Work Wednesday night was a NIGHTMARE.
Census has been extremely low lately at the hospital. We had only 3 or 4 when I went in on Wed. So I was sent up to 9 to sit. Sitting involves watching over a pt and making sure they stay in bed, don't pull out IV's, eat, etc. I go on up and am told by the nurse that my pt has "confusion" going on and she needs to be monitored. Okay, I say. Sounds pretty easy.
The first four hours were manageable. I was hanging out in my chair reading my book and she all of the sudden sits up in bed and asks me kindly to make the elderly man in the doorway leave. I get up and go around the corner and there is no one there. I told her no one was there and she said, "Oh okay." I was a little freaked but I sat back down and kept reading. Then she started talking. Not to me but to her mother. Her mother wasn't there either. She went onto having full on conversations with people. Then she started calling me "Mary." That is her daughter in law. She started introducing me to the other "people" in the room as Mary. I kept reminding her she was in the hospital and that I was not Mary.
Then came the unimaginable. She shoots out of bed and starts yelling that she has an appointment to get to. She begs me to let her out of bed and leave and I calmly try to explain to her where she is. She had a bed alarm on so when she placed her feet on the floor it went off. A few other staff members came running in to help and she starts yelling "HELP! HELP!" She thought she was at her apartment and needed to get to the hospital. She kept telling them that I screwed her up and it was my fault she was confused. She was so angry at me, which she thought I was Mary and screamed at me to get out of her face and leave her alone. She wouldn't let me touch her, console her, nothing. She told me that I ruined her birthday and that I was happy I ruined it.
It was so awful. I was shaking so badly and had to take a break in the hallway. The staff saw how shaken up I was and offered to send me to another room, so I went. When I got to my new room I sat with two sweet little ladies. We sat and watched movies and talked. At about 10:00pm I was reading my book quietly and I hear whispering. I look over and the little lady next to me was saying her prayers. Thanking God for "blessing" her life and for watching over her. I lost it. She had told me earlier that her husband was terminally ill and here she is in the hospital not able to be with him. It struck me like a ton of bricks to here her recite her prayers. She never once hesitated to thank God in spite of her trials.
So here I am at work today and I get sent back to the crazy lady's room again. Thanks to Big D. I still hate her. I was really nervous and told them so but they sent me anyway. So I get up here and they tell me that they had messed up her meds and that's why she went so crazy when I was here. WOW. I had told them that she was hallucinating but did they even bother to check her medication?? NO. It makes me so mad.
So they changed her meds and now she's as sweet as pie. We are having a great time. Thank God.
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