- The goal of going to a hospital is to get good care,
so if you want good care, avoid doing these things.
Huge thanks to ShipStation for sponsoring this video.
Never say the Q word,
and I'm not saying quack, I'm saying quiet.
Quiet is the worst thing to say.
If you say to someone, "Have a quiet shift",
you will send shivers down their spine,
'cause it's like the ultimate jinx.
Any nurse, any resident will tell you,
the second you wish someone a quiet shift,
you're gonna get 30 admissions, three rapid responses,
four code blues.
You're gonna be the busiest person on the ward.
Never discuss patient information in elevators.
This is the worst place to do it,
and it happens quite often,
because oftentimes, you're in a rush
from one floor to the other, you get a page,
you're calling someone back, you have one of your colleagues
who you're handing off service to,
so you tell them something quickly.
But you must remember, you could be on the elevator
with a loved one, a jealous spouse, a little child,
someone who does not need to know what's going on
with the patient's care.
Patient confidentiality above all,
and that's my good friend HIPAA.
Never ever follow the five second rule in a hospital.
In fact, you should never follow
the five second rule anywhere,
but definitely not in a hospital,
because of MDROs, multiple drug resistant organisms.
You know what happens in a hospital?
We administer a lot of antibiotic treatment,
which means that we get a lot of antibiotic resistant bugs,
basically bugs that have become superior to the antibiotics.
And when they're superior to multiple antibiotics
at the same time, that presents a huge problem.
So the next time you drop a little peanut on the floor,
think about all those very resistant organisms
crawling upon that, you consuming it, getting really sick
and all antibiotics fail.
Not trying to scare you, just trying to keep you smart.
Don't get upset if you feel that the doctors
are trying to get you discharged quickly.
If you don't feel ready to go home because you're not safe,
there's not a secure home for you to go to,
you can't take care of yourself, that's one thing.
But if you feel
that doctors are trying to get you discharged
sooner rather than later,
that's because that's in your best interest.
The longer you stay in a hospital unnecessarily,
the more likely you are to get sick in the hospital
from other infections, from lack of proper adequate rest,
meaning that you stay up all night with all the alarms
and all the patients that are upset and yelling.
So the goal here is to get discharged as quickly,
but as safely, as possible.
Don't ever reach into a hospital trash bin.
And I know you're probably thinking,
vomit, poop, urine, all that stuff.
True.
We usually use biohazard bins for that,
but my concern more so is if whoever was doing a procedure
didn't dispose of sharps into the sharp container
and then you were to get poked with something,
potentially giving you an infection.
Never reach into a hospital container.
Let it be, whatever it is you dropped.
Call for help.
Get one of the members of the custodial staff
to help you out, 'cause it's really dangerous
reaching into those bins.
Never eat your family member's food
who is admitted in the hospital.
We keep very close track of calories consumed,
intake, not just food wise but also fluid wise,
for our patients, especially if you're admitted
for a condition like congestive heart failure.
We actually monitor the ins and outs.
If we think that your loved one consumed a lot of liquids
and then didn't have the urinary output we expected,
we might think there's a problem.
Only allow them to eat their food,
and if they don't want it,
allow us to document it before you eat it.
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All right, let's get back to the video.
Never insist that doctors do a job
that the nurse is trying to do.
Very often, I'll see a patient say,
"I don't want the nurse or the phlebotomist
"drawing my blood.
"Let the doctor do it.
"They're more senior."
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
You do not want a doctor drawing your blood.
You want someone who does this on a daily basis,
who's trained to do this.
Honestly, I think in my whole career
of watching people get their blood drawn,
nurses are way superior than doctors in doing so.
Never take an air ambulance ride
without doing price comparison shopping first.
This one might seem weird, but in reality,
there is ways in non-emergent settings
to find out costs if you need to be transported
by an air ambulance.
You can lower your cost by a significant margin
if you just do a little price comparison check.
Literally call.
They're obligated by law to tell you.
Never, in a hospital, in an emergency room most importantly,
should you leave AMA.
This means leaving against medical advice.
If we are concerned about something, don't leave,
because that concern is likely warranted,
and if it's warranted, that means something bad can happen
without medical expertise and equipment
to save your life around you.
I have seen one too many times
patients leave the emergency room
or even leave being admitted in the hospital
against medical advice, with horrendous consequences.
Never be afraid to advocate for yourself
or your loved ones in a hospital.
Sadly, unfortunately, but in reality,
it's true that we make mistakes.
Hospitals make mistakes.
During handoffs, meaning when a new doctor comes on shift
or a new nurse comes on shift,
we can sometimes mix up information.
So advocate, ask for explanations,
ask more questions than you thought was required initially.
I've seen good patient advocates,
whether it's a family member or the patient themselves,
save their lives by doing so.
And if you don't have a family member to help you,
most hospitals have a patient advocacy office
that you can call and ask for help.
Never take medications from home.
Meaning, if you're admitted into a hospital,
the nursing staff is educated on what medications
you're supposed to be getting,
and then you take the medicines
and then they give you medicine.
You can either A, double dose on medications,
or two, when a doctor goes to prescribe a new medication,
they may not be aware
that you're taking a medication from your bag,
and therefore miss a potentially serious
and toxic drug interaction.
There are instances though that we can take your medications
and have the nurse enter them into the computer
and use your medications
instead of prescribing you a fresh set,
if you're interested in saving money that way.
Make sure you tell somebody, that's the important takeaway.
Never take sleep medication after 1 AM,
and this isn't just advice for patients in the hospital,
this is also for young doctors,
because here's what's gonna end up happening.
In the morning, when we round at six, 7 AM, very early,
and the patient's very groggy,
we will A, not be able to properly examine them,
or even worse,
think that they may have an altered mental status
and rush them to get a CAT scan for no reason
'cause we think they're having a stroke.
So if it is after 1 AM, find an alterative way
to try and get some Zs.
Never ignore the end-of-life care conversation
with your doctor.
You may be thinking, "I'm only here for a mild illness.
"My loved one was simply admitted with pneumonia.
"They're gonna get better soon.
"Why are we talking about end of life?"
You may even get mad.
But trust me, these are the times
you need to have that conversation.
We need to know your wishes.
You need to know your loved ones' wishes.
You need to think about your own wishes.
Do you want CPR?
Do you not want CPR?
Do you want full active treatment?
Do you want modified treatment?
Who is your power of attorney
if you aren't able to make decisions for yourself?
These are the most important questions you could answer
while you have a mild illness.
That is why we ask.
Never ever ever ever ever ever, this one happens the most,
ever lie.
Any time you lie, you're only harming yourself.
Feeling shame in a hospital needs not to be felt,
because there's rarely stories that shock us.
We speak to patients all day long,
we hear all sorts of situations.
Nothing is really shocking.
In fact, it's more interesting than anything.
So the next time you wanna lie
about your potential cocaine use,
like one of my patients did,
think about the medication I'm about to prescribe
that cross reacts with it
and can have a very lethal interaction.
Never bring your valuables with you.
Leave them at home.
And if you brought them with you
because you happen to get there in a state of emergency,
give them to your loved ones to bring home for you,
because here's what happens in a hospital.
You're gonna get a little see through bag,
they're gonna put all your personal belongings in it.
That bag will move from room to room
with the patient transporter.
It'll go into a closet that's not really secure.
A lot of people have access to it.
And God forbid you lose something,
the hospital's just gonna say they're not liable.
So leave the expensive watches, jewelry,
fancy technology at home, unless you absolutely need it.
You learn things to never do in a hospital,
but now I'm about to do a thing here
and open up some fan mail.
That's right, we're bringing this segment back.
I miss it too much.
You guys send way too good of items to not see on camera.
Okay, we got something from California.
California!
We got a badge holder and stethoscope decoration.
Ooh, whoo!
Look at that decor.
That's some serious decor.
In case you guys didn't know, I'd be a DO.
Yo, yo, yo!
A honeycomb.
100% edible raw honeycomb,
hand cut directly from the beehive frame.
10 out of 10.
Give me kiss.
Kiss.
No, kiss.
(Bear barks)
No, kiss.
(Bear barks)
No, kiss.
(Bear barks)
Kiss.
(Bear barks)
Can I have a kiss?
Kiss.
(Bear barks)
No, kiss.
There you go, good boy.
Speak.
(Bear barks)
Look at my face.
It's in my mouth.
What?
Osteopathic handshake, and it's a hug.
Let's do shots, and it's a DO vaccine thing.
Just DO it!
These are so, are these custom?
Proud of what I do, and it's a DO thing.
I can't die, the MCAT already killed me.
These are fire.
No joke, I might tattoo this on my body.
Street Fighter hand wraps for boxing.
Honestly, I was too poor to afford Street Fighter
back in the day, so I didn't really play it.
(light music)
And that's how you wrap a hand.
Bear.
"Dear Bear, I stumbled upon your human's YouTube channel,
"noticed how he usually wears nicely embroidered scrubs
"but doesn't seem to have anything embroidered for you,
"especially your first appearance during his Alive tour.
"So to correct this infringement,
"I felt you needed embroidered bandanas.
"Stay floofy."
Peewoof!
How did we not think of Peewoof?
- [Man] Never once.
- Never once.
Is that how he's supposed to wear it?
I love that he doesn't care at all.
Bear, you're such a handsome little floofender.
Look at you, just say cheese.
Uh oh, this one's not for me.
This toy removed four plastic bottles for the environment.
It's made from 100% recycled plastic bottles.
Wow.
The official sleep shirt, Mike and Bear.
Aww.
I sleep in these types of shirts all the time.
A blade less neck fan.
Interesting.
It's not bad.
- [Man] You look cool.
Do you feel cool?
- Both.
Not too long ago, I shared a story about one of my patients
in the hospital who was mistreated.
Click here to check that out, and also don't miss out
on your 60 day free trial to ShipStation
by visiting shipstation.com/doctormike.
As always, stay happy and healthy.
(light music)