When I had my ostomy surgery, it was in a large hospital. The ostomy nurses were great, the nurses on the specialized colorectal ward were great, and even the aides on that ward were great. They saw a lot of ostomies, and they knew what they were doing.
I was readmitted to the same hospital shortly after discharge with sepsis. For whatever reason, I was placed in the cardiac ICU... no one had any idea about the ostomy, and they weren't able to get the ostomy nurses to help. It was an unmitigated disaster. I couldn't even get them to hook up my urostomy to a night bag, which resulted in the bag overfilling when I slept and soaking everything, as well as dripping all over the floor. Then they failed to get a good fit with the wafer, resulting in a leak. Eventually, my husband came to visit and did the change properly. The colostomy bag did not get changed while I was there. It needed to be changed, but it did not happen.
I recently spent a few days in a regional hospital. They were smart enough to know what they didn't know. So they listened to me about hooking up a night bag. Fortunately, I was well enough to change my colostomy bag myself.
My advice: bring plenty of your own supplies and make sure a loved one knows how to change the bag in case you are too sick to do it yourself. An ostomy nurse will be able to change it, but don't count on there being one available. Standard nurses will vary based on individual experience, and a fair number of people have no common sense.
