Had a pt. at work last night that had been admitted from the ER around 7 pm with pneumonia. This pt. was disoriented, very confused, came ffrom a nursing home, and any family hadn't showed up by 7:30 this morning, so we (me and the LPN) had her 12 hours at least.
Problem was she screamed bloody murder all night when her sedative wore off (sedative because she kept trying to climb over bed rails and couldn't walk at all). Me and the nurse took turns sitting with her when she was awake, and one hand on her arm calmed her down like you couldn't believe. Just a light handrest on her arm and saying "we're here with you" and reminding here of where she is and who we are.
The nurse finally got ahold of family, who informed us that this pt. is completely BLIND. I mean we figured she couldn't see well (80 years old), but we didn't think she was blind because when you talked to her she looked right into your eyes.
Why did we not know she's blind? When she was asked in the ER if she could "see OK" she said "yes". No one at the nursing home found anywhere in her chart info saying she's blind. No one in the ER told us she's blind. NO WHERE on ANYTHING did it say she is blind, actually on either (nursing home, ER, or hospital) chart there is NOTHING about her eyesight at ALL. NO ONE even mentioned from the nursing home to the EMT's that she can't see. No one knew this poor woman couldn't see.
No wonder she was the way she was. She's in an unfamiliar area, with unfamiliar sounds, and feels hands holding an arm down to get blood out of her arm.
This just TICKS me off, this is info that is needed, and not that i'm looking for someone to blame, but you almost have to, to figure out where this lack of information started
Called up there today to ask about her, luckily she's not panicking as bad, but she's also on Ativan. The nurse put her in a gerichair (correct SP?) and had her sitting beside her asking about her children, husband, anything about her life. This woman answered the questions and then explained to the nurse that years ago a cleaner had splashed in her eyes causing her blindness. She'd come to our hospital for treatment. We have records dating back to 1948 on this lady, and no where was their anything about any treatment for eyes of any sort
