I've noticed in movies a lot characters will wake up in the hospital after some sort of accident, rip their IVs out, and then roll out of bed and escape out a window or something. I'm guessing this isn't accurate, but what does happen when people wake up in a hospital? Is there usually a nurse right there with them, or does it take a bit? How long before they usually get discharged? And what's in the IV?
You’re correct about it not being accurate. For one thing, it would take a while for your character to get through the whole process of getting from the scene to the emergency department, getting evaluated and stabilized there, having imaging tests (like x-ray, CT, MRI, etc…) done, any necessary procedures done, and getting to a bed on the floor.
And let’s face it- if your character has been out this long, there is something really wrong with them. If its an accident, this may be because of a severe head injury, or an injury that caused shock. They may also have needed immediate surgery (where they would have been under anesthesia), or require sedation for comfort. In any of these situations, they’d be in the ICU under a lot of monitoring when they woke up. Med/surg floors (the typical hospital floors) really aren’t equipped to handle this level of acuity.
ICUs are ideally staffed as two patients to a nurse. A bad staffing night might kick this up to 3:1. The nurse should be within eyeshot of their patients much of the time, though there may be short gaps in this depending on how the ICU is set up (if there are opaque walls or partitions between beds) or if another patient has an emergency several rooms away and the nurse has to help. The patient shouldn’t be left alone very long, though.
There are many different drugs that may be given IV. In the ICU, patients may have multiple drips going at once. Some may be constant, like fluids, short-acting sedative drugs and drugs to keep blood pressure up for patients in shock. Other drugs, like antibiotics, drugs to bring down swelling in the brain, some cancer drugs, and anti-seizure medication can be given over minutes to hours once or twice a day. Still others, like painkillers, emergency drugs like epinephrine, and drugs to bring blood pressure down may be pushed into an IV from a syringe.
What your character is getting in particular depends on what the accident was, and what injuries they’re being treated for. Pulling an IV line out could potentially be very bad if what is running through it is something controlling their blood pressure, or something that is keeping their brain from swelling. Not to mention, opening up a hole that is directly in the patient’s vein causes a lot more bleeding than is normally shown on TV. And IV pumps alarm when an IV is kinked or pulled out.
A note on monitoring alarms, as well: ICU is understandably stlckly about making sure monitors stay on patients. There’s no way your patient escapes without pulling off five tele (heart monitor) leads, a pulse ox sticker/clip, and automatic blood pressure cuff. And those things alarm like crazy when removed. Removing potentially more invasive monitoring equipment like an arterial blood pressure line (you thought an IV in a vein bleeds a lot? Wait until you see a line into an artery!), or a device placed in the skull to measure pressure on the brain without a proper procedure could be fatal to your character.
Patients are discharged when they’re stable and likely to stay that way. Keep in mind people don’t get discharged directly home from ICU- they’ll do some time on a stepdown unit and then med/surg floor before getting discharged. It’s impossible to say how long your character will stay there, but googling “average hospital time for x-injury” might give you some indication.
