Running Head: HOW HOSPITALS AFFECT FAMILY MEMBERS Hurt1

How Hospitals Affect Family Members

Jamie Hurt

University of South Carolina Beaufort

HOW HOSPITALS EFFECT FAMILY MEMBERS Hurt2

How Hospitals Effect Family Members

Seeing my grandfather go through all the hospital visits and stays that he had to go

through and the lasting effect it has had on my family has made me think that hospitals can

accommodate to families in the future better than are today. It has been over a year since I had

to make an 11-hour trip home to Illinois to see my grandfather, Pa, after his triple bypass

surgery. My mom and I got to my grandparents house just in time to have dinner and catch up

with my grandmother, Mimi, but when it was time to go to bed, thats when things took a turn

for the worst. As I stood in my old room, I looked at the walls that had memories of a time when

my mom and I had lived with Mimi and Pa the first five years of my life while the paramedics

carried Pa out on a stretcher to the emergency room.

Once he was on his way, we followed the ambulance to the hospital where we waited for

more information. Out of my mom and Mimi, I was the only one that would not go back to the

Emergency Room to see Pa; I was afraid of what I would see when I got back there, and I did not

want to see him in that state. I knew that he had already been intubated by the nurses because he

had difficulty breathing on his own. The fact that his health dwindled to this degree so quickly is

just goes to show how scary sepsis and its effects can be (Levy). The doctors and nurses decided

that his condition was far too serious to be in a small hospital like Heartland Regional Medical

Center, so they transferred him to the best hospital within a two-hour radius they could find. Pa

flew in a helicopter to the hospital, and we followed as quickly as we could in our car.

That night, we got to the hospital and did not get the news we were so desperately hoping

for. Pa had gotten an infection from his surgery called sepsis. This is a serious infection where

your immune system attacks you from the inside out (Sweet). On top of that, his long history of

being a cigarette smoker did not help with his current condition. Sepsis is an infection that
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health care professionals can still be learning about. In the article, Severe sepsis and septic

shock, the author explains that there have been newer, smarter approaches to clinical-trial

design and excursion are essential to further improve the outcome of patients with sepsis through

the development of new therapeutic agents (Angus). As time goes on, new technology is being

found and there are new ways for sepsis to be controlled and analyzed by physicians.

Because of his condition, it was clear that Pa did not have much time left. We spent

weeks in the hospital. We had to keep extending our reservations at hotels near the hospital

because the hospital had nowhere for my family and I to stay. The waiting rooms they offered

were open for everyone to see that walked by in the hallways and had very uncomfortable chairs.

There werent even enough chairs in one waiting room for all of us so we had to separate into

two different rooms. In one article, it states, A well designed waiting room experience can

reduce patient anxiety [and] enhance perceptions about quality of care (Spillman).

Throughout our stay, we could not event talk to Pa because he had to be put on a vent

because he was not still breathing on his own. There had been no improvement in his condition

from the time we left Heartland to coming to the new hospital. I sat by his bed, held his hand,

and watched the numbers on all of his monitors. I spent days like that. My mom has been a

nurse for years, so I asked her what everything on the monitors meant so that I could see for

myself if he was improving or not. Unfortunately, he was not getting any better and he was

beginning to go into organ failure because his body was exhausted from trying to fight off the

infection. Even with the help of of the medications he was on, his condition was not getting any

better. We decided to withdraw care, because he had specified that that was what he wanted in

his will. He had specifically said in it that he did not want extraordinary measures to be taken,

and to let him go if his life was going to consist of him needing a vent to survive. All of us went
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in his room one by one to say good-bye before the doctors and nurses took him off of his

ventilator. It was just me, my Mom, and Mimi in the room when they did this and it only took a

couple of minutes for him to stop breathing. He passed away after being in the hospital for two

weeks surrounded by his loved ones.

Almost a year and a half later, my Mimi is still traumatized by the memories of Pa in the

hospital. She cannot go into hospitals any more, she also cannot watch movies or TV shows that

have a hospital setting. Greys Anatomy is one of my favorite shows to watch, but she will leave

the room if Im watching it and she is at my house. I would like to find a way for hospitals to

better accommodate families in hospitals with sick loved ones so that they can move on after a

tragic event.

When I become a nurse, I am determined to let families know that I am here for them and

that I know what it is like to watch someone they love go through this. I want to provide their

loved one with the best care possible while also taking care of them and making sure they have a

place to stay in the hospital while they are there so they can stay round the clock if the status of

the patient changes at all. If hospitals were better suited for people visiting others in the hospital

that it would make it easier for families to deal with the news they are given by doctors and

nurses. It would also be easier on the family financially if they could stay in a private room

provided for them by the hospital that had beds to sleep in, a small kitchen, and a living space

with plenty of seating for extended family. If they are given a room where they can all stay

together and be in the hospital at the same time, it would be better than having to sit in waiting

rooms for weeks like my family did and only being able to visit the person in the hospital during

visiting hours. Hospitals should make it a requirement that there have to be family rooms, and
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that families would benefit from being able to stay in these rooms instead of depressing waiting

rooms.

Hospitals should find a way to better accommodate for families in hospitals because the

patient is not the only one that is going through a hard time when they have to stay in a hospital.

The family is also feeling some of the pain that the patient is because they want to stay by the

patients side as much as they can so they can be the first ones to know when something goes

wrong. In my future career, I plan to make a point of making it easier on families who have a

loved one in the hospital no matter how long they are staying there.
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References

Spillman, Susan. (2017, May 23). 6 Ways to Ensure Your Patients Love Your Waiting Room.

Retrieved from https://www.patientpop.com/blog/running-a-practice/6-strategies-turn-

waiting-room-asset/.

Angus, D., & van der Poll, T. (2013, Aug 29). Severe sepsis and septic shock. Retrieved from

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMra1208623#t=article.

Levy, M. (2008, March 1). Sepsis: a clinical update. Retrieved from http://cjasn.asnjournals

.org/content/3/2/571.full.

Sweet, D., et al. (2014, May 4). Emergency management of sepsis: the simple stuff saves lives.

Retrieved from http://www.bcmj.org/articles/emergency-management-sepsis-simple-

stuff-saves-lives.