I recently posted a little about Delirium, and how it is often unrecognized by doctors and nurses. But there are other times when it is so obvious you have to laugh.
True story, perfect example:
This happened while I was a student nurse. I went into a patient's room to check their blood pressure. The patient looked completely stable, was dressed in street clothes and greeted me with a smile. As I entered I explained who I was and what I was there to do.
As I approached the monitor to remove the cuff and place it on his arm I asked if it was okay to check his blood pressure, and he responded with a "Sure" and held up his arm for me to place the cuff around it. No sooner had I secured the velcro on the cuff when he asked me, "So are you from the phone company?"
Thursday, July 12, 2007
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3 comments:
What a marvelous story. Thank you for that giggle on a Friday the 13th.
My addition to that story is that I'm a nurse at a Transplant Unit at UW Hosp. in Madison and last night, we had a man who was just a little confused himself...
Another nurse and I were walking down the hall when we saw a little trail of blood across the hall. There was a man who had walked across the hall to the room across from his leaking blood from his IV. He had cut his IV tubing and, this is the more impressive part, had cut his call light cord, so he had the remote in his hand. He was carefully tucking that and his old IV tubing into his neighbors clean laundry cabinet. We asked what he was doing and said he was trying to fix the phone. Oh, of course. :)
Don't you love the late night delirium? You never know what you are going to see. Once I watched a patient get up, walk to the other side of the room, and prepare to do a #2 on their roommate's bed.
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