# I'm old, obese, with lungs that are charted as "a mess." Now I have COVID. Why does it take an hour to page a nurse? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 27, 2022, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-old-obese-with-lungs-that-are-charted-as-a-mess-now-i-have-covid-why-does-it-take-an-hour-to-page-a-nurse/958461 "2022-01-27T04:04:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-old-obese-with-lungs-that-are-charted-as-a-mess-now-i-have-covid-why-does-it-take-an-hour-to-page-a-nurse/958461/1 "2022-01-27T04:04:07Z")
This afternoon my lungs were clogged up and I could not breathe. I pressed the call button and nothing happened. I pressed it repeatedly for fifty minutes, each breath only partial and labored. I Facebooked my medical next of kin daughter and she called the nursing station and read them the riot act. Finally a respiratory therapist came in and suctioned my plumbing and gave me a “breathing treatment” that tasted like my rescue inhaler, which I’m not allowed to have. So all I needed was a spritz of Albuterol; was that so hard? Sweet Zombie Jesus, people! I’ve been asthmatic longer than you’ve been alive; I know my lungs and how to medicate them. Trust me to know what I’m doing. And either put in my speaking valve or quit asking me questions from outside my room. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-old-obese-with-lungs-that-are-charted-as-a-mess-now-i-have-covid-why-does-it-take-an-hour-to-page-a-nurse/958461/2 "2022-01-27T04:19:58Z")
Sorry to hear all this. Maybe they’re severely understaffed due to staff contracting COVID? Can daughter smuggle a rescue inhaler to you? ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-old-obese-with-lungs-that-are-charted-as-a-mess-now-i-have-covid-why-does-it-take-an-hour-to-page-a-nurse/958461/3 "2022-01-27T04:22:11Z")
if I didn’t know any better id say you were in our local slice and dice place …unless you were on the death or near-death list you were lucky to see a nurse once an hour or two even before the nuplauge ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-old-obese-with-lungs-that-are-charted-as-a-mess-now-i-have-covid-why-does-it-take-an-hour-to-page-a-nurse/958461/4 "2022-01-27T04:32:05Z")
I’m sorry you’re going through this. The hospitals are overburdened by people who unlike you don’t have the excuse of comorbities, unless stupidity can be considered one. The people who refuse to vaccinate and run around unmasked until they run to the hospital begging for treatment are taking resources away from folks like you that haven’t done anything wrong, and who are vulnerable through no fault of their own. I hope you recover, and I hope you can get better help. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-old-obese-with-lungs-that-are-charted-as-a-mess-now-i-have-covid-why-does-it-take-an-hour-to-page-a-nurse/958461/5 "2022-01-27T04:56:19Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > Can daughter smuggle a rescue inhaler to you? Bitch let her pharmacy tech license expire. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-old-obese-with-lungs-that-are-charted-as-a-mess-now-i-have-covid-why-does-it-take-an-hour-to-page-a-nurse/958461/6 "2022-01-27T06:20:02Z")
Someone went to Medical School to put “a mess” on your medical records? Goddamn, I coulda been a Doctor! _“Mr. Jones here is ‘All Tore Up’, and over here is Mrs. Stevens, who has a case of FUBAR”_ ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-old-obese-with-lungs-that-are-charted-as-a-mess-now-i-have-covid-why-does-it-take-an-hour-to-page-a-nurse/958461/7 "2022-01-27T07:08:35Z")
Daughter is not a doctor and FTR the full quote was, “you’re a fucking mess.” ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-old-obese-with-lungs-that-are-charted-as-a-mess-now-i-have-covid-why-does-it-take-an-hour-to-page-a-nurse/958461/8 "2022-01-27T11:49:13Z")
Nurses are under-staffed, underpaid and under massive constant stress. ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-old-obese-with-lungs-that-are-charted-as-a-mess-now-i-have-covid-why-does-it-take-an-hour-to-page-a-nurse/958461/9 "2022-01-27T12:14:56Z")
… but please feel better dropzone… ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-old-obese-with-lungs-that-are-charted-as-a-mess-now-i-have-covid-why-does-it-take-an-hour-to-page-a-nurse/958461/10 "2022-01-27T12:34:15Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Nurses are under-staffed, underpaid and under massive constant stress. And charting requirements are generally prioritized over patient care these days too. Being required to chart everything you do means you do less because you’re charting all the time. Sadly, that’s cold consolation (if any) for the OP. Continue to complain, @dropzone and get better. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-old-obese-with-lungs-that-are-charted-as-a-mess-now-i-have-covid-why-does-it-take-an-hour-to-page-a-nurse/958461/11 "2022-01-27T13:29:42Z")
Reminds me of when I had my appendix out. The old man in the next bed was yelling for a bed pan, but the nurses were busy playing cards down the hall. He finally gave up and made poop in the bed. THEN, the nurses came in and yelled at him as they cleaned him up. Not a rant about the nurses. There were all sorts of things wrong with that hospital, and it was finally shut down. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-old-obese-with-lungs-that-are-charted-as-a-mess-now-i-have-covid-why-does-it-take-an-hour-to-page-a-nurse/958461/12 "2022-01-27T14:41:15Z")
“Civilization is a thin veil over our savage selves.” I think it’s becoming thinner. 😳 ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-old-obese-with-lungs-that-are-charted-as-a-mess-now-i-have-covid-why-does-it-take-an-hour-to-page-a-nurse/958461/13 "2022-01-27T16:08:52Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > There were all sorts of things wrong with that hospital, and it was finally shut down. That must have been Uncle Benny’s Urgent Care, Fried Chicken, and Tire Repairs. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-old-obese-with-lungs-that-are-charted-as-a-mess-now-i-have-covid-why-does-it-take-an-hour-to-page-a-nurse/958461/14 "2022-01-27T17:42:45Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > And charting requirements are generally prioritized over patient care these days too. Being required to chart everything you do means you do less because you’re charting all the time. Please note the OP: I am the very definition of a high risk patient. I don’t fucking care about their paperwork; I thought I was dying and was under the impression their primary job is to prevent that. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-old-obese-with-lungs-that-are-charted-as-a-mess-now-i-have-covid-why-does-it-take-an-hour-to-page-a-nurse/958461/15 "2022-01-27T17:57:16Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Please note the OP: I am the very definition of a high risk patient. I don’t fucking care about their paperwork; I thought I was dying and was under the impression their primary job is to prevent that. Oh, I agree 100% with you. Our system is broken, especially for our most high risk/vulnerable. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-old-obese-with-lungs-that-are-charted-as-a-mess-now-i-have-covid-why-does-it-take-an-hour-to-page-a-nurse/958461/16 "2022-01-27T17:58:07Z")
A certain Warren Zevon song comes to mind (I won’t link: dropzone deserves only compassion, meager though we can offer) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-old-obese-with-lungs-that-are-charted-as-a-mess-now-i-have-covid-why-does-it-take-an-hour-to-page-a-nurse/958461/17 "2022-01-27T17:58:29Z")
Next time, try unplugging your heart monitor. They usually respond to that. Don’t do it so often that they start calling you _The Patient Who Cried Code Blue_, though. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-old-obese-with-lungs-that-are-charted-as-a-mess-now-i-have-covid-why-does-it-take-an-hour-to-page-a-nurse/958461/18 "2022-01-27T18:04:03Z")
Crap. Want me to mail you a rescue inhaler? ---
**Author:** ![SpacemanSpiff\_II](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@SpacemanSpiff\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpacemanSpiff_II)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-old-obese-with-lungs-that-are-charted-as-a-mess-now-i-have-covid-why-does-it-take-an-hour-to-page-a-nurse/958461/19 "2022-01-27T18:23:16Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Nurses are under-staffed, underpaid and under massive constant stress. One of my DILs is a nurse in a hospital at this time. The first and third of these assertions are correct. But at this time, hospital nurses are not underpaid, and are in fact raking it in like bandits as the hospitals pay exhorbitant bonuses to convince them to stick around and particularly to take extra shifts. But they are definitely very under-staffed and overworked (hence the bonuses). Beyond that, my DIL has two observations about hospital nurses and their workplace which may also be relevant here. 1. Nurses can get very jaded. For those of us not working in hospital wards filled with people who have very serious conditions, the idea of a life threatening situation is a Huge Huge Deal, and in that situation we would be scrambling to deal with it. But for a nurse who deals with deaths and dying people day after day and week after week and year after year, it just doesn’t invoke that same attitude. They can have the attitude that “so-and-so is clearly about to die anyway …”, and similar. 2. Patients can be big time nudniks. You get your patients who are calling for help in genuinely serious situations such as described in the OP, but you also get patients calling to complain that they don’t like the food and the like - essentially treating the nurses like a sort of room service. As a result of this, there is a sort of general tendency to take patient calls less seriously than they would otherwise be, especially if the same patient now complaining that he’s dying is also someone who has a history of constant complaints about all sorts of minor things. (Not saying such is the case with the OP - I have no idea.) Not saying that either of these things are as they should be, but per my DIL that’s how it is. And she works at a very reputable hospital (not a major big city teaching hospital, but a decent sized place which is well rated and is part of a bigger hospital chain which is also well rated). ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2022, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-old-obese-with-lungs-that-are-charted-as-a-mess-now-i-have-covid-why-does-it-take-an-hour-to-page-a-nurse/958461/20 "2022-01-27T18:54:12Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > I Facebooked my medical next of kin daughter Something not clear to me from your posts is whether you’ve gotten your asthma under control [since November](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ive-been-treated-for-asthma-since-1977-why-not-now/953942). You probably should have gone back on a maintenance inhaler months ago and if they took away your rescue inhaler (?!?!?!) I’m guessing it’s because you were using it too much. Daughter with Power of Attorney and pharmtech experience should be able to look at your record and tell you if your asthma is “controlled” or “uncontrolled”, and what the doctor’s plan is for your asthma. The upside from all the stupid paperwork @Qadgop_the_Mercotan mentioned is that this stuff _has_ to be in there. ~Max, not a doctor [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-old-obese-with-lungs-that-are-charted-as-a-mess-now-i-have-covid-why-does-it-take-an-hour-to-page-a-nurse/958461.md?page=2)