Visiting Nurse Service?

[durian explorer]

Summary: Anyone know of good visiting nurse service in Chiang Mai?

 

Detail: Hello, all.  This is my first post on Thai Visa.  Yesterday I had a minor motorbike accident.  I went to Bangkok Hospital (coincidentally very close to the accident scene) and got cleaned up and dressings applied to my arm and knee area.  They have urged me not to get the area wet, and get the wounds cleaned and redressed daily for a few days and then every other day. I'd prefer to avoid so many trips to a hospital and this seems like something that could easily be done at home. (The wounds are not really deep at all anyway.)

 

Another advantage to doing it at home is that I could take a regular shower before the cleaning and dressing of the wounds.  No need for a sponge bath, or to wrap the wounds in plastic wrap.

 

Towards this end it would be great if I could find a competent service that could come to my place in Chiang Mai. Anyone have any suggestions?

[Chicog]

Not something you could do yourself with the right items picked up at any pharmacy?

[NancyL]

Check with the hospital to see if they offer this service or if one of their nurses would be willing to come do it as a way to earn extra income before or after her shift.  

 

If that's not possible, as Chicog suggested, watch what they do at the hospital and consider if you can do it yourself or with the help of someone in your household.  Ask them to teach you how to do this at the hospital.  Once, I had a surgical wound that had gone septic and after I was back on the road to healing, a visiting nurse came to my house (in the U.S.) for a couple visits and then attempted to show my husband what to do to change the dressing.  He was so totally inept (and probably freaked out by the look of the thing) that we decided his job would be to hold the mirror and light so I could see the wound and change the dressings myself.  (Still have a crater in my lower abdomen from the wound, totally destroyed my career as a bikini model.)

[elektrified]

I've been through this....... Go to a medical supply store, and not a pharmacy, and buy 1) a box of dressing trays (plastic trays with gauze pads, cotton balls, etc. and a disposable forceps - just like they use at the hospital). Believe it or not, a box of twelve trays will cost 120 Baht. Pharmacies sell one tray for 100. 2) Get a large bottle of saline solution for 45 Baht. 3) clean your wounds. When I had my injuries the nurse told me that the hospital charges 300 Baht each time for this service. She recommended the above. Saved about 3,000 Baht!

[durian explorer]

All -

 

I'm pretty inept with this kind of stuff...besides, I live alone and one of the places I need to treat is my arm -- so it's awkward to do oneself to begin with.  That's why I asked about visiting nurse services.

 

@NancyL, Thanks for the suggestion to ask a nurse at the hospital, I may do that.  I went to a hospital closer to home this time (today) and it worked out well.  I'll probably just continue doing that; it's not so bad when it's a short trip there, as opposed to the first hospital which was far.

 

I'm still interested in a nurse service though, or even a personal referral to a licensed nurse to do this at my place.

 

[NancyL]

If you live in a condo or a fairly densely populated area, just ask around if anyone knows someone who has some medical training who would be willing to do this job for you.  It's not especially complex, but you do want someone who has had some basic training (R.N. not necessary, a one-year certificate program would be adequate)

 

Another antidote about a medical problem in the U.S.-- I've had bunion surgery.  With the first foot, Hubby attempted to handle the post-surgery care, which mean that he got me up at 6 am, and I talked him thru showering, dressing and breakfast before he left for work and I had the rest of the day with nothing to do for the first couple weeks.  It was stressful because he didn't know what he was doing and I didn't like getting up that early because I'm not a napper.

 

When I had the bunion on the second foot done, we hired the neighbor, a retired R.N. to come over from 9 am to 11 am, to get me up for the day, showered and fix "brunch".  She was S-O-O much more fun and like getting paid $20 (in the early 1980s) for a couple hours work, plus she got to eat an early lunch with me.  

 

 

[Lizard2010]

12 hours ago, elektrified said:

I've been through this....... Go to a medical supply store, and not a pharmacy, and buy 1) a box of dressing trays (plastic trays with gauze pads, cotton balls, etc. and a disposable forceps - just like they use at the hospital). Believe it or not, a box of twelve trays will cost 120 Baht. Pharmacies sell one tray for 100. 2) Get a large bottle of saline solution for 45 Baht. 3) clean your wounds. When I had my injuries the nurse told me that the hospital charges 300 Baht each time for this service. She recommended the above. Saved about 3,000 Baht!

Any thoughts were to find these Supplyers

 

Im around the Chang Klan Area

[MrBrad]

12 hours ago, elektrified said:

I've been through this....... Go to a medical supply store, and not a pharmacy, and buy 1) a box of dressing trays (plastic trays with gauze pads, cotton balls, etc. and a disposable forceps - just like they use at the hospital). Believe it or not, a box of twelve trays will cost 120 Baht. Pharmacies sell one tray for 100. 2) Get a large bottle of saline solution for 45 Baht. 3) clean your wounds. When I had my injuries the nurse told me that the hospital charges 300 Baht each time for this service. She recommended the above. Saved about 3,000 Baht!

I, too, would like to know where such a medical supply store is located.  Please advise.  Thanks.

[colinneil]

Ask about your local clinic, maybe they can help you.

My local clinic come and help  me when required.

[elektrified]

56 minutes ago, Lizard2010 said:

Any thoughts were to find these Supplyers

 

Im around the Chang Klan Area

 

4 minutes ago, MrBrad said:

I, too, would like to know where such a medical supply store is located.  Please advise.  Thanks.

O.K., here's two. One can be found next door to Teppanya Hospital in the little shopping plaza on the Mae Jo Road. There's a 7-Eleven in there and the driveway connects with the driveway to Teppanya. Can't miss it. Its a large place, MDB (or something like that) Surgical Supply. Another can be found on the Mahidol Road on the left coming from the direction of the Airport. I don't know how to give directions but don't get on the ramp heading towards San Kahampaeng/Lampang, stay on the utility road. Also a large place just past the on-ramp.

 

Some of these places have a bad habit of trying to over-charge farangs. So if you are shopping for a few items and want to make sure to get the correct price, perhaps take a Thai wife/friend with you. Below is an image of the exact brand we bought. It is marked 25 Baht per tray from a seller in Bangkok. If you search you will see the exact same item/brand selling all over Thailand for up to 180 Baht per tray. We paid 120 Baht per box of 12. Medical supplies/pharmacies often mark up in the several hundred percent range so shop carefully when buying medicine and/or medical supplies.

 

 

[hmficc]

I think there is a misunderstanding. Keep it dry and clean it. You can't have it both ways. 

Got for one dressing change and observe. If you feel full confident the you can read the signs of burgeoning infection carry on on your own. Don't get it wet without a better understanding.

[durian explorer]

I no longer need an answer to the question, because apparently my wounds have healed much more quickly than expected.  They told me at the hospital today that I didn't really need the bandages anymore, but when I expressed my surprise they put them on anyway, and told me that I could remove them myself tomorrow and just apply daily the antiseptic they sold me yesterday.

 

[BKKdreaming]

11 hours ago, Keith Bennett said:

I no longer need an answer to the question, because apparently my wounds have healed much more quickly than expected.  They told me at the hospital today that I didn't really need the bandages anymore, but when I expressed my surprise they put them on anyway, and told me that I could remove them myself tomorrow and just apply daily the antiseptic they sold me yesterday.

 

 

Good to hear , but also some good info on this thread about the dressing sets cheap at  medical supply shops,

 

I hope to never have that problem ,  but it could happen to any of us.....