As a new nurse, I continue to learn from each and every patient interaction.
Here's something I learned last week...
A lot of my older, retired patients - especially the guys for some reason - have no idea what the date is and often not even a good sense of what day it is... and yet they're totally oriented.
As one guy just told me, "Heck, I've been retired for 20 years... why do I care what the date is... I don't even wear a watch."
As we continued to get to know each other it came up that he was a baseball pitcher as a young man. Into my assessment I then dropped the question, "how far is it from the mound to home plate?" His immediate response was, "60 feet, 6 inches." He also knew that pitchers and catchers are reporting soon.
Yep, alert and oriented all right... just with no clue as to the day or date.
Even when working and writing the date 8937 times, I will still often stop and think..and then yell out.."whats the date??!!"
Not a very fair gauge of their A&O in my opinion, if they can give the month and the year its good enough for me, or at least a year thats in the same millenium LOL..I'll take March 2008, 2009, but not 1967..heehee. Then again I work LTC.
Just yesterday I stood at the nurses stations and said "What day is it again?", staff looked at me bedazzled and said "Look at the door."........there was a giant, I mean door sized calender staring me straight in the face.
I normally ask for the year, but am careful when it's January/February. Sometimes it can take you a month or two to remember what year it is lol! Last month I mastered writing 2010 instead of 2009 lol
CT Pixie, BSN, RN
3,723 Posts
Even when working and writing the date 8937 times, I will still often stop and think..and then yell out.."whats the date??!!"
Not a very fair gauge of their A&O in my opinion, if they can give the month and the year its good enough for me, or at least a year thats in the same millenium LOL..I'll take March 2008, 2009, but not 1967..heehee. Then again I work LTC.