Hospital hoarders and pack rats

[DesiDani]

I work in a hospital and we will get patients who like to hoard things. They get upset if thou dare remove their property (usually hospital stuff).

So how do you deal with them and get them agree to clutter a bit.

Finally, what was the worst patient pack rat seen?

[Lev, MSN, RN, NP]

If something that can spoil or melt is left out enough for it to get room temperature or melt - milk, ice cream, fruit ice - into the garbage it goes.

I also throw out half eaten jellos, apple sauce etc - if not eaten by the end of the shift - it gets thrown out.

I try to organize the toiletries vs throw them out. However, nobody needs 3 emesis basins. The cleanest one stays, the others get chucked.

[DesiDani]

Yes, sometimes loved ones do add to the problem. They can't really help their loved ones, so the only way they can express it by giving the patient sweets and food. LOADS OF IT.

One PT would save hot cereal and had a few bowls in her bag. I do try to tell them that if they want more, they can get it. Yet some do get angry when you try to throw something away.

[DesiDani]

Nothing with saving for a nibble later. I'm talking about those who have 10 cereals, 5 brown bananas, over 20 Boosts, and a pitcher of condiments. They will insist you bring them more.

[amoLucia]

It's one thing for you staff in the hospital setting. But by LTC regulations, that half room is considered their HOME. We have to proceed cautiously. Hoarding is possible in a LTC semi-pvt room.

[ProgressiveActivist, BSN, RN]

mealtime is a big deal with older people. Some save collect and organize their condiments and snacks like it's a hobby or like a little kid. If extra jelly, cereal or teabags for souvenirs makes them happy fine by me. But we don't keep them long enough for it to get out of hand.

[dream'n, BSN, RN]

What really drives me crazy is when I can't get to the sink to wash my hands because of a hoarded mess. I've let patient's know that staff has to have access to the sink, and they may want to get their I Phone and computer off it since they may get wet.

[P_RN, ADN, RN]

Worst was a woman who was having daily debridements leach therapy (many years back they did that). She'd sneak out to the diet cart and scrape the left over food into a bag, hid it under her bed in a suitcase). Every couple of days her significant other came with "Fresh clothes" in another bag and take the old bag home. They had about a dozen dogs and that was what they fed them. Worst hoarder of mine.

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

I suspect some of them don't have enough food (or toiletries, or sheets and towels) at home, or at some period in their lives, they haven't had enough. They're used to stockpiling whatever they can get.

Interestingly, this habit is common in elders who went through the depression. Many very elderly, who were short of everything back then, keep everything now...just in case they might need it.

No doubt about the elderly having issues with this and I agree that it is likely due to living through the depression when nothing was wasted. We have more than a few that we have obtained permission from their POA to do daily sweeps of their drawers and closets to remove the leftover food and condiments. A few are on to us and are finding ever more inventive places to hide those condiment packages and leftovers.

[BSN-to-MSN, ADN, BSN, RN]

Celtic Goddess: LOL, not all Eastern Europeans are hoarders, you know.

[ClaraRedheart, BSN, RN]

I had a sickle cell patient once who was at our hospital for a few weeks. He ordered a blueberry muffin with every meal. He never ate any of them and did not want any of them thrown away. His room was full of blueberry muffins on plates. It was weird.

[DesiDani]

Some of the hoarding is not done by the patients, but by the staff. Loads of chucks, stacks of wash clothes, drawers full of wet wipes, excessive amount of wound care things.

[oakley0284]

This happens all the time at my hospital