'Very unorganized' hospital setting leaves Halifax surgery patient feeling unsafe

A Dartmouth, N.S., woman says she was left feeling unsafe after her experience having surgery at the Halifax Infirmary early last week amid significant staff shortages at the hospital.

After not seeing her surgeon for nearly a year, Mandy Grant got a call to come in for her procedure because there was an opening last week.

"When I got there, it was kind of very unorganized. The anesthesiologists couldn't find me. I was always put into a cubicle that was at the far end with no lights. It kind of looked like it was an old storage place," Grant told CBC Radio's Mainstreet Halifax on Thursday.

"When they found me, I had about 10 to 12 people coming at me all at once because I had no information about how the surgery was going to go. I had anticipated it going one way [but] being told it was going to be completely different because it was just no time for me to have a pre-op appointment."

Grant said she felt anxious. Once she got into the operating room, she asked if they could take a minute so someone could explain what was happening. She said her surgeon and nurses walked her through the procedure before going ahead with it.

When she was taken to the recovery area, Grant said it had the same feel as an emergency room "without any sheets blocking anyone off."

"I was like, 'Oh, this is different.' I didn't stay down there very long and I was lucky because they were waiting for a bed and I went into a bed right away," Grant said.

From the time she woke up from her surgery to the following evening, Grant said she could only get about an hour of sleep "because there was no sense of organization."

At one point, she required a catheter and said there was no sheet to cover her up.

"My johnny shirt was literally lifted up as the janitor walked in ... I was exposed for everyone to see. At that point, my support person walked in and started yelling at the nurse doing the procedure," she said.

Grant said the nurse apologized and explained she had only been on the job for six months. Grant said she requested a different nurse because she didn't feel safe after the experience.

Also during the stay at the hospital, Grant said nurses forgot her pain medication on three separate occasions.

"It would get to the point where the pain is so bad that I started throwing up," Grant said, adding there were no bins to collect the vomit except a big garbage can.

Grant said a nurse came in and "she threw towels at me on the floor and said, 'Can you just step on it and wipe it up?'"