www.incontinentsupport.org

Recently I was in the hospital after having a surgical procedure to correct an inguinal hernia. I became the victim of a hospital born infection in my surgical site that rendered me in very severe pain. I could barely move and needed help with many tasks including changing my diaper. The nurses had to help me and I tried to assist them as much as possible. They wouldn't let me do too much for fear of me hurting myself. My question lies in a comment made by one of the CNA's (I assume). I needed assistance from my nurse and rang my call bell. The assistant walked by my room and from out in the hall where everyone could hear she asked "Do you need your diaper changed?" I reluctantly replied yes and she got my nurse. But I was a little offended. Should I have been? I thought it was a little unprofessional.

Unprofessional, most definitely. And also likely a HIPAA violation. Staff are not to discuss any patient's medical conditions where others can overhear. It should be a very big deal. I'd bring it up with the nursing supervisor and mention HIPAA.

Hi

Not great for you I had the same problem when I was a child and at that point was double Incontinent due to medication to fight a nasty post operation infection. The medical staff were less than discreet however a few of us were in the same situation on the ward so was not too bad.

For those people here in the U.K.

The Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) offers confidential advice, support and information on health-related matters. They provide a point of contact for patients, their families and their carers.

http://www.nhs.uk/chq/pages/1082.aspx?CategoryID=68

Greenbank

I was in the same hospital a few months later for my bipolar disorder. I asked one of the nurses that worked there that was really nice do they get a lot of patients that wear diapers? I wanted to see how common my condition was in that setting to see if there were more people like me. She said that with these medicines used to treat our illnesses, they see a lot of patients that wet the bed. Some of them wear diapers. She said in the ward I was on for my hernia infection, a lot of people wear diapers down there so I was definitely not alone.

I agree that the comment was unprofessional. She should certainly have come into your room to ask the question. But I suspect is was a matter of thoughtlessness and stupidity rather than anything involving mallice.

I don't know if whether or not a patient wears diapers is HIPAA. I've been in the hospital around 20 times. Because it's behavioral health, they don't let me keep plastic bags in my room. So normally, the nurses will give me two or three diapers to keep in my room. The package stays in my bin behind the nurses station. No biggie. I'll normally just go to the nurses station when I run out and ask for more diapers. They'll hand me a few and I'll carry them back to my room. If I walk by another patient and they see me then oh well. In an environment like that, it's hard to keep secrets such as those. Or the nurses will put some in my room while I'm eating lunch or a group meeting. I try not to worry about diapers in the hospital. I've told other patients in the past and found it to be a non issue.

Borderline unprofessional, but most certainly not caring or private. I agree the orderly should have been more private with your needs anyways though.

Extremely unprofessional. Did you file a complaint with a supervisor?

I've had similar experiences. I consider myself fortunate in the fact that the VA provides me with my supplies since I'm service connected, but it does come at the cost of my pride and dignity.

I occasionally pick them up from the window, and if you've ever been to a VA pharmacy you'd know that it's usually packed to the brim with vets, usually 30+ in the waiting room and 5 or so in line. There's also a "consulting area" in the back of the room, that's recessed into the wall a little bit but otherwise wide open. You HAVE to go to first, so the pharmacist can verify your prescription and ensure there aren't any interactions.

My number comes up after 45 minutes, and I go to the "consulting area." I hand the tech my VA ID, and she says outloud, "Let's see....you're picking up some adult diapers right?" Talk about embarrassed, especially when there's a bunch of vets your age right behind you.

I go to the pickup window now, and the tech there basically says the same thing, that I'm picking up diapers.

She could have said "Molicare", or "briefs", or maybe just turned her computer monitor to show me the order. Fed up, I looked at her and said "Hey can you repeat that a little bit louder, I don't think the people in the back heard you." I definitely caught her off-guard, because she paused for a second then apologized. I hope that I made a point with her and she tries to show some restraint in the future.

I do want to add that I think the VA is very good overall and much better than vets give them credit for, however tact is something they definitely need to work on.

Ski, this incident occurred in a VA hospital. My diapers get mailed to my house. Check into your VA pharmacy. They can deliver ALL your prescriptions to your house.

Wow, that's terrible. I think that would be worthy of a complaint to the patient advocate.

I do get all my prescriptions mailed, for the most part. This was a case of "oh crap I thought I had a couple bags left" and couldn't wait around for mail.