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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

I know A&E is busy, but

55 replies

Meopham · 22/04/2018 00:15

you should at least check what's going on before you pull the curtain back?

OP posts:
SeaToSki · 22/04/2018 01:09

That is not OK and the last thing you need is to be more stressed, unnecessarily, when you are having heart problems already

LadyLoveYourWhat · 22/04/2018 01:10

What is wrong with you @twizzlerite? NHS staff don't get to act with impunity, they're people doing their jobs, like the rest of us. They need to treat patients like people, with the respect they deserve, no matter how busy they are.

Original poster
Meopham · 22/04/2018 01:22

Are you back home now? Is everyone ok? That's the main thing.
Thanks @Sparklingbrook we're all fine. Panic over nothing!

OP posts:
hazeyjane · 22/04/2018 01:29

Meopham, i was agreeing with you - and saying that it was unnecessary for her to be exposed

BackToTheFuschia7 · 22/04/2018 02:02

YANBU. Sounds awful. I would have caused merry hell if I was exposed to strangers like that!

ittakes2 · 22/04/2018 02:34

Yanbu - I have had it done and you are not only bare chested you are not allowed to move to cover up or the test doesn’t work. They should have covered her lightly with a sheet or made sure the curtain stayed closed.

Original poster
Meopham · 22/04/2018 07:56

Sounds awful. I would have caused merry hell if I was exposed to strangers like that!
There were plenty of other people causing merry hell!

OP posts:
CantChoose · 22/04/2018 08:01

Erm, while it does sound like they should have closed the curtain it's an easy oversight when you have a million and one other things going on too.
Instead of 'raising merry hell' as someone else has suggested could you not have just closed the curtain for her?? In high risk areas staff are supposed to leave curtains open so that everyone (staff intended but it does translate to everyone, naturally) can see when passing by if someone is suddenly more unwell.
If in a less high risk area I'm sure nobody would mind if you'd closed the curtain yourself.

HoppingPavlova · 22/04/2018 09:07

I’m in two minds.

Speaking of experience from working in A&E for too many years, closed curtains are a nightmare. I was always nervous someone was going to drop dead behind one which would inevitably end up as my fault somehow and much whoo haaa would result.

The theory in A&E is that if you are sick enough to be in there you should be too sick to even notice the person next to you is starkers let alone the fact they have three breasts and two willies. Once upon a time this pretty much played true. If in the less acute area you would then have curtains between you and the patients beside you but the one at the end open so everyone walking past could see you as a safeguard. Anyone walking past should have been staff who have seen it all before and then some so no biggie.

Doesn’t work like this in reality anymore. Everyone has a max number of visitors bedside, visitors tend to wander in and out stickybeaking as they go, a lot of patients just aren’t that sick but the state of the system forces them to A&E and everyone bangs on about new found rights and are intent on making everyone’s jobs even harder.

They could have draped a paper robe over the top of her, even though it’s not the best she would have been covered, test unaffected, basic dignity ticked off and curtain left open.

DollyLlama · 22/04/2018 09:09

I had the curtain pulled wide open during a topless ecg once, the nurse didn't mean to come into me, apologised and walked off only half closing the curtain. Sure that did wonders for my reading!

Original poster
Meopham · 22/04/2018 09:59

I suppose the staff are used to seeing half-naked people, so they just don't realise!

OP posts:
smurfy2015 · 22/04/2018 10:00

Times I've been in a&e I couldn't care less what is going on around me, I tend not to bring an entourage (worst I have ever seen was 10 people with 1 person) but my mobile and charger and send a text to let someone know im there as often lose my speech due to one of my conditions and the paramedics follow the note on my bedroom door to take my copy of medical notes from x place with me so that helps a bit -

Because I can deteriorate very quickly they leave the curtain half open so they can see me but times when mid ECG etc and I may be exposed I don't really care as it's not a priority, getting symptoms under control and/ or treated, they are generally good about pulling it over to close while doing anything

I recall one night I felt fine after initial treatment but a&e dr insisted I stay in an obs bed in a&e overnight and to keep a call bell close to me, I remember at some point feeling fuzzy and coming around with same dr and 3 nurses looking anxiously at me, id been out of it for 15 mins and had been their worst patient at that second,

the dr had suspected x might happen which it did and if I had been alone, I wouldn't be here now.

I was moved from the cubicle I was in to the one opposite the nurses station in a&e and my curtain was fully back so they could see the first signs again which happened a 2nd time later that morning and I was moved to a ward after lunchtime when a bed became available.

smurfy2015 · 22/04/2018 10:02

@HoppingPavlova The theory in A&E is that if you are sick enough to be in there you should be too sick to even notice the person next to you is starkers let alone the fact they have three breasts and two willies.

Thats my theory as well

GetSomeGumption · 22/04/2018 10:07

Sorry that your daughter had to experience that, it sounds awful. I'm a HCP and always try my hardest to maintain dignity (in the way that I would want it done for me), so will always call out "Mrs/Mr X, are you decent in there?" and introduce myself if a curtain is closed. Unfortunately, many colleagues do not and go waltzing in.

It makes me very angry but I honestly believe people are so stressed and overworked currently that they have started to see patients as numbers.

MadameJosephine · 22/04/2018 10:34

The theory in A&E is that if you are sick enough to be in there you should be too sick to even notice the person next to you is starkers let alone the fact they have three breasts and two willies

This is irrelevant, even an unconscious patient should be afforded basic dignity and not left unnecessarily exposed

In this case I would imagine the curtain needed to remain open so the patient’s condition could be monitored but she should been covered with a sheet or gown

shouldnthavesaid · 22/04/2018 11:01

Not everyone who's in A&E is so unwell they're not aware - I have been sent via 111 a few times in acute urine retention (needs sorting at tertiary hospital with a urology department) , in severe pain and medical emergency (bladder at risk of perforation or reflux into kidneys) but still wide awake, and fully aware of whether I'm being treated with dignity or not.

Even in an ITU with fully ventilated and paralysed patients you provide patients with diginity - using curtains for intimate care and asking before barging in. Basic nursing care.

Steeley113 · 22/04/2018 11:08

Can I just say, as someone who worked in a&e for 4 years, we do try. Sometimes we are bad at it though and I hold my hands up to it. Sometimes we have so many patients/things going on and we’re in and out of cubicles that it’s easy to forget to shut curtains properly. It’s not an excuse and we do need a reminder now and then so feel free to have a word with the nurse (be kind, were only human! It’s a really hard place to work).

Gibraltaryousay · 22/04/2018 12:47

This is irrelevant, even an unconscious patient should be afforded basic dignity and not left unnecessarily exposed

This ^^

expatinscotland · 22/04/2018 12:55

YANBU

Kelsoooo · 22/04/2018 12:57

And just because you might not care at the time, it doesn’t mean you don’t care later.

Smeddum · 22/04/2018 12:59

Someone did this to my Mum when she was in hospital. Opened the door of the toilet on the ward as she was changing her stoma and colostomy bags and just left the door wide open. Mum was devastated at the lack of privacy. Not stroppy, or pissed off, absolutely heartbroken that she’d been humiliated and then batted off when she tried to explain it.

So no OP YANBU, glad all is well with your DIL health wise now.

Original poster
Meopham · 22/04/2018 18:18

So no OP YANBU, glad all is well with your DIL health wise now.
She's fine. Just lying there like an advert for F&F knickers in full view of everyone wasn't particularly on her to-do list!

OP posts:
DameLillyTillicut · 22/04/2018 18:39

I'm a HCP and always try my hardest to maintain dignity (in the way that I would want it done for me), so will always call out "Mrs/Mr X, are you decent in there?" and introduce myself if a curtain is closed.

Same. There is absolutely no excuse for not maintaining dignity. (I have a very stern voice and menacing stare for people who waltz in when I am examining a patient. It is unnacceptable.)

Even if a patient is on a cardiac monitor or defibrillator, and needs to be watched, they can still be covered with a gown.

I'm so sorry this happened OP. Absolutely do feed back to the ED seniors. Privacy and dignity is a necessity, not a nicety.

kaytee87 · 22/04/2018 18:48

Your poor dil. Yanbu, there are some (thankfully not the majority) medics that forget their patients are human beings.

OneStepSideways · 22/04/2018 18:52

I agree about the lack of dignity, but I think they leave the curtains open so they can keep an eye on patients if there's a risk they might collapse.

I remember having a gynae exam in A&E and a confused elderly patient wandered into my cubicle looking for the toilet! I've also seen (through my open curtains) a patient get out of bed and collapse on the floor. I pressed the emergency buzzer to alert the nurses, but if the curtains had been fully closed she could have been on the floor undetected for some time.

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