I had this one patient who had severe dementia. He was on the call light every other minute...and NO I am not exaggerating. Due to his severe dementia, even when I had just been in his room, immediate I walk out, the call light would go on. At the beginning of the shift, I went in, check vitals...give him water to drink, put chap stick on his lips, give eye drops, fluff his pillow, and anything he wanted. Before I left the room, I would ask, "Is there anything else I can get you?" And be reply, "I can't think of anything at the moment, except my call light." And I walk out, and 1 minute later, he calls and asks for his eye drops, he needs his pillow changed, he's thirsty. Anyways, at the same time, I was TRYING to discharge a patient, and kept getting interrupted by this call bell. (FYI, in this particular facility, the nurses DO NOT help each other. Once you get your assignment, it's the only people you tend to. Having a nurse help you is like pulling teeth. They would spend 10 min looking for you to tell you your call light is on, instead of going into the room to see what the patient needs - so..understand my frustration). I finally discharge my patient, and the call light has been on for like 15 min coz i just ignored it. So, now i'm getting irritated, I went to him and told him he is not my only patient (it's a tele floor) and that I cannot be in the room with him for my whole 12 hour shift. I told him I just gave him his eye drops, water, and his lips couldn't not have dried in that 1 minute. He says he's constipated and he wants an enema. I don't understand why old people obsess about having BM. He had had 3 ememas during the day with no results, and I refused to give him an enema. He said okay...and I asked, "is there anything else you want." He replies, "not at the moment." .and i step out. Again, 3 min later, the call light goes on. Can anyone guess what he want??? He's thirsty, wants his meds, his pillow changed and his eye drops. I told him I would round on him every 1 hr. and for the rest of the shift, that is what I did. OH...and his sleeping pill didn't work, nor did the dilaudid for pain (that were given at 10 pm) until 4 am.
So..have you ever taken a call light away from a patient or been really really tempted to? How do you reorient a dementia patient? do you go to the room every 3 min? this is a hospital setting.
p.s I just came from an night shift, so my english may be a bit off.
