Pat yourself on the back—even if no one else did

[elijahvegas, ASN, RN, EMT-P]

Once upon a time...

i had had a dementia patient. Sundown beyond all hell. He was medically cleared and we were ready to send him back to his ALF. He was a hard time from beginning to end. And even when we informed him we’d be taking him back to his ALF he was combative and insisting “I’ll go home by myself!! I don’t need you all!! Leave me alone!!”

transport was set set up to get him back there. Yet he kept trying to leave his room, and he made it into the entrance of the hospital demanding to walk “home”. Kept insisting that he knew his way and he’d be fine to walk. I thought it might be a good idea to show him to the entrance where not only is was completely dark out (it was probably 1 or 2 am) but that it was also raining. I tried to reason with him that it doesn’t make sense for him to walk 2 miles (he said that’s how far he “lived” even though his facility was actually about 5-6 miles away) to get home.

Having taken care of him, I did notice and realize he wanted to vent— A LOT. About his ALF and treatment at hospitals he’s been in.

Our facility has a “no touch” policy on patients, and he was essentially bull-dozing all the staff over with his walker and 89 years of strength to get past us.

So so finally I directed his attention to myself. I made sure charge had already called for transport and was on their way.

I sat sat in his room and started talking to him. I had him describe (in great detail) all the ways he felt like the hospitals and his ALF had failed him. A lot of what I said was “mmhmm?” And “no way?!” And “oh my god. Did they really do that to you?! Well, what happened?? What’d You do??”

I kept this up for the better part of 45 minutes, but he kept talking, and venting, and going on, right up until transport finally came. And I ended with “ I’m sorry to hear that. But we set up our people to get you home, so at least you don’t have to worry about that now. “

He was oddly grateful. And I was kind of amazed that it worked out that way. Because he wasn’t nearly as agitated as he was before, and I expected an issue for him getting on the stretcher and being taken back, but he was okay with it. Even thanked me on his way out ?

Does anyone have any interesting “twist of fate” stories like this ? I’m always amused by the creative lengths we go through to get the job done but also look out for our patients.