No Arm Bands??

wooh, BSN, RN · May 23, 2012

Oh y'all just TRY to get me in pants on Christmas when I'm living in LTC!!! It won't happen! We might be able to bargain on panties though....

IEDave, ASN, CNA, LVN · May 23, 2012

[quote
sorry,, let's face it .. we all look alike when we get old.
scary and unsafe to say the least.

aaccckkk! you mean i'll be as bald as my husband someday??!! :eek:

eeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh, calm down - they make minoxidil for women!

and, a little rit dye'll get your hair just the right shade of blue...

----- dave (poster child for male pattern baldness)

IEDave, ASN, CNA, LVN · May 23, 2012

Oh y'all just TRY to get me in pants on Christmas when I'm living in LTC!!! It won't happen! We might be able to bargain on panties though....

Not a problem, Wooh - I'm sure they'll have adult briefs that you're just gonna LOOOOVE... :eek:

----- Dave (who can now change an adult brief in under 10 seconds - including peri care!)

allnurses Guide · May 23, 2012

unquestionably, this trend will last till someone gives the wrong medication or a pt. gets the wrong procedure performed on them.
regarding to the hair, i'm lucky to have plenty of hair as all of the men in my family were buried with their full mane of hair, even though it was pure white on both sides of my family in their late 70's

perfect for some blue hair rinse. but just on special occasions.

in other news i'm feeling really old remembering giving children minoxidil for hypertension. some enterprising soul must've noticed some of them were growing mustaches. seriously.

BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN · May 23, 2012

In the clinicals I did with LTC facilities, there wasn't a wristband to be seen. The explanation is that this is their HOME, they are not "patients". You don't wear an identifying wristband in your home, do you? That said, it makes it durned hard for a nursing student or new hire nurse to feel safe about passing meds! That's where you learn to trust the CNA's who are the backbone of the facility!

CT Pixie, BSN, RN · May 23, 2012

My LTC (not mom and pop run) do have wrist bands, however I'd say a goodd 75% of my residents (mostly dementia and Alzheimer's pts) are amazing creative and are able to remove them about 0.17 seconds after they are put on.

My biggest beef was not so much the wristbands (after I learned all my residents there was really no need to check it) it was the fact that there were no DNR indicators on the person. The facility reasoning was it was a privacy violation. Really?! It's NOT a privacy violation to put their full name on the band or on the outside of their door that gave their name under the room number, but it is to put something on them somewhere that said DNR??

I did a daily printout of code status for my residents and kept the list in my pocket to have it handy in case of a possible code. The thing that scared me was coming upon a possible code on a resident that wasn't mine (we had frequent visitiors from the other floors. Resident's I knew nothing about) and not knowing if the were full code or DNR. If that happened I'd have to call to the other floor, get the code status and proceed from there..that's quite a lot of time to lose IF they are a full code.

JerseyBSN · May 23, 2012

Rehab as in drug addicts and alcoholics and they receive QID doses of phenobarbital, subtext and Valium. Admit protocol on Valium is 10mg q one hour up to 12 hours also phenobarbital 100 mg q one hour x 12, so you're missing the point.

This is intensive drug/alcohol rehab x 5 days then discharge.

Asystole RN · May 23, 2012

Rehab as in drug addicts and alcoholics and they receive QID doses of phenobarbital, subtext and Valium. Admit protocol on Valium is 10mg q one hour up to 12 hours also phenobarbital 100 mg q one hour x 12, so you're missing the point.
This is intensive drug/alcohol rehab x 5 days then discharge.

Still not unusual, especially for that group. Drug rehab if 90% psych, 10% medical. You do not want to institutionalize them. There are ways to verify their ID without armbands.

Is this facility considered outpatient or inpatient?

JerseyBSN · May 23, 2012

Inpatient. If you understand drug addicts/alcoholics you know they are drug seeking to the max. If a nurse asked for their name they could easily say someone else's name just to get their meds if they know that that person gets a larger dose of Subutex.

I see absolutely no reason why they should not have armbands. I wouldn't work there. A matter of confidentiality. The first thing they do is trade names and phone numbers so they can contact each other once they get out. I've been told time and time again for the past 5 years that inpatient detox is the best place to find drug contacts.

Merlyn · May 23, 2012

A friend started a new job at a rehabilitation center. They do paper charting (check sheet and short narrative). What shocked her, and me, was that the patients do not wear armbands. When giving meds they have to only verbally confirm their name. She asked why doesn't anyone have an armband? The answer: It's a matter of confidentiality. How can they get away with this? Where's Joint Commission? It's a large well known center not a small Mom & Pop facility.

As an agency nurse I encounter no name bands 80% of the time. I have a good memory after 12 hours on the same floor I can tell you the names of 90% of the patients. BUT I shouldn't have to stop a CNA in her work just to tell me a name of a patient. When I ask the supervisors of these places about the name tags, I get all kinds of answers from "Our staff knows their names" to " We don't want out residents to feel like prisoners." To point out to them that

med errors can happen they look at me as if I just asked "Which way to the tea party, Alice?

allnurses Guide · May 24, 2012

In my area, for a 5-day inpatient detox armbands would normally be used. These patients aren't always stable during the process. If they then attend a 2-4 week rehab they normally aren't used.