Long wait in the dark
On the day of my dad's surgery, I arrived at hospital at 12.15pm and discovered that my dad was wheeled into the operating theater at noon. Earlier, we were told that the operation would take about 3 hours. Given what happened to my mum, my dad wanted me to stay within the hospital compound during the duration of the operation. I was in the ward, reading a book and snoozing.
At about 4pm, I was a little worried because no one told me anything. I figured that if I didn't receive any emergency call, that meant there was no problem. However, at 5.30pm, I asked a nurse in the ward for status update on my date, pointing out that it had been 5.5 hours since my dad left the ward. In short, she didn't know the actual status but she did say that sometimes patient is left in OT to rest before sent back to ward. Also, she spotted a doctor involved in the surgery and surmised that the operation was already over.
About 3 hours later, I again asked for news. This time, they told me that my dad would only be moved back to ward once they receive a call from the OT. That still told me nothing about my dad's surgery status. My mum wanted to stay on until my dad was back. Since only 1 person was allowed to stay on past visiting hours, the rest of us went home and waited for my mum's call. When I left, it was a total of 8 hours of stay in the hospital and yet my dad wasn't out. More importantly no one updated us anything.
My mum called at about 10.30pm and said that my dad was back at ward. It appears that they waited for my dad to wake up before sending him back to the ward.
I agree with my sister that it was inconsiderate of the hospital staff not to provide any update at all to family members who were worried sick about the patient. At the very least, once the surgery was over, shouldn't we be informed? I would be contented with news as basic as "surgery is over and he's resting".
At about 4pm, I was a little worried because no one told me anything. I figured that if I didn't receive any emergency call, that meant there was no problem. However, at 5.30pm, I asked a nurse in the ward for status update on my date, pointing out that it had been 5.5 hours since my dad left the ward. In short, she didn't know the actual status but she did say that sometimes patient is left in OT to rest before sent back to ward. Also, she spotted a doctor involved in the surgery and surmised that the operation was already over.
About 3 hours later, I again asked for news. This time, they told me that my dad would only be moved back to ward once they receive a call from the OT. That still told me nothing about my dad's surgery status. My mum wanted to stay on until my dad was back. Since only 1 person was allowed to stay on past visiting hours, the rest of us went home and waited for my mum's call. When I left, it was a total of 8 hours of stay in the hospital and yet my dad wasn't out. More importantly no one updated us anything.
My mum called at about 10.30pm and said that my dad was back at ward. It appears that they waited for my dad to wake up before sending him back to the ward.
I agree with my sister that it was inconsiderate of the hospital staff not to provide any update at all to family members who were worried sick about the patient. At the very least, once the surgery was over, shouldn't we be informed? I would be contented with news as basic as "surgery is over and he's resting".
Comments
That's terrible!