I must single out my personal nurse, Joy Garney. When I arrived back from surgery, she took over my care. She was attentive and kind. It became obvious to her in a matter of moments that I'd breezed through this procedure and was having no problems with the aftermath of the anesthesia. Yet, she monitored my vital signs diligently while waiting for the next step. As I understand it, I was about to be moved to outpatient something-or-other (definitely not its real name) to be discharged. There my duties would be to drink a diet Coke, for which I'd begged everyone since my arrival...haha, and urinate.
It was around noon, an hour after my arrival in curtain 3, that I started realizing something was up. I'm a retired teacher and a mother so my hearing is better than average. :) I was told that there were 30 outpatient procedures and 20 heart caths scheduled for that DAY. Yikes. Even I, who rarely frequents a hospital, thank God, know that's a lot. There simply wasn't a bed available for me or my neighbors in the other curtains. I overheard one of the ladies tell Joy that there were seven beds available, but the rooms hadn't been cleaned. Ugh.
At this point, I'm getting very restless, which Joy could tell. She, in my opinion, made the very best decision she could for her patient. She said, and I'm paraphrasing here, "you're doing great...you need to go home...can you pee?" hahaha. I said yes I am, yes I do and YES. Bless her heart, she wheeled my gurney around the hallway to the bathroom where I promptly peed, showed her the evidence and was wheeled back down the hallway.
Joy consulted with the outpatient folks and prepared my discharge papers, while another nurse scoured up a wheelchair. In just a few minutes, I was on the way home.
Sorry for all the gory details, but as a consumer, I felt that Joy did her very best to be an advocate for ME. I understand completely that there are rules and protocol, but you have to factor in a little common sense if the patient/customer is to leave satisfied, in my humble opinion.