"So much for cardiac monitoring"

I was admitted to SAMU as a patient coming from ED. I was meant to go to AMU but there were no beds available. I was being admitted for cardiac monitoring and further investigations into my health.

I got to SAMU at 2:30 and the doctor ordered me to have a bag of fluids. It got to about 5pm and no fluids were given. I still wasn’t hooked up to a monitor, even though the sole purpose of me being admitted was to be cardiac monitored, and I was given no ward orientation of where the bathroom was or what my plan was. 

Everytime I had asked a nurse what the plan was; they told me they’d read through my notes as they weren’t sure what I was in for. It got to the point where I was feeling extremely ill and uncomfortable and nothing was being done to monitor my state. It wasn’t until I told one of the nurses walking by that I’d like to speak to the doctor about discharging myself against medical advice. This is what got my nurses attention and they all of a sudden connected me to a heart monitor four hours later! 

As a nurse myself I know how stressful it can be to take a patient load, however, patient safety comes above all! To not be attached to a cardiac monitor, which takes 3 minutes to do, for a patient experiencing extreme tachycardia, is unacceptable. There was no apparent concern or care from the staff that was caring for me. 

I discharged myself against medical advice and felt I would benefit from monitoring myself at home then at SAMU. In my opinion, the care provided was unprofessional and not allying with nursing standards. I felt really disappointed with fsh staff.