I work 12 hour nights at a small rural hospital. They contract with a local security company for their hospital "security guards". Every now and then we have a confused or agitated patient that requires a personal sitter to keep them from harming themselves and others. If no extra nursing staff is available, then a "guard" will come to sit in their room with them.
A few weeks ago, we had a doozy: 60 year old guy with mental status changes; wife wanted him committed, history of domestic assault, ETOH abuse...He kept trying to leave, became aggressive at times. So we had a guard sitting with them. He was quite pleasant with them and seemed to enjoy their company. Fast forward to 2 nights ago, we had a 70-ish man that had fallen, landing on his face. Multiple fractures, VERY disoriented, pulling out IV's, foley, getting out of his restraints...like Houdini on crack! So he had a guard sitter. I thought that this particular guard looked familiar, but I was so busy running around that I didn't really give it much thought....until my CNA said "Hey, doesn't that guard look like that patient we had a few weeks ago?" OMG!!
Come to find out, this previous patient had liked the security guards that sat with him, so when he was discharged from the hospital, he went and got a job with them!!!! He made the comment to the CNA that when he got confused again, he could just guard HIMSELF
Another classic moment in hospital nursing!!!!!
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