"Ward admission"

I was recently admitted to Fiona Stanley ward 7D for complications related to a yet to be diagnosed autoimmune issue. Overall I am happy with the extra lengths my Immunology team went through to help me during a scary and very uncomfortable time. Most of the nurses I dealt with on the ward were very good/ caring/ understanding.

During my admission I did have a less than comfortable experience of which I have been deliberating on whether to raise or not. I feel raising the issue may assist in putting actions in place to prevent a reoccurrence.

I was assigned a shared room of which I was fine with, our bed was separated by a curtain. The patient next to me was very poorly. It seemed they were in a lot of pain and deteriorated overnight. Their relative came in to see them and after a while the doctor attended. The doctor advised them that this was likely the end of life, to start preparing and to contact family to attend and say goodbye. Of which obviously everyone was very emotional. This was about mid-morning. I felt so terrible for the patient and their family going through this, especially with someone they dont know in the same room as them listening to everything. I asked the nurses if they were going to move the patient to a private room as it was obviously going to be an emotional day for everyone.

About an hour later, the emotions in the room were getting unbearable for me and I had to leave. I went and sat in the cafeteria, thinking the nurses would surely be able to get a private area sorted for the family. Around 4 hours later, I returned and it was still the same situation with family coming in and out saying their last goodbyes. Obviously I still didn’t want to go into the room as they needed their privacy. When I told the nurses why I had left, I recall all they said was ‘thanks for doing that’ and continued on. In my mind, they were surely still trying to sort a private room. I went back down to the cafeteria until it was the evening. My own condition deteriorated throughout the day (and the next day) as I was unable to rest and was extremely traumatised about the situation.

When I returned to the ward it was still happening and there hadn’t been any progress on a private room for the patient and their family. I was struggling to be out of bed so had to go into the room to rest. The patient was calling out loudly and in so much pain etc.. it was so upsetting to experience someone dying like this. The nurse came in to do my obs, my obs were way out and I explained to the nurse that it’s probably due to my anxiety/emotions of the day. I recall the nurse suggested I ‘put in my headphones’ if the sound of the patient crying out in pain was upsetting to me. 30 minutes later I couldn’t bare listening to this poor patient dying in pain and their family had been called back in as the patient had deteriorated further. I told the nurse I would wait in the family meeting area until they could find a private room for the patient.

Close to midnight and I was still sitting in the lounge area, totally exhausted and emotionally drained. The night nurse eventually came out to me (they all knew where I was) to say I could return to the room now as they had swapped the patient with a different patient from a single room and thanks for staying out of the room all day.

After eventually falling asleep I was then woken at about 4am with all the lights turned on in the room and the nurses loudly speaking and banging around moving the patient next to me. When the patient asked why they were doing it at 4am I recall the nurses responded ‘because they were trying to take away your private room.’ So I believe they were obviously moving the patient back before it was allocated. I feel it’s like some deep competition about beds which is not a valid reason to wake the whole room up at 4am.

I understand the hospital system is under pressure at the moment and there is a shortage of beds, but why did that swap not happen later that morning? Firstly for the family to allow them some privacy to say goodbye to their loved one without a stranger on the other side of the curtain listening to everything. Secondly for some dignity for the patient dying. They were calling out so emotionally hallucinating from the medication. Thirdly, I am a very empathetic person so hearing /feeling / experiencing all of the emotions the patient and family were going through has really traumatised me, the patient’s voice calling out has really stuck in my head.

I felt /feel terrible complaining about my own mental wellbeing in this situation as the family had been going through so much more, however it seemed the nurses took no consideration for my own condition, the medication or my observations the entire day. I expressed my emotional distress to them so they were aware. They had my mobile number as well and never rung to check on me.

I just feel like the whole situation should have been handled a lot better than it was and action should have been taken before midnight that night to do the room swap. It seemed to me like they were waiting for the patient to pass away so they didn’t need to do the room swap at all.