To complain to the hospital (nurses/drs views please)

[Laila747]

I was taken in to hospital yesterday, due to pain from a condition I have suffered with for years.
The paramedics put a cannula in my hand (after quite a few tries, I have horrendous veins) it was working fine and they flushed it and gave me the drugs I needed.
After a few hours in hospital a nurse came to top up my meds via the cannula. As she started I told her it hurt, really hurt. She said “it’s ok, it does hurt sometimes” I said it never usually hurt that much. Usually it might sting a tiny bit to start with then you just feel a cold sensation...but this HURT. Anyway, she carried on regardless.
The dr then came to put fluids up and I told him the cannula was hurting when fluids went through it and he ignored me too. I know they were busy, I understand this and I am so grateful for the NHS but I just felt completely ignored.
AIBU to complain?

Some medications do hurt more than others, do you know if you’ve had that particular drug before? I think it’s tricky when you have difficult veins. I’m sorry you’re unwell.

I always find the cannula's so painful. Worst part of all the ops I've had I always say. They might have used a larger size than usual. I'm not sure about complaining though. They could have had a quick look that it was correctly inserted though I suppose

I'm a nurse. Sometimes it does hurt, but if it's flushing well with no evidence of tissuing then they'll still use it. You can ask for another one if it's unbearable.

Same meds as usual. I’ve probably had the exact same thing done 100 times and it’s never hurt like that before.
I think it was more the fact they seemed totally uninterested in what I was saying.

Sorry you felt ignored but I'm not sure what else they could have done if you wanted the treatment - sounds like it was still working fine. Stopping using that one and inserting a new one elsewhere wouldn't have been guaranteed to work from the sounds of it, and may have been just as painful anyway.

I’m just surprised that a doctor put fluids up !

If it had tissued, your hand/arm would have blown up like a balloon quite quickly, you can usually tell by the feel of pushing the fluid whether its stiff and not working well

Kids find them really sensitive the more you use them I think the more painful they become but we try not to put in more if we don’t need to as it’s so traumatic for them, if the cannula has gone then yes it’s removed and replaced if required. Surely you could’ve asked for pain relief or a new one? It’s most likely if they had difficult getting it in you’re bruised and that’s why it hurts. Dismissing you isn’t very professional but I don’t think they did anything wrong really and dr hanging fluids is unheard of on my ward too.

Mine zapped like a very painful ongoing electric shock once, they'd put it in wrong. Once they put it in correctly (6th attempt!) It was totally fine.

@Humphs27 I was quite surprised about that too!!

I won’t complain. I was in a lot of pain at the time I probably felt more sensitive (emotionally) than normal. I did feel ignored but I understand that to get the treatment I needed the cannula. Thanks everyone!