Mom has "busy" hands. It is one of the few ways she has to express her anxiety.
She kneads and twists her bedding and the front of her hospital gown.
Wires get entrained in the bedding and they get tugged.
The sensors get tugged.
The sensors irritate Mom. Mom either peals them off or the sensor pops out of the tape mount.
The nurses come in and firmly reapply them.
Mom yelps.
Busy hands want fidgets
One of the joys of being part of a large family is that there is a wide range of skills to tap.
One of my sisters worked on a psych ward.
She instantly understood the issue and proposed a partial solution: Fidgets
It may only reduce Mom's sensor issue by 25% but that would be major progress. It may almost eliminate it. Time will tell.
Sadly, my sister rejected my offer to let Mom use my ammo reloading and bullet casting equipment. Maybe you can have more luck if you find yourself with a loved one in the hospital.
Where is my gawd-damned Norco!
Mom had a room-mate who was very loud and very demanding. Karen demanded her pain meds early. She demanded to see the head nurse. She demanded to see the doctors. She knew her rights.
"Where is my gawd-damned Norco, gawd-dammit. I need it now. I was supposed to get it hours ago, gawd-dammit." Lather, rinse, repeat ad infinitum.
Let me document my complete respect for the total professionalism of the nurses caring for that woman.
There was ample evidence the woman had a substance abuse issue, if only because of her resistance to the drug.
The nurses did not cave to her demands for earlier med-drops.
They checked and double-checked her med order to ensure they were administering every micro-gram of meds prescribed.
And when interrupted, to ensure that they did not miss a step, they started from the beginning of the process and triple and quadruple-checked EVERY bit of information.
Safety is of paramount importance.
My take-away was to get out of the nurses' way (and others) and just let them do their job.
Perhaps it is different in other places, but speculating on the nurses' parentage and IQ and veiled threats regarding close, personal friendship with 1-800-Call-Sam2 sue (a lawyer) will not provide you with any advantage. In fact, you might get your meds 20 minutes later, depending on how many times the nurse is forced to restart the process.
Like the sheriff said, "You cannot talk your way out of a ticket but you can certainly talk your way into one."
Patients and visitors can help with a few simple words, "Thank-you" being one of them.
Nurses calibrate. If the sweet, stoic lady in 946 Bed One hits the buzzer, then it means something. If the opiate seeking harpy in 946 Bed Two hits the buzzer, it might get B-piled.
Nurses are human.
If any of my readers are nurses and wish to elaborate or offer some tips in the comments, it will be most welcome.
Giving your mom something to focus her mind on instead of simply laying in a bed would certainly cure the fidgets. Reloading might fit the bill to a T. You might also wind up with more ammo than you could shoot!
ReplyDeleteThat policy works in every walk of life.
ReplyDeleteThe hotel reception, the barman, the security guard, etc.
Just treat them as being fellow humans, all trying to get through life. If they give you their name, remember it. Please and thank you always. It is simple and you will meet nice people.