on the floor and you can request to see him/her anytime things are not going right. You can also request that the offending nurse be removed as one of your care nurses. They are then not allowed to even enter your room.
If all else fails pick up the phone and call your doctor or his answering service if after hours. He can then contact the charge nurse and remedy the situation.
I always try to be a good patient and cooperative but since I am the patient I must be my own advocate and so should you.
My biggest complaint with hospital care stems from the cross contamination that goes on and causes people to get sick. While they do have the liquid gels everywhere; it is not a substitute for hand washing. If you have ever used the gels for a day and then washed your hands you will see that they are black. I recently learned that nurses and doctorās are required, by law, to wash their hands in your presence if you request them to do so. I know too many people who have gotten sick with C-diff, etc. in the hospital. They put on gloves but their hands are already dirty so the gloves are then contaminated. They will not like it but in the future I will be asking them to wash their hands before touching medicine, drawing blood, or anything that could cause potential infections.
Hospitals do have a department that is supposed to train and educate the staff in cross contamination protocol. They do not want to be sued. You can contact them if you have a complaint. I have only done that once when I was headed to surgery. My nurse came to insert an IV but was called away and I could see her picking up papers, and other items before returning to me. She did not change her gloves so I asked her to. She compiled and was very nice about it. After leaving the hospital I was contacted for a survey. I told them what had happened and that the nurse had changed her gloves upon request. That department followed up with me and assured me it was important that they be made aware of such instances. They understood I was not trying to get the nurse in trouble but they insisted that training in the area of contamination was very important to them.
This is true. A nurse, or basically anyone other than the attending physician (I think), cannot do ANYTHING without an actual order. You might want to see whether the nurse had any orders having to do with any insulin other than your short acting insulin. If the nursing staff only had orders about short acting insulin, and not long acting insulin, that might be the root of that situation (though not the snotty behavior).
Sorry for all of this, does the hospital have a patient advocate? I would also make sure my doctor leaves orders that continue my insulin. I would also file an official complaint pertaining to the nurseās verbal abusive treatment of you. I would continue this even after discharge. Nancy50
Agreed
Thus nurseās approach was arrogant, unprofessional and dangerous
Your insulin requirements should have been established at admission
In the absence of this a doctor should have been contacted ( I assume that this hospital has doctors on duty 24/7)
She could have not only endangered healing and increased the risk of you developping an infection, but risked DKA and your life
She either needs re educating and an attitude adjusment, or to stop practising
You should have seen the lengthy info I had to fill out at my last hospital stay for a one day admission. All pertinent pump info was required. Actually, I was impressed that they asked for all the right info.
Iām sorry you had to go through this. Iāve been hospitalized numerous times (childbirth, mastectomy, MRSA infection among others) and have had a number of surgeries (probably 15) since being diagnosed with Type 1. Iāve been fortunate enough to have been on an insulin pump, and as soon as they start telling me how to manage my diabetes (āThe anesthesiologist doesnāt want you to take your long-acting insulin ā¦ā) all you have to do is tell them youāre on an insulin pump and theyāre stumped. For surgeries, I offer to run my blood sugars at around 150 and theyāre happy and leave me alone. I know this doesnāt help you, the original poster, but it may help others who have the option to control BG with a pump.
@Beluebee So during actual surgery do you manage to stay at 150?? Hopefully no hospital stays or surgeries are in my future. But before I had my pump I had 2 surgeries pretty close together. I was told to take my full basal the first time and hit 79 after surgery, so the next one I took half and I came out of it at 350.
I didnāt think to ask on the second surgery which was a lot longer one, about 2-3 hours, if they gave me glucose at all. But I have a tendency to drop during doctors, acupuncture, chiro and dentists visits. Iām just wondering how you handle the actual surgery, temp decrease? suspend? increase?
BTW, I had to ask them to test me half way through the surgery, their normal policy was just to test at the beginning and thatās it. This was a major teaching hospital.
Iām sorry you were under the care of a substandard nurse. Probably didnāt want to call physician on call for orders. As an RN, I would not go to the hospital without my own insulin. The medical community is sorely lacking in diabetes education and knowledge. Sliding scale does not work for anyone if you donāt also count the carbs in the meal. Common sense. Make sure you file a complaint. Hospitals do listen. Most strive for good surveys. Funding depends on it.
If this happens to anyone just ask to see āthe Administrator On Callā. Youāll get insulin plus anything else you want and if they actually send the person you requested (and they should), tell exactly what the problem is and how the nurse responded to you. She could have explained her orders without cursing at you. So you just had kidney surgery and they let your BG go to 400. Iād still want an explanation even now.
I was hospitalized about a year ago for something unrelated to diabetes. I had to teach the nursing staff how to manage my diabetesā¦this, while freaking out about the hospitalization in the first placeā¦
Overall there are two areas of healthcare, imo, where the care is woefully ignorant, and often without compassion: 1) diabetes; 2) mental illness. If one has both itās like the healthcare system is out to deep six us. Clearly, I am really angry and upset about what has been happening with my ācareā in the past year. I was dxād with T1 in my early 60ās.
Finally, a physician friend of mine is advising that I begin making clear demands with the system I am in about the care I am and have been receiving. You may need to seek out the hospital administrator and/or medical director. My 2 cents.
For any planned admissions, self management of insulin will be agreed to in advance. Otherwise, I will find care elsewhere. Havenāt had occasion to test it yet. Iām on a pump, but wonāt be using their fat needles in any case.
Unplanned admissions? My one experience (MDI at the time), they didnāt find my insulin or syringes. If push comes to shove and Iām able, I might go to station or desk and say Iām checking out.
I donāt take insulin but other meds. I donāt let them take any meds from me like inhaler because they Tried to give me an inhaler I had a reaction to that the ALLERGIST removes from the prescription list .
U should definitely report it. And the nurse should be removed. U will literally save lives because people like this donāt care about patients safety or lives.
I did end up filing a complaint and all they did was forward it to the doctor that was āon-callā that night. He called me and was a real jerk. He said āwhen you are in the hospital it is up to us which medications you receive, not youā. I asked him what kind of decision is it that would deny an insulin dependent diabetic who just lost half a kidney to surgery two weeks prior to not receive insulin for 12 hours and allow their blood sugar to reach almost 400? He hung up on me.
My surgeon called me later in the day and apologized for the incident. He told me they should have notified him that I was readmitted back in the hospital and they did not. He said next time to make sure he was notified. I flat out told him I would have to be just about dead to go back in that hospital as I actually feared being in there.
@Baddog40 You might try resubmitting that complaint and say nothing was done to prevent it happening to someone again and the DKA that it could cause is serious.
The squeaky wheel type thing. Also there is probably someone above that person that you could submit it too. That is probably their ānormalā handling initially.
Having been in the hospital myself lately, reading about your experience is making me ill. You were treated horribly and I feel so badly for you just like I would for myself. The second time I was admitted, again for a totally non diabetic reason, I let them take my insulin from me as long as I had full say about how much insulin I was given and when. My husband also brought in more insulin which the nurses didnāt know about which I would have used if necessary.
Since you had been treated respectfully before, I certainly understand why you didnāt have anyone sneak any in. I donāt know if you were even capable of giving yourself a shot if you had some hidden insulin.
There is no excuse for the behavior of the nurse or the on call doctor. I just donāt want them to get away with that kind of dangerous behavior.
I guess I would go to the head of the hospital and voice my complaint and threaten them with a lawsuit.
I can understand why you would choose not to do this if it just feels like too much to take on after your two hospital stays.
Thank you. I agree I never expected this as the previous stay was completely different. Not to mention this all started at night and it would have been impossible for me to have my son or someone else sneak me some insulin. Who wouldāve thought that is something you would have to consider in a hospital?
I get mad about this every time I think about it. I just submitted a complaint through the states Department of Public health so weāll see if that does anything. Not holding my breath. I actually donāt think anyone considers this to be a big deal. Maybe itās not, but the ADA considers a bg level of 400 to be a dangerous level. I initially was against filing a complaint for fear if I ever have to go there again. But hell with them, this is the biggest hospital in Colorado and they should not be allowed to get away with it.
