Vestfold Hospital | Patient experience from the new cardiac ward in Tonsberg: system failure at a high level

I realize there may be a wait, but we patients need the information. There was a complete lack during my recent stay in the new cardiac ward.

Arriving in SiV in the evening, we arrived in a taxi from Rikshospitalet, two sick. We were not met at the main entrance nor upstairs in the suite. I had to escort the other patient to the room and sleep. Clear to see that we did not expect!

The room that was assigned to me when I came back from treatment at the Rickschuspitalt was very filthy. It was not washed or prepared, as no one was at work to prepare the room. The way I tried it, there was an expectation that the nurse would prepare the room. It seemed to me that the nurses were doing a lot of things, because it was also the lunatics in the ward who needed a lot of follow-up. The nurses were exhausted. In the end, the patients outgrow. It was completely illogical for me to use such a room, so I prefer to lie in the hallway.

I received my medical record in paper form from Rexpetite, someone in the ward wanted it. The nurse came to me at work and asked for my medical file. It was not found, but I did find it on a table. I find it extremely unacceptable for anyone to take it. It should have been put in place immediately.

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Wrong way to save resources

To me, it’s the wrong way to save resources, because that goes beyond patient safety. It is sad to see that those who have been trained as nurses do many tasks outside of what they are intended for. This leads to chaos, as there is a shortage of manpower in the department. Therefore, we have different professions and instructions, to help and perform various tasks. But it is wrong to rely on hospital volunteering to save money, it is a fact that people are living longer now because of it. Modern medicine, then problems arise that must be solved. I myself experienced bringing a patient into the room at night and had to follow him to his own room.

The experience at Rikshospitalet was completely different. There we were waiting and they were ready. I felt safe and comfortable, which is very important for critically ill heart patients. But they also lacked information from the cardiology department in Tonsberg that we were later and arrived later than initially thought.

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My stay in the new cardiac ward can be summed up as follows: too little work experience, and a lack of information leads to poor communication, which in turn becomes a chaotic and stressful experience for both patients and nurses. This is a high level system failure. In the end, this goes beyond those who need the services, the patients.

As I see it, this is a solvable problem, if the will is present from those who have the power to do something about it. As it stands now, the new heart ward looks disorganized and feverish. Strictly speaking, heart patients should not be hospitalized.