Give me some attention!

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Well not really me, but there's this lady in our unit and she is driving me crazy by her attention seeking behaviour. Seen by doc who says she has no mental problems, no infection either BUT she recently has decided she cannot walk and will actually push against anyone holding her so that she will fall, she also pulls buzzer constantly and denies it is her, did I mention she walks fine when doc comes in and and when she thinks staff are not looking, and she wants to hold everyones hand. Even the other residents are telling her where to go now (and it ain't disneyland!). Her family are irate with her and have told her so and it makes no difference..... Aaaargh. I ended up putting a chair in the corridor the other day because despite the fact she said she can't walk, she kept getting up with the zimmer taking a few steps and starting all over again. Staff are at their wits end with her. What can we do?:angryfire

Specializes in LTC, Psych.

This gal desperately needs a psych eval - from a good psychologist, not a psychiatrist. Most psychiatrists will toss meds at a 'problem', but a good psychologist will be able to sit down and figure out what is going on (and can recommend if meds are needed), along with giving some good care plan and intervention guidelines.... of course she also needs caring and understanding just like everyone else, but she needs that psych eval as soon as possible.

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We have a 400 lb pt like this. He can do for himself, but won't. Holding his legs is like holding up a huge tree, and he keeps telling us to "move my leg over there- that's too far, now that's not far enough! Move my cup, not like that. The curtain has to be like this- no, you're doing it wrong!" He was just screaming at everyone last noc, then he called 911 to complain about us. He keeps "forbidding" certain staff to come into his room, then complains he's not getting care. When he asked me why we supposedly weren't doing enough for him, I told him "because you've forbidden everyone who's on tonight from coming in your room. The staff you do like can't work 24/7."

He also pisses all over himself (on purpose) making sure to get it all over the top and bottom sheets so we have to do a total bed.

He throws candy and food wrappers all over the room. His room is sticky, dirty and filthy with clutter spilling over everything. He has us searching through his piles of filthy clothes and snotty tissues to "find my glasses, find my CD, find the socks I want."

When you try to do anything in his room, piles of clutter fall off the tables, and we keep tripping on all the crap on his floor. Admin says it's his "right" as an A&O pt to keep his room this way if he wants.

When I was wiping his butt last noc, he let out a huge stream of gas right towards my face.

I know it sounds really bad to admit it, and I do feel bad about it, but sometimes I wish this man would just die already.

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Specializes in Nursing Home ,Dementia Care,Neurology..

This guy sounds just plain nasty but I suppose the Psychs would say he is frustrated, frightened etc etc etc!!

Off topic slightly but I have been watching some programmes about super morbidly obese folk.It fascinates me how they can get to that stage where they can no longer do things for themselves but still keep eating and eating and piling on the beef!!

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I recently had a resident similiar to your lady. What worked for me was to make it a point to go in the room when she wasn't ringing and ask her is there anything you can do for her. Also I would make it a point to let the resident know that I was just thinking about them. Depending on how alert she is find a subject she enjoys talking about and sit with her and talk a while. A resident needs the security of knowing that they are cared for and liked and that you are sincere when you tell them so. Once the resident realizes this they usually want to please you because they want the positive response that they hope will follow. I know most of the time you wont be able to do this because of your workload but it is worth the time and effort and it will get results because once she figures out that she doesnt have to act that way to get attention then she will stop. Most of the residents want the staff to like them and you show me a resident who doesnt want all of your attention? Some residents are out to get even with their families for placing them there so they figure if they get the staff worked up enough they will have to kick them out. I have had a lot of residents who thought that acting up would get them out of there but after they settled in and realized that this was not going to happen they tried more positive ways to get attention. There is probably no way you can get this resident moved to another place or so on because she is there because she can't live at home and is considered dependent adult and no doctor is going to kick her out because she is playing these games so I hope my advice might work for you but every resident is different and has different reasons for what they do. Good Luck you will need it!

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He also pisses all over himself (on purpose) making sure to get it all over the top and bottom sheets so we have to do a total bed.

He throws candy and food wrappers all over the room. His room is sticky, dirty and filthy with clutter spilling over everything. He has us searching through his piles of filthy clothes and snotty tissues to "find my glasses, find my CD, find the socks I want."

When you try to do anything in his room, piles of clutter fall off the tables, and we keep tripping on all the crap on his floor. Admin says it's his "right" as an A&O pt to keep his room this way if he wants.

When I was wiping his butt last noc, he let out a huge stream of gas right towards my face.

I know it sounds really bad to admit it, and I do feel bad about it, but sometimes I wish this man would just die already.

the health dept may have other opinions about the mess.....

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This gal desperately needs a psych eval - from a good psychologist, not a psychiatrist. Most psychiatrists will toss meds at a 'problem', but a good psychologist will be able to sit down and figure out what is going on (and can recommend if meds are needed), along with giving some good care plan and intervention guidelines.... of course she also needs caring and understanding just like everyone else, but she needs that psych eval as soon as possible.

or mental health APN

on an aside...what part of Central CA? I lived and worked in the Monterey area for a couple years. I miss it.

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