A Day At The Hospital: Caregiver Experience

I had the opportunity to visit the hospital a few weeks ago. Even though I work in healthcare, I don’t often get to actually visit and observe the delivery process. As always, I was surprised by so many things.

First, we got there at 5:30 (as requested) for our 7:30 surgery. And, there was a huge line of people waiting to check in.

Than, after checking you in, there is a person who walks you to the prep room. On the way there, a concierge stops you to offer to help. They also have a person on the elevator who presses the buttons for you. Can’t the person walking us do that?

Once you get your bed, they check you in over and over again. (there seems to be a better way – maybe a temporary bar code). Just when you think your done, another person comes to check you in. This time, I decided to watch them enter data. Amazingly, they did add a data element (which had been asked and answered before). But, why are you stating your name, address, SS#, and clinical data out loud for all the people around to know. Isn’t there a more private way to do this?

I jokingly said they would come with a marker and write where the surgery was and they did.

I’m guessing they don’t expect people to be on time since we then had about 45 minutes of waiting before anything else happened.

Of course, I can’t forget the urine test to see if you’re on drugs or pregnant. I guess people don’t know to reveal that information before surgery so they have to test you.

After that, I got to hang out in the waiting room which was fairly nice with free wifi and coffee. I just always think about getting sick in the hospital so I felt like I should be wearing a mask.

But, the care was great. The staff was friendly (other than check-in). And, I know I couldn’t do what they do.