So yestereday I had a pt who had fallen on the ice and fractured his ankle. He was going down for surgery, and when I was giving report to the surgical nurse, she asked what the pts residuals were. I told the nurse that I was not sure what she was asking for because the pt did not have any type of tube feeding etc. The nurse replied that she did not mean tube feeding residuals, and again asked what his residuals were, I told her that I did not know what she meant, and she said never mind.
Today, I overheard another nurse talking about CVA residuals.
All I know is that I am a new grad, and all I ever learned in school regarding residuals had to do with checking related to a tube feeding. I have looked all over the interent and in my textbooks for something regarding residuals besides what I already know.
If there are other types of residuals, please someone help me, and let me know because I don't have enough knowledge regarding this topic to research it any further.
So when someone asks about residuals related to a CVA, what does that mean? What exactly does that mean. Would that mean like left sided weakness or something? Please let me know, because even if I did have a pt with a CVA, and a nurse asked for residuals, I would not know what to say.
Hah....I was thinking tube feed or urinary residuals. Please explain exactly what you mean by residuals from an anlke fracture or did she mean from the fall? What exactly was this nurse looking for?
I guess that nurse thought if she asked the same questions over and over again, she'd get a different answer? How rude.
Don't let these nurses intimidate you because you're new.
One time I was giving report to a psych nurse about a patient transferring to her unit from mine (critical care cardiac). She was asking all sorts of technical psych questions to which I had no clue. I told her I was never a psych nurse and have very basic knowledge of her specialty. Her answer was a snort.
When she asked why the patient was in my unit, I described the situation in very detailed cardiac related medical terminology. I then asked her if she was ever a cardiac nurse. She answered 'no'. We started our report over again in a very polite way and in language we could both understand.
I hate when people are condescending.
The answer to does a patient have any residual deficits from a previous CVA would be:
any weakness - which side or generalized? or sometimes specifically upper/lower and which side
swallowing difficulty, speech slurring, any type of aphasia
any difficulty in thought processes
tremors, sensory loss, ataxia, vision loss, incontinence, etc.
MommyJoy
63 Posts
So when someone asks about residuals related to a CVA, what does that mean? What exactly does that mean. Would that mean like left sided weakness or something? Please let me know, because even if I did have a pt with a CVA, and a nurse asked for residuals, I would not know what to say.