Baffled - Page 4

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  1. May 18, '12 by
    Lol.....I just asked my husband if he knew the name of his BP medication. He only knew "It starts with an L."Lisinopril! Made him repeat it until he remembered. I will test him on it in one week.
    tripsis likes this.
  2. May 18, '12 by
    what even leaves me more baffled is when you get a patient who is total assist, up with 2, on oxygen, sets up their own meds, manages their own diabetes, puts on their own ted hose, and wipes their own a$$....
    but yet, when they are in the hospital, they can't do a single one of those things. They can't name the medications they are on, how much oxygen they are on. They don't know how to eat a diabetic diet or why we have to "keep checking their sugars". they don't wipe their own a$$.

    given, if they had surgery...thats a whole different story. But if they come in the same way they are at home. WHAT THE HECK ARE THEY DOING AT HOME???? makes me so scared for these people.
  3. May 18, '12 by
    Quote from Vespertinas
    This thread had the unintentional effect of making me feel better about the man I'm married to.
    Indeed (tho I feel pretty good about the man I'm married to all the time).
    I raised 3 children, thank God I'm not married to one also.
    ALavallee likes this.
  4. May 18, '12 by
    Quote from Jenni811
    what even leaves me more baffled is when you get a patient who is total assist, up with 2, on oxygen, sets up their own meds, manages their own diabetes, puts on their own ted hose, and wipes their own a$$....
    but yet, when they are in the hospital, they can't do a single one of those things. They can't name the medications they are on, how much oxygen they are on. They don't know how to eat a diabetic diet or why we have to "keep checking their sugars". they don't wipe their own a$$.

    given, if they had surgery...thats a whole different story. But if they come in the same way they are at home. WHAT THE HECK ARE THEY DOING AT HOME???? makes me so scared for these people.
    Hospital Induced Paralysis. It is a syndrome in which an individual becomes completely helpless upon crossing the hospital threshold.
    Altra likes this.
  5. May 19, '12 by
    Just in reference to this, my sister was a stutterer and I used to speak "for" her sometimes when she couldn't get her words right, which happened when she was scared, tired, or with certain strangers. She still has it, no treatment has fixed it 100%. Perhaps something like this could have been it.
    Baffling is when a patient comes in and says "my abdominal pain is 10/10, I can't even walk without being hunched over!" and they ambulate when they know you are watching bent over. Then you watch them out of the corner of your eye laughing with their visitors, and moving without any evidence of pain! It makes me wonder why they are in the loud uncomfortable ED when they clearly don't seem to be in emergency distress!! Who would choose that?!
  6. May 19, '12 by
    "hospital induced paralysis. it is a syndrome in which an individual becomes completely helpless upon crossing the hospital threshold."

    hospitals can "induce" the kind of behavior you describe -- if they have that power -- then they also have the power to induce the opposite. poor hospital "cultures," policies designed merely for efficiency, staff burnout and poor attitudes, (which too often come out on these blogs), lack of any kind of patient-centered care -- these things and others most often cause the kind of behavior you're describing. if patients feel like their being treated like objects, they start behaving like objects. they don't all of a sudden become stupid when they enter hospitals. humans quickly adapt to the atmosphere around them. when they feel powerless, many become powerless in order to survive. unfortunately, the cultures of too many hospitals enable this kind of behavior.
  7. May 19, '12 by
    Quote from cul2
    "hospital induced paralysis. it is a syndrome in which an individual becomes completely helpless upon crossing the hospital threshold."

    hospitals can "induce" the kind of behavior you describe -- if they have that power -- then they also have the power to induce the opposite. poor hospital "cultures," policies designed merely for efficiency, staff burnout and poor attitudes, (which too often come out on these blogs), lack of any kind of patient-centered care -- these things and others most often cause the kind of behavior you're describing. if patients feel like their being treated like objects, they start behaving like objects. they don't all of a sudden become stupid when they enter hospitals. humans quickly adapt to the atmosphere around them. when they feel powerless, many become powerless in order to survive. unfortunately, the cultures of too many hospitals enable this kind of behavior.
    i'm sure that's part of the picture, but i think it's more complex than that. in other words, learned helplessness does not just suddenly appear in the vacuum of the hospital. the tendency of a person to adapt to the environment in this way is established earlier in life, through an interaction between their innate personality, environment, life experiences, etc.

    the fact that so many people adopt helpless behavior while in the hospital shows just how pervasive in society this is. it's a reflection of how powerless people feel in general.

    i don't see hospitals as inducing this behavior so much as it being an issue pertinent to the larger society in general.

    i do agree that hospitals can enable it, for example with the growing emphasis on the customer service (or hilton hotel) model of healthcare delivery, where the patient's wants are prioritized over clinical outcomes.
  8. Guide
    May 19, '12 by
    My stepdad's father called his wife "mother". I noticed that with other couples of the same age (born late 1800s) and background (rural midwest) and always wondered what the roots of that were. It struck me almost as a term of respect.

    He tended to defer to her as chief caretaker especially in their later years perhaps because women identified so much of their role in life with motherhood but with no daily outlet for it at that point, and I doubt very much the dynamic between them was like that when they were young, therefore I find Altra's solution both useful and pretty humorous, "do you know where you are?" lol.
  9. Guide
    May 19, '12 by
    When I first married my spouse, he behaved in a similar manner. I think he learned this from his mother. I refused to take part. When he forgot his insurance card and had to pay a cancellation fee, he worked extra hours to cover it. When he forgot to renew his driver's license and wasn't allowed to pick up his pain medication after a procedure, he had to take care of it before he could get his medication. When he forgot an appointment and was billed for it, he had to pay the cost. It took him nearly a year to learn that I was not his mother, and that adult choices have consequences, but after nearly 20 years of marriage, he is a wonderful and equal partner. This would not have happened if I had swooped in and "fixed" his mistakes. He has learned to use technology to his advantage and keeps his medications and important information in his password-protected phone.

    As others have mentioned, this is a choice on the part of both partners. I didn't want an additional child, I wanted an equal partner. I personally would find it hard to be attracted to someone I felt I had to "mind" and "mother," and I don't want to be the nagging wife. Of course, this would be different if he were to become incapable due to illness or injury.
    Altra and nursel56 like this.
  10. May 19, '12 by
    A few years ago my husband was in the ER; sick as a dog but very much able to speak for himself. I accompanied him and added a couple times to the consult with the ER doc but for the most part sat back and allowed him to answer. He was livid! He didn't feel well, of course, and though I should be answering all the doctor's questions since I am nurse. I explained that is as much a part of the consultation as the physical exam and therefore important HE answered the questions. :uhoh21:

    Fortunately his good qualities far outweigh this moment of ridiculousness.
    canoehead and Altra like this.