Hospital experiences always offer a time of reflection. Fortunately, I have not had to spend too many times in the hospital. This past week though, was not one of those.
I had an appointment with my Cardiologist Wednesday before last because of increasing fluid build up and Congestive Heart Failure. Dr. May decided it was time to admit me to the hospital to first, reduce the fluid build up, and second, to do some tests to determine if there was a course of action now needed to help my heart work better. If you read the entries of the blog about the hospital days, you will know what happened.
I am always amazed at how many people it takes to make things happen in a hospital. From the parking attendants, to the admissions people, the medical records, Radiology, Laboratory, Food Service, cleaning and housekeeping, security, nursing, and so much more.
Each person in the hospital is as needed and important as every other person. What happens in assuring the proper care of patients only occurs when each and every staff member carries out their responsibilities.
It is easy to say that the doctors are more important than the nurses, or the nurses are more important than the nursing assistants. I often observed that there were invisible staff members. These were the cleaning staff and the auxiliary staff.
There is definitely a pecking order in the hospital. I know this is true of all professions and companies. But I can think of no other place, outside perhaps of the military, where team work, across the board, is so essential to saving lives. That is why each and every member of the hospital staff is so valuable and important.
So I would like to say thank you to all the people who were responsible for my care. Thanks to housekeeping and dietary. Thanks to the aids and nurses. Thanks to the technicians and doctors. Thanks to all those who worked behind the scenes that I did not even meet, but who contributed to my care.
And thanks to Dr. May, who always points me in the right direction.
