It was one of those weekends! I had two falls of high risk residents on Saturday night. The Aide had forgotten to set one alarm and just let the other wander away. I lectured her on paying attention and resident safety and that was that. (I don't know what management will do as one required a trip to the ER for some stitches. At any rate, Sunday started well, she was on her game and we were having a great night. I was halfway through my charting when she ran into the nurses station and said the following:
"You are gonna be mad at me, I think she is dead"
It turned out to be a resident who has a tendency to lay down wherever and "play possum" but if I never hear that again it'll be too soon!
Yesterday we had some teenage volunteers playing games with the residents and one of them comes to me and says "The guy in room 221 is bleeding from his hand" I'm a little concerned, but figure it's just a simple skin tear so go get the tx cart and head down to the room. What he didn't mention was that the resident had fallen and was laying on the floor and bleeding from his hand!
my aide coming out of my post-op pts room: "i was taking her vs and her pulse ox is 78, so i turned on the light and her lips are blue. that's bad, right?"
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
it was one of those weekends! i had two falls of high risk residents on saturday night. the aide had forgotten to set one alarm and just let the other wander away. i lectured her on paying attention and resident safety and that was that. (i don't know what management will do as one required a trip to the er for some stitches. at any rate, sunday started well, she was on her game and we were having a great night. i was halfway through my charting when she ran into the nurses station and said the following:
"you are gonna be mad at me, i think she is dead"
it turned out to be a resident who has a tendency to lay down wherever and "play possum" but if i never hear that again it'll be too soon!
reminds me of the time i was floating to the floor, and doing my 10pm med pass. the aide came flying out of a room and started franticlly flipping through the kardex.
"what are you looking for?" i asked innocently.
"do you remember which patient in room 2 is a dnr?" she asked.
Had one very experienced, very calm aide in 98% of situations.. but the other 2% she had a high pitched tone of panic when she called my name. The few times she used this tone, I went running but dreaded what I was gonna find.
Anytime one of the aides yell "JB get in here now!" I know it will be bad. Also I dread hearing "JB, I have looked all over the place and I can't find (insert name of confused resident that sould be in the lock down unit but is not) anywhere." I can feel my shift going down the toilet right then. BTW great thread.
state inspectors are swarming the grounds and our building, reading charts, poking into everything, asking many questions about absolutely everything possible, and suddenly i hear a quiet "psssst" from the newest psych aide. i excuse myself and we go into the meds room. he tells me that he thinks ____ might have followed the last person out the door. it was a locked department. later, the patient was found having a beer at a bar about half a mile off grounds. aarrruuuggghhhh!
ahaha yea try asking a few people who report 18 how long they count for i guarantee they'll say 15 seconds. and yea i really call them liars (i do in my head) don't take things so literally. but i guess when you look at a report sheet and every single respiration of every patient every night is 18 or 20 you start to get wary of certain numbers but i suppose you wouldn't know anything about that since you're not a nurse. 18 may be "normal" but you have no idea what kind of job i do nor the patients that i normally deal with so what may be "normal" in your textbook may indeed not be normal for what i deal with on a nightly basis obviously if someone is in the hospital they are probably abnormal to some extent. i've actually only worked with that aide twice and she behaved the same way both times, but thank you for that fantastic post.
the psych aide comes and tells me ____ threw up again and is saying he'll keep doing it again and again until the hospital releases him.
pt. is a young man who is a college student who doesn't cope with stress well. his solution is vomiting and clawing and biting his skin wherever he can reach. so very bright but sooo sad.
as a grad student, i worked in a shelter for victims of domestic violence and their children. i had two wonderful, compassionate, warm, and caring aides working with me.
one was so calm that i think the roof could have collapsed and she would have matter-of-factly remarked, "oh, by the way, the roof just fell in" and go about her duties. the other was equally loving, nurturing etc. but her panic level was low and she had quite a dramatic flair.
one saturday evening, we were at maximum capacity, and i was taking advantage of a lull and doing paperwork, when suddenly the second aide came rushing in breathless.
"____'s husband and brother-in-law are on the porch and they're about seven feet tall."
me: "did you hit the panic button? (alerts nearby police) did you tell everyone to go
to their rooms?"
aide: "no, why?"
me: "remember our emergency plan?"
i think every time that aide opened her mouth, she spoke as though everything were
an emergency. nice lady, but her brain simply was unable to prioritize.
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don't take things so literally. but i guess when you look at a report sheet and every single respiration of every patient every night is 18 or 20 you start to get wary of certain numbers but i suppose you wouldn't know anything about that since you're not a nurse. 18 may be "normal" but you have no idea what kind of job i do nor the patients that i normally deal with so what may be "normal" in your textbook may indeed not be normal for what i deal with on a nightly basis obviously if someone is in the 
kmarie724
280 Posts
Yesterday we had some teenage volunteers playing games with the residents and one of them comes to me and says "The guy in room 221 is bleeding from his hand" I'm a little concerned, but figure it's just a simple skin tear so go get the tx cart and head down to the room. What he didn't mention was that the resident had fallen and was laying on the floor and bleeding from his hand!
Other things I hate to heard them say is:
"I hope you didn't give so and so a laxative"
"Can you come here quickly? And bring gloves!"