- Joined
- Feb 25, 2021
She's definitely in the ICU, or least some kind of PCU/stepdown: per @behindyourightnow 's gracious archive, the pooner explains "i have like a tube in my neck that goes to my heart for the blood pressure meds."I am so used to seeing people munchie themselves into special corners but I can't fathom that she was admitted and given a central line unless there was something seriously wrong. (Powerlevel: I have had maybe 10 IVs but never a central line.) I was originally skeptical that she knew the difference between the ICU and the normal beds, but the central line part makes me think she really is in the ICU. Also, the original pix of the leg looked real fucky.
So she's got an IJ for pressors, which is the exact opposite of not being taken seriously. Also, good lord, that phrasing. This is a teenager, but this is not a smart teenager. Some poor nurse finally found small enough words to explain to the kid why she had central access; I hope they also got her to understand that it's sutured in place.
As far as the negative blood cultures:
a) as mentioned before, those need time to incubate
b) most people prefer not to have viable bacteria in their bloodstream; this is like complaining about a negative HIV test
Hospitals in the US aren't homogeneous. Newer ICUs here tend to have private rooms, but usually in a "fishbowl" layout with entirely glass walls on the hallway side. Good for isolation cases.
As patients get more infectious and less tolerant, and CMS takes "patient satisfaction" into account for reimbursement, the trend is toward single rooms on less-acute floors as well. However, hospitals aren't going to voluntarily lose beds by converting their existing semiprivate rooms, and there's no reason to build another wing or tower if you can just repaint the old one and give the C-suite another bonus.
A lot of hospitals end up with a mixture; if you're admitted into the tower that was built in the '70s, you're sharing a room. If you're admitted into the 2010 building, it's a single. If Admin is sensible, they put Oncology in the new tower with single rooms, but business is business. The only two units where patients comparison shop for their hospital beforehand are Ortho/Surgical and Mother-Baby. That's why those bitches get Jacuzzis.
As patients get more infectious and less tolerant, and CMS takes "patient satisfaction" into account for reimbursement, the trend is toward single rooms on less-acute floors as well. However, hospitals aren't going to voluntarily lose beds by converting their existing semiprivate rooms, and there's no reason to build another wing or tower if you can just repaint the old one and give the C-suite another bonus.
A lot of hospitals end up with a mixture; if you're admitted into the tower that was built in the '70s, you're sharing a room. If you're admitted into the 2010 building, it's a single. If Admin is sensible, they put Oncology in the new tower with single rooms, but business is business. The only two units where patients comparison shop for their hospital beforehand are Ortho/Surgical and Mother-Baby. That's why those bitches get Jacuzzis.