Loud Cartoons for Elderly Patients

Nurses General Nursing

Published

How do you feel about nurses/CNAs/other staff members turning on loud cartoons for their elderly patients to watch? It has been noticed that someone at the facility I work for seems to go into rooms when residents are not there and turns the TV on to the kids cartoon channel, all the way up to volume 100. Some people believe that the TVs are turning on by themselves, but that seems unlikely. Maintenance has checked the TVs several times for any malfunctioning issues, and there appears to be none. Also, some of the residents have noted that their remotes are not where they left them when they leave their rooms, so that makes it seem even more likely that someone is purposely turning on the TV to loud cartoons. While some of the residents brush it off or seem oblivious to it happen, others have made numerous complaints. One resident put on her call lights at least 8 times during the shift because she could hear the loud TV in the next room, where nobody was watching TV.

At other facilities, sometimes they gather residents into the living area and turning on the TV to--you guessed it--cartoons without any feedback from the residents as to what they actually want to watch.

It seems like a strange situation, for sure. Some people think someone is pulling a prank, while others are annoyed, because they feel like someone is treating these elderly patients like children. What are your thoughts? I am not sure what to think about this.

Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
Granted, I don't work at your facility but that's not how I interpret the choice of channel. I think this person chooses cartoons because they are the loudest most annoying crap they can find. If your motivation is simply to make someone watch something, you don't turn the volume up to 100.

There are 2 very different issues that are being brought up by the OP:

1. Is it appropriate to assume that elderly residents want to watch cartoons (or that cartoons are the best default of programs to put on)? I can see both sides of that, and that is an issue worth discussing.

2. Why would someone turn on cartoons in a room and turn the volume to 100? Are they trying to push cartoons onto unsuspecting elderly residents? No. This person is just being an obnoxious pain in the butt, and, quite frankly, this person is the real looney tune.

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A few weeks back there was a thread similar to this one, where one of the nurses would act silly and knock all the cups on the floor.

Honestly, is this what we have to look forward to in the future? Immature children in adult bodies who don't know how to behave in the work place?

I feel like people are becoming more and more "weird", and I always used to be the kooky one.

But I never did this kind of baby behavior....

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Specializes in Urgent Care, Oncology.

Are you sure it isn't a resident doing this? Seems like the obvious question, but do you have any cameras, even at the nurses' station?

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Unfortunately, here in the US, I know unions (albeit, not nursing unions) that have stood up for employees who have been proven to have done much worse. I'm not trying to imply all unions as being like this, but there have been some that have defended employees who have acted less than honorably.

That sounds unfortunate and rather messed up. Here, the unions will fight hard for employees who face discrimination or are otherwise treated unfairly and will hold employers accountable regarding labor laws etc., but an employee is expected to do their job as outlined in their job description and of course to be law-abiding. The unions won't protect someone who has a habit of shirking their duties or behaving illegally or unethically.

There are 2 very different issues that are being brought up by the OP:

1. Is it appropriate to assume that elderly residents want to watch cartoons (or that cartoons are the best default of programs to put on)? I can see both sides of that, and that is an issue worth discussing.

2. Why would someone turn on cartoons in a room and turn the volume to 100? Are they trying to push cartoons onto unsuspecting elderly residents? No. This person is just being an obnoxious pain in the butt, and, quite frankly, this person is the real looney tune.

I agree.

While I'm sure that there exist people who attempt to infantilize the elderly, I don't think that's what's going on here.

A few weeks back there was a thread similar to this one, where one of the nurses would act silly and knock all the cups on the floor.

Honestly, is this what we have to look forward to in the future? Immature children in adult bodies who don't know how to behave in the work place?

I feel like people are becoming more and more "weird", and I always used to be the kooky one.

But I never did this kind of baby behavior....

I agree there appears to be some extremely immature and downright nutty behavior demonstrated in more than one facility judging by some of the threads we see here, and most of us probably hope not to end up in one of those facilities.

But remember, this is the internet... with all that that entails ;) I certainly haven't encountered anything like what's described in these threads in real life... so pro-bab-ly not very common occurrences....

Very true. As a side note, it has also occurred to me that these actions are also placing the residents at risk for falls. For example, sometimes the remotes are placed on surfaces that resident's can't easily reach unless they stand up. If they want their remote badly enough, some may attempt to stand or even walk to reach their remote by themselves, even if they know they are not supposed to. One resident actually did fall because she slipped while leaving the bathroom to go turn off the TV in the other room.

OP, I have to be honest with you. It really strains credulity that your facility has actually experienced a fall as a direct consequence of the "cartoon terrorist", and management still aren't doing anything to put a stop to it? I assume they're aware of this incident? Am I really understanding your post correctly? You keep adding new details. I of course have no idea where you work and I don't know the people who run your facility, but even if they happen to lack a heart, I assume they're concerned with their reputation and their bottom line?

Aren't you concerned that this might happen again? Seems to me like you guys need to come up with a plan. Unfortunately this won't be solved on the internet.

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OP, I have to be honest with you. It really strains credulity that your facility has actually experienced a fall as a direct consequence of the "cartoon terrorist", and management still aren't doing anything to put a stop to it? Am I really understanding your post correctly?

Aren't you concerned that this might happen again? Seems to me like you guys need to come up with a plan. Unfortunately this won't be solved on the internet.

I understand your perspective, and, unfortunately, you are reading the post correctly. Other than contacting maintenance to evaluate for any malfunctioning in the televisions, management has done very little to address the issue. Their response is to just keep turning off the televisions when they come on, remove the remotes from the rooms when there are no residents assigned to the room, unplug the TVs, and keep the doors to empty rooms closed. They are aware that the resident fell; unfortunately, the resident is a poor historian and has a history of fabricating stories, so they don't necessarily trust her perspective. Until someone actually observes the person committing the act, they feel there is not much more that can be done. I'm sure people are keeping an eye out to see who might be doing it, but ultimately, there are more important things to be doing at work than catching the "cartoon terrorist"(love the term, by the way).

We definitely do need a better plan, but I also agree that this problem really can't be solved on the forum. I didn't really expect a solution when I posted this, just wanted to see if anyone else thought the behavior was strange/concerning and how they would handle approaching this person if they did happen to catch him or her in the act. Clearly, other posters on here agree that it is strange, and possibly harmful behavior, but how to respond to the situation is still debatable with no clear answers.

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Specializes in NICU.

Start the rumor that you heard the authorities are getting involved because this is under the new law of "Elder Abuse",then go to HR and tell them to do something ,to monitor the situation or this elder abuse is going to be reported to the proper authorities.

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Are you sure it's not a ghost? 0.0

Joking aside, if you catch the person doing it you could always ask what their rationale is... Wondering minds want to know.

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

This is just nuts. It is totally offensive and abusive to just allow the situation to continue. If I was a family member I would be outraged. I hope the families may push management to do more to solve this issue. They have more power than the OP to get them to do something more.

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Start the rumor that you heard the authorities are getting involved because this is under the new law of "Elder Abuse",then go to HR and tell them to do something ,to monitor the situation or this elder abuse is going to be reported to the proper authorities.

This is a good idea.

If this is a LTC facility, there are Federal Regulations limiting a loud environment. We cited it once that I can remember in a huge facility with very loud constant overhead paging.

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This is just nuts. It is totally offensive and abusive to just allow the situation to continue. If I was a family member I would be outraged. I hope the families may push management to do more to solve this issue. They have more power than the OP to get them to do something more.

I totally agree. The longer this goes on with staff being fully aware of the situation, it will not bode well for anyone.

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When I worked in assisted living, we weren't allowed to go into rooms without a purpose. Pick up garbage or laundry, return laundry. Leave door locked or unlocked as you found it. If any of us touched resident items it was grounds for termination. As far as turning on televisions, it was only at the request of the resident as a lot needs help with the remotes. Not sure how management isn't involved and someone hasn't received a warning or is out of a job.

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Until someone actually observes the person committing the act, they feel there is not much more that can be done. I'm sure people are keeping an eye out to see who might be doing it, but ultimately, there are more important things to be doing at work than catching the "cartoon terrorist"(love the term, by the way).

This just spins me up. Yes, taking care of the patient needs is of course important. However, giving them a peaceful and safe environment is paramount.

Unless this whole thread is a joke and maybe there really a ghost.

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