I know nurses have to ask embarrassing or very personal questions sometimes, but is there a polite way of asking a patient if they're mentally retarded?
One of the techs on my floor told me today that as she was about to do an admission interview, the nurse pulled her aside and told her to ask the patient if they had some kind of mental disability, because he had seemed 'slow' while she was talking to him.
The tech said she couldn't think of a nice way to ask so she just asked if he had any learning disabilities as part of the psych section of the interview, but she didn't think he really understood what she was talking about.
On the NURSING portion of admissions I've done, there's a section that asks how a patient learns the best- visual, verbal, or written- this could be added in here- but for the nurse to dump this on the tech is skanky. She/he has to do the care plan- she/he needs the info for that- and can inform the other members of the team after HER/HIS assessment.
Techs/CNAs did vitals on admissions. That's it.... now they do the tele-packs, or what not but are trained more than the CNAs (or techs in alcohol/drug rehab) I worked with were at the time.
I generally ask if the person has any "mental or behavioral illnesses, such as xyz..." and will generally start by listing more "socially acceptable" things such as anxiety or depression...
One lady I admitted, who presented as MR, got upset and asked "why does everyone ask if I am retarded?" I felt bad, even though I hadn't asked her any such thing - others clearly had and it had upset her greatly.
It could be the case that he DOES have a mental disability. It's quite possible. I took care of a guy who worked at the post office, lived independently, his sister helped with the bills, but other than that he was pretty much independent. As soon as he retired and his routine was out of whack, he tried taking a cab 4 houses down from his house to take him home, because he was so confused and couldn't take care of himself anymore.He saw some social workers and they are trying to get him into a group home, where he could function better with constant care. But it was never considered before for this guy because he always did his same normal things and his family didn't consider him in that high of need, but he really was.
Not to mention some can be very good at fooling you on their level of disability until they get sick or are out of their comfort zone. There are so many variables.
One other thing to consider is medications that could make him behave slower, prescribed or not...
Specializes in Med-Surg; Telemetry; School Nurse pk-8.
Maybe they do, maybe they don't. Either way, you, the RN, are going to do a full assessment which will uncover their abilities. Your care, interventions and teaching will be based on the level of their ability, not their disability.
If you think about it, ALL patients have some sort of disability when they are admitted to the hospital, you guide your interventions and teaching to their level of understanding. Meet the patient where they're at, not at some preconceived definition of "normal". I know I, for one, have yet to meet a "normal" patient -- LOL
It should be fairly easy to ascertain a patients intelligence by how they answer routine admit questions.
Make sure they are not hard of hearing, blind without their glasses, or English is not their native language. Did they get a dose of narcotic or anti-anxiety drug in the ER?
The basic oriented times 4, What is your name, today's date, why are you here, where are you (or what city are we in). Is your name spelled correctly on your arm band, is the birth date correct, what medicine do you take daily, what health problems do you have, have you had any surgeries, do you live alone, do you have any disabilities, etc.
Say something like, "You really have to think a long time before you answer my questions why is that?"
Interventions might be (must be) warranted if they couldn't answer these questions, nothing was mentioned in the physicians H&P about an intellectual disability, and there was no family member present.
I ask this every day during psych admissions. After they pick the best learning modality, I ask if they ever had special ed classes as a kid. No one has ever acted offended and the ones who say yes tend to volunteer exactly why they got special education.
Since most of my patients are on a mental health hold and mad at the world, this makes me think it's a pretty innocuous way to ask.
Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
I know nurses have to ask embarrassing or very personal questions sometimes, but is there a polite way of asking a patient if they're mentally retarded?
One of the techs on my floor told me today that as she was about to do an admission interview, the nurse pulled her aside and told her to ask the patient if they had some kind of mental disability, because he had seemed 'slow' while she was talking to him.
The tech said she couldn't think of a nice way to ask so she just asked if he had any learning disabilities as part of the psych section of the interview, but she didn't think he really understood what she was talking about.
My cousin is retarded he is 67years old but he is like a 6 year old . With his it is very ovuis that something is very wrong but if you where to ask him he would have no idea what you are talking about also many retarded people came become vilant if upset there came a point where we had to stop having him fly down to see us because he does not understand about the tsa and gets upset and vilant if they touch his news papers .
Specializes in Med-Surg/Neuro/Oncology floor nursing..
I would just ask "do you have any disabilities of any type"? If they are even unable to answer that question I would go to a family member for an answer.
Developmental disability is not a psych problem. Mental retardation (to use the outdated term) is not the same as mental illness. Someone who is cognitively impaired may also have psych issues, but they are not the same thing.
Specializes in Just starting out in a Nursing Home..
Developmental disability is not a psych problem. Mental retardation (to use the outdated term) is not the same as mental illness. Someone who is cognitively impaired may also have psych issues, but they are not the same thing.
Just starting out so..when I read some of these posts..I think omg..what would I do...I'm a cna just starting out and a nursing student so..some of the posts I read are..just ..you know you say wow..its that borderline..of...
They origianl question of how to handle or ask if someone is mentally retarted was just..it took me back a bit..wht if for instance that person was alone..and lets say it was just a bad day..and they where not retarded..now you insulted them..I mean couldnt that turn into a sticky situation for the hospital or health care facility..
I have never found it necessary to actually ask someone that question.
xtxrn, ASN, RN
4,267 Posts
On the NURSING portion of admissions I've done, there's a section that asks how a patient learns the best- visual, verbal, or written- this could be added in here- but for the nurse to dump this on the tech is skanky. She/he has to do the care plan- she/he needs the info for that- and can inform the other members of the team after HER/HIS assessment.
Techs/CNAs did vitals on admissions. That's it.... now they do the tele-packs, or what not but are trained more than the CNAs (or techs in alcohol/drug rehab) I worked with were at the time.