This is Care Opinion [siteRegion]. Did you want Care Opinion [usersRegionBasedOnIP]?
Care Opinion

Exploratory laparotomy

Posted By 1 upset patient

"Exploratory laparotomy"

About: Broome Health Campus

(as the patient),

To start with I would like to highly commend the Broome nursing staff, without them I would not have got thru this.

I was flown RFDS from Kununurra to Broome for a bowel obstruction.

I was in pain on arrival and left waiting for what I felt was way too long while they apparently chatted and discussed about things on their phones. It seemed I had to get upset before anyone made the move to get me to a room. 

Upon arrival in my room they told me to have a shower and prepare for surgery. My recollection is that the shower was filthy and the toilet had poo spread all over it, including the hand rail and walls. My partner had to clean it before I could go in, I was there all day and no one came to clean it.

In my opinion, the surgeon was abrupt and had absolutely no bedside manner. I felt degraded. They gave me nothing but negative outcome, saying you will be cut from top to bottom, you will have a bowel bag! Which frightened the living **** out of me. They said remove that belly button ring and you won’t be putting it back! Without any explanation as to why.

After getting out of surgery I noticed I’d been cut from pubis to sternum. 

Then when the nurse came in to change my dressing I was horrified, I had no belly button and half the staples weren’t even attached. 

I am in the medical profession myself and pride myself in the neatness of placing staples. 

I have had multiple surgeries over my life and think the previous surgeon was amazing, they were positive and cared about the finishing touches (which is what the patient sees ). They had an awesome bedside manner and I truly wished they could have done this surgery.

As I was discharged, I asked the nursing team to please find out how many staples were placed so that the right amount could be taken out. They went to find out only to note that the surgeon apparently hadn’t even recorded how many staples had been put in? To me that is not on, it is part of surgical recording as far as I’m aware. I will be contacting FOI for surgical records as I will be making an official complaint.

Bless all the nurses who comforted me thru my stress.

Upon arriving back to Kununurra, my right ear was sore. I took a cotton bud out to give it a clean, and when I placed it in my ear I felt pain, then all of a sudden, blood started runny out. I totally freaked out. My partner took me to the hospital and I had a cut in my ear, apparently from the thermometer which I believe must have been during surgery as the awesome nurse on ward only used my left ear and the right ear was where the damage was done.

More about:
Do you have a similar story to tell? Tell your story & make a difference ››

Responses

Response from Sue Phillips, Regional Director of Medical Services, WA Country Health Service Kimberley 2 years ago
Sue Phillips
Regional Director of Medical Services,
WA Country Health Service Kimberley

Manages the Medical Services across the Kimberley region

Submitted on 17/11/2021 at 2:50 PM
Published on Care Opinion at 2:52 PM

Dear 1 upset patient,

Thank you for sharing your experience with us.

My name is Sue Phillips and in my role as the Regional Director of Medical Services, can I say how very sorry I am to hear about your negative experiences at Broome Hospital.

As a senior leader within our health service, I sincerely apologise for the way in which your surgical procedure was explained to you and recognise how upsetting this must have been for you. Along with all of the staff who work at Broome Hospital, I know that we often meet our patients at very vulnerable times and we expect that all of our staff are kind and compassionate, whatever role they have. This is particularly the case for our surgical staff who are so important in reassuring our patients and their families and carers prior to and after surgery. Your description of the surgeon’s approach and how this has left you feeling is not how we want you or any of our patients to be left feeling. I would like you to know that I have shared your story with the surgical team for their information and reflection so that we can make sure that it does not happen again.

In relation to your concerns about surgical staples, I wanted to be reassured that we didn’t breach the standard of care by not documenting the number of staples that were used, so I sought independent advice from a senior surgeon who is external to the region. The surgeon advised that unlike sutures it is not usual practice to count or document staples, given that they are obvious in the skin and removed early in the post-operative wound healing process. I do hope this assures you as well.

In terms of your concerns regarding ear trauma, I am unable to provide an explanation for this, given that it is standard practice to use a thermometer placed under the tongue during all operative cases, rather than intermittent ear thermometers. Once again, we hope that this assures you that your later ear trauma is unlikely to have been related to your procedure.

There is no doubt that as a health care service, we expect our facilities to be clean and safe from infection at all times. I am concerned about your description of the shower and toilet areas and I am very sorry that this was your experience. Together with the Operations Manager at Broome Hospital, the team and I are investigating the situation and will work towards assuring that this does not happen again.

If you would like to discuss your experience further, I would appreciate the opportunity to listen to you and explore ways in which we can improve what we do. Please call me on 0407 779 200 or email me at suzanne.phillips@health.wa.gov.au.

Thank you for your feedback and for the kind words about the Broome nursing staff in particular. We are very lucky to have so many dedicated and hardworking nursing staff, whose aim is always to ensure that our patients receive excellent and high-quality care and treatment each and every time.

I do hope to hear from you soon.

Yours Sincerely,

Sue Phillips

Regional Medical Director

  • {{helpful}} {{helpful == 1 ? "person thinks" : "people think"}} this response is helpful
Opinions
Next Response j
Previous Response k