cyrnel

My family is in a difficult situation at a large hospital. Our mother has been on the slow road to recovery from heart surgery since Jan 27. A week ago things were fairly stable and we were handed off to the "floor". Care levels don't hold a candle to intensive care. Nurses aren't as well trained, egos take over for competence, mistakes are made, and people aren't reading the charts consistently. Our mother is back in afib, vent weaning isn't going well, and we're bouncing from one pulmonoligist and cardiologist to another as hospital shifts change. I know nothing about medicine (engineer by trade) but know something's wrong when one tells us the first cardioversion worked and she was in sinus rythm for a week then the next tells us several attempts were unsuccessful. (!?!) Similar incidents abound.

Hospital processes seem tuned to shift work between staff almost perfectly so nobody has accountability or a good understanding of the case. Now our alarms have brought in hospital internists ("Hospitalists") who suggest we should be ready for long term outside facilities, and their reasoning is based on conflicting intensivist interpretations. Surreal. Like multiple people telling you the weather by looking at the sky through straws.

Pardon the stream of consciousness. This is taxing. I feel strongly that it's time to shop outside the hospital for some type of professional advocate and I'm looking for ideas. Is anyone in the audience experienced with this type of situation such that you could point out ideas? Damn frustrating, and every day provides additional chances for mistakes and a longer rehab road, or worse.