Tell me about the environment at the clinic where you get chemo
Hi everyone. I'm halfway through a 12 week treatment plan, and wondered what things are like in other chemo treatment centers. In mine, the nurses are nice but there's no effort to make the place quiet or peaceful. They yell back and forth across the floor at each other, speak really loudly, and there's one tv in the place, whoever controls it gets to choose the show and volume (which is ridiculously loud sometimes). I would love to be able to nap a bit but it's too loud and chaotic. My partner is getting really frustrated with it, I'm wondering if this is common across all of them? I guess I was hoping there might be an effort to make it peaceful and relaxing, but maybe that's just not the way it's done. How is it where you are?
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Hi there! I wouldn't go so far as to describe the environment as chaotic, but I would struggle to get enough quiet to nap. (My center has curtains you can pull for privacy though, and I got noise-canceling headphones, so maybe...?) There are some centers that are lovely but they're less convenient, so I kind of just go in and roll with it.
I have to imagine if you're feeling this, others are too. Perhaps a word with the onc or nurse manager would help. Good luck with the rest of your treatments!!
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We did actually speak to the manager last week, it took almost 2 hours to get my bloodwork back and the nurse said they have been complaining about the long wait times and nothing has changed. We asked if it would help if the manager hear it from patients and she said yes, so we asked her to call the manager for us. We took the opportunity to discuss the long wait time as well as the loud/completely opposite from peaceful environment. He seemed receptive but nothing was any different this week.
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@tjstyphon that environment sounds miserable. I would talk to the manager again.
When I had chemo last year, each patient was in a cubicle with either drapes or solid walls and individual TV. The nurses typically walked to each patient or provider and spoke quietly. Occasionally I would hear a a TV or patient talking loudly on the phone but for the most part it was pretty quiet and I was able to nap. The most noise I heard was the alarm going off on the machines when the IV was finished. As mentioned above, noise cancelling headphones would be a good idea.
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My infusion center is an open floor plan, so no privacy curtains or private cubicles. It's usually pretty quiet. Usually the nurses have a radio on and sometimes they will start softly singing along with a particular song, but it's not loud or anything. Many people sleep, but most people have their laptops with headphones or are on their phones. They provide heated blankets so it's pretty cozy. Labs usually take between 20 and 45 minutes.
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I get chemo at a hospital system that has multiple locations. One of them has everyone in a large room which creeps me out because you have a lot of patients/guests and their germs floating around the atmosphere while you are having your immune system killed. I refused to have my chemo done at that location even though it's in the same building where my oncologist is located. They have another location where there are 2 people in each room with a cubicle like divider. I had one of my 8 sessions done here. Each patient had their own tv and there was a shared bathroom. This wasn't too bad, but you still had people spreading their germs and the other patient and their guest were noisy so it was hard to rest. I just finished my 5th round of chemo at a third location where I have a room to myself. This is by far the best experience. It's quiet, I have my own tv, I don't have to worry about other peoples germs, and my service dog is at ease because he's not focusing on strangers in the room.
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