In a post last week, I discussed why elderly patients don't get out of bed and walk when hospitalized. I wrote that a major reason that staff does not have time to walk patients is that they are too busy documenting useless checkboxes on the electronic medical record.
The New York Times article about the negative
effects of bed rest on the elderly which led me to comment stated that "hospital
nurses seemed grateful" when the author offered to walk her father. She
also mentioned that she had to supply a walker, robe and slippers.
My next question is "Could this be the first step
toward third-world medicine?" [Pun intended.]
We've all heard stories about how in certain countries,
families must provide hospitalized patients with bedding, food and basic
hygiene.
A recent article about a family's experiences with a
relative who had surgery in Cuba illustrates the point.
The author wrote,
"Prior to the trip [to Cuba], my wife wisely purchased towels and two
sets of sheets and pillowcases for her mother’s use during her hospital stay.
In addition, we packed several aerosol cans of spray disinfectant, special soap
used for sponge baths and a room air-freshener that plugs into to an electrical
outlet.
Regarding the postoperative stay, he says, "The
next two days for me was [sic] spent
shuttling food and juice to the hospital for my wife and her mother."
"At the end of the third day, my mother-in-law
had arranged to trade her used sheets and towels for a week’s supply of Vicodin
and Percocet with another MD on staff."
Is this where we are headed?
First, families start walking the patients because the
nurses are "too busy" to do it.
Next will we have to bring linens and food and barter for
medications?
Maybe it won't be that difficult. The way it is now, a
family member should be present at the bedside of any relative who might be
sedated or confused to help prevent some of the thousands of medical errors
that occur each day.
If someone is going to be sitting there on watch anyway, he
might as well bring food and sheets and get the patient out of bed. Maybe we
could enlist the relative to do some of the charting in the electronic medical
record too.
Of course, there are always loose ends.
What happens if the patient has no relatives who are free to
spend days in the hospital caring for the him or has no family at all?
Where is all that money that hospitals are making by
overcharging everyone going?
