Hospital pressures and early discharges

[HoppyNurse]

Last night I self discharged from one of the most traumatic hospital stays I’ve had!

A bit of background- I was diagnosed asthma in may - raised eosinophils and FeNo. Started on relvar and all appeared to be good, fast forward to October 16th I suddenly developed this tight cough, struggled to to catch breath etc etc. Saw gP and started on Steroids, 2 days later at work (I am an ED nurse) really struggling I was admitted for the first time, Needing magnesium infusions etc. I have now had 7 admissions since that date all presenting the same - sudden onset of SOB, tight chest and unable to speak. All treated with magnesium IV in ED and a second infusion 24 hours later.

So this current admission happened on the 6th January - 3 days after my last discharge - which I felt was too soon but they were pushing for beds!

I was blue lighted to resus, given the usual B2B nebs (5 in total), IV hydrocortisone and magnesium. Although sats were good on monitoring my gas was terrible so oxygen therapy also started. I was then admitted into a makeshift ward that was part of the ED. And there I remained for 5 days! I saw a respiratory specialist once during that time - and their plan was to wait for a plan from Guys hospital. So I sat tight continuing on nebs and ivs, not much else being done. The ward - I use that term very loosely - was not an ideal place to rest and recover. Being part of the ED meant it was bright, noisy and busy all the time - tannoys going off all through the night. One toilet for the 9 ladies placed there plus other patients in the ED and not to mention the ambulance staff who used it too! They didn’t offer a full menu service so my family had to bring I food for me - I am gluten and dairy free! Also bottles of water had to be brought in as there were no jugs of water for patients.