I have been trying to turn complaints into constructive criticism or feedback. Earlier posts noted my frustrations with Nurse Ratched and her strict adherence to policy. Despite the fact that I used my blog to vent, in the real world, I wrote an email to each one of Nurse Ratched's supervisors. In that email, I outlined my overall concerns about specific and general policies, their negative effects upon the patients, and the need to separate dementia patients from cancer patients.
Today, I was paid a visit by the heads of certain departments and the director of this VA facility in order to discuss some of my policy proposals. To make things sweeter, Nurse Ratched was among the group.
As a result, there are immediate positive changes: my refrigerator access has been restored, the door outside my room will be modified tomorrow to prevent noise intrusions, and the VA will provide a heater for this room. Additionally, the VA is going to push for a proposal to establish the dementia patients in a mental health care facility. The result is that both groups of patients should be receiving better treatment overall.
I just thought I'd share a positive ending to a frustrating experience. These changes will have little effect on me, since I am leaving soon (at least that's what I'm told). However, they will make life just a little less miserable for other cancer and dementia patients.
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