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Poor pain management, 2 days in ED

Posted By Obstructed nurse

"Poor pain management, 2 days in ED"

About: St John of God Midland Hospital / Emergency Department

(as a relative),

My partner who is also in the medical field went to Midland ED with a severe ear infection in the evening. They had already seen a GP and were on oral antibiotics for 3 days before going to hospital as it was more painful, and their hearing was gone on that side completely. After being triaged and clerked they were taken through to an assessment chair, they sat there for 2 hours before being seen by a Dr and getting bloods and imaging done, then another hour before they decided my partner needed a CT scan. They had been given a couple of painkillers, but they were not helping much, and there was no call bell for my partner to ask the nurse for anything else. 

My partner was there 3 hours before a second set of observations were done, and 4.5 hours in ED before the CT was done, and still no antibiotics for an obvious infection as the side of their face was grossly swollen.

At midnight they moved my partner to the short stay unit and finally started antibiotics. They had analgesia frequently overnight but were still in pain despite all of it. An ENT specialist saw them on the second day and changed the course of IVABs. They still had constant pain that was never well controlled. They were discussing sending my partner to RPH to be under an ENT specialist. At the end of the second day, they were still discussing sending my partner to RPH, and they still had pain that was unable to be dropped below 5/10 on the pain scale.

On the second day they had a great nurse who listened to my partner and did their best to get the pain down as much as possible, getting their pain down to 5/10 for a good part of the day rather than for an hour or two out of the day. Eventually the Doctors came to review my partner and made a decent analgesia plan and organised a transfer to the ward. The ward transfer wasn't until after 8pm, 51 hours after my partner had presented to the ED, they finally got a proper bed instead of a trolley bed.

Day three had my partner transferred to RPH to be looked after for another day before they were discharged.

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Responses

Response from Gail Miller, A/Director of Nursing & Midwifery, SJGMPPH, St John of God Midland Public and Private Hospital last week
Gail Miller
A/Director of Nursing & Midwifery, SJGMPPH,
St John of God Midland Public and Private Hospital

Acting Director of Nursing and Midwifery

Submitted on 20/04/2024 at 12:44 PM
Published on Care Opinion on 22/04/2024 at 10:05 AM

Hello Obstructed nurse,

I was saddened to learn of your partner’s experience during their time in our Emergency Department (ED). We would appreciate the opportunity to complete a review into the care provided during your partner’s time in ED. A review will allow us to identify the reason for any delays and where we could possibly make changes to avoid this happening in the future. We can then share this information with you however to do this we need further information from you. We are committed to the safety and comfort of our patients and value your feedback on these important issues. We hope your partner is feeling better and has made a full recovery. Please contact our Patient Experience Team on 9462 4901 or via Mi.PatientExperienceTeam@sjog.org.au. We look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards

Gail Miller

Acting Director of Nursing

St John of God Midland Public and Private Hospitals

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