Honestly, it's ridiculous. I like to think of myself as someone who has a lot of patience but there are a few patients on our floor right now who ring a lot (or if they can't ring for whatever reason, they scream) and for absolutely no reason. Today, I had two of them and found myself nearly at my wits' end!
One patient is clearly anxious about being alone, but she has to be due to being in isolation. She just doesn't feel safe unless there's a nurse (or better yet, two!) in the room with her, so she calls constantly. However, due to physical limitations, she often can't press the bell so she resorts to screaming.
This happens constantly (no exaggeration); I will literally have just taken off my gown and begun washing my hands upon exiting the room and she'll be calling out my name again. When we answer her, 99% of the time she doesn't need anything (she has actually told us this a few times or you can visibly see her think of things to say to keep us there); she just wants us to stay in the room with her. Her family tries to help by visiting every day and staying with her a few hours but she'll still ring or call out for a nurse, despite her family members' attempts to tell her to stop. A nursing student asked her one day why she called so much. Her answer was, "It's just a habit." ARGH.
Second patient is a confused elderly man. He is always calling out names (whichever ones he can remember) or "Help me!", even though he doesn't actually need help. He, too, I think just wants someone to stay with him - he does much better when he has family visiting or if I am with him to provide care. Because he doesn't require isolation, he always has at least one roommate who (understandably so) gets very frustrated and annoyed after a few days with him. His roommate today is one of the sweetest patients I've ever had, and by the end of the day was actually angry with him.
Obviously, I can't stay with these patients all the time. It's impossible. I know there have been requests for volunteers to come and stay with these patients to keep them company, but so far have not seen anything. I do my best to reassure them but it doesn't work. Only my (or whoever is their nurse that day) physical presence seems to comfort them. No one knows exactly how to deal with these patients, so they end up screaming all day and bothering all the patients and families around them. They have meds like Ativan ordered prn but it tends to sedate them and then the families get upset if that happens.
