Saturday, February 17, 2007
I have a STALKER
Yep. Now, I'm not belittling the persons out there battling REAL stalkers, but I don't quite know how else to describe what's going on.
For those new to me, I am a COTA/L. That's a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistance / Licensed. I work with the geriatric population in a skilled nursing facility.
That said, there is this patient ... shall we call her Ms. "Susan" (which is SO not her name, for privacy). Well "Susan" is a small little lady who is quite young, only 67. And trust me, with my population, that's very young. She's had a massive stroke in the past, but is pretty functional ... or she would be if she'd try. I won't describe everything, but she's in a wheelchair that she propels herself, but is not walking well at all. She's VERY needy emotionally and tends to "latch" on to people.
"Susan" ... how to put this nicely ... has an issue with, well ... she has to pee often. VERY often. She also is a smoker and is constantly trying to get people to take her outside to smoke. She does have schedules, for bladder continance (which she is continant) and for smoking. The problem is she doesn't like following her schedule and is always looking for people to take her either to the bathroom or out to smoke.
She's currently in therapy, we're working on decreasing her pain in her left arm and shoulder. Well, she figured out (quite quickly I might add) that if she tells me during therapy that she has to pee, well, that I'll take her to the bathroom. My focus is on her during therapy and she gets her needs met (except for the smoking, although she's trying to get me to do that with her too). Welllll ... since I can obviously take her to the bathroom during therapy, then in her mind I logically can take her ANYTIME SHE NEEDS TO GO.
It doesn't matter if I'm treating another patient, doing paperwork, or eating lunch. It doesn't matter if I'm in another patient's room ... she follows me around all day long asking me to take her to either the bathroom or outside to smoke. I've explained 3 million ways that I can not take time away from another patient and that if she needs something she needs to speak with her nurse or nurse's aide. But I am the new flavor of the month and I've been "latched" onto, and now I'm being stalked.
It got so bad in the last few days that she was wheeling down the hall yelling my name at the top of her lungs to find out in which patient's room I was currently working. She even approached the administration to have me PAGED to come take a look at her arm, because it hurts. That's the excuse, when I get there she says "my arm hurts, but I really need to pee".
By the way, if you tell her you can't at that moment help her and refer her to other staff, she starts to cry. Her face is so mobile and pathetic when she cries it really hurts to tell her no, but I know better than to feed into these patterns. The crying never lasts an entire minute by the way, seriously. Very labile moods. Oh, and her family is aware of the situation and is sympathetic. Should I mention that "Susan" cries daily because she hasn't seen her daughter in "so long" and "I want to see her". At this point I do need to mention that her family visits her nearly EVERY DAY. This is not a negligent family. Just yesterday she cried because her daughter wouldn't be there until an hour later. Look, that don't cut it with me. I've got one patient who hasn't seen her child in over 10 years.
The Director of Nursing sat her down and told her in no uncertain way that this behavior could not continue. She was better today. We'll see if it continues, if the pattern holds, I'm told by other staff, she'll get worse again before someone else comes along to get her attention.
Until then, I am the prey and she is the stalker. I always thought that if there ever was a stalker in my life it would be an ex-boyfriend or something. Not an 80 pound woman in a wheelchair hollering "I've got to pee!" down the hall.
Just so you know. I like "Susan". She amuses me as much as she frustrates me at times. And she can be quite funny and sweet as well as annoying!
Later y'all,
Lola
For those new to me, I am a COTA/L. That's a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistance / Licensed. I work with the geriatric population in a skilled nursing facility.
That said, there is this patient ... shall we call her Ms. "Susan" (which is SO not her name, for privacy). Well "Susan" is a small little lady who is quite young, only 67. And trust me, with my population, that's very young. She's had a massive stroke in the past, but is pretty functional ... or she would be if she'd try. I won't describe everything, but she's in a wheelchair that she propels herself, but is not walking well at all. She's VERY needy emotionally and tends to "latch" on to people.
"Susan" ... how to put this nicely ... has an issue with, well ... she has to pee often. VERY often. She also is a smoker and is constantly trying to get people to take her outside to smoke. She does have schedules, for bladder continance (which she is continant) and for smoking. The problem is she doesn't like following her schedule and is always looking for people to take her either to the bathroom or out to smoke.
She's currently in therapy, we're working on decreasing her pain in her left arm and shoulder. Well, she figured out (quite quickly I might add) that if she tells me during therapy that she has to pee, well, that I'll take her to the bathroom. My focus is on her during therapy and she gets her needs met (except for the smoking, although she's trying to get me to do that with her too). Welllll ... since I can obviously take her to the bathroom during therapy, then in her mind I logically can take her ANYTIME SHE NEEDS TO GO.
It doesn't matter if I'm treating another patient, doing paperwork, or eating lunch. It doesn't matter if I'm in another patient's room ... she follows me around all day long asking me to take her to either the bathroom or outside to smoke. I've explained 3 million ways that I can not take time away from another patient and that if she needs something she needs to speak with her nurse or nurse's aide. But I am the new flavor of the month and I've been "latched" onto, and now I'm being stalked.
It got so bad in the last few days that she was wheeling down the hall yelling my name at the top of her lungs to find out in which patient's room I was currently working. She even approached the administration to have me PAGED to come take a look at her arm, because it hurts. That's the excuse, when I get there she says "my arm hurts, but I really need to pee".
By the way, if you tell her you can't at that moment help her and refer her to other staff, she starts to cry. Her face is so mobile and pathetic when she cries it really hurts to tell her no, but I know better than to feed into these patterns. The crying never lasts an entire minute by the way, seriously. Very labile moods. Oh, and her family is aware of the situation and is sympathetic. Should I mention that "Susan" cries daily because she hasn't seen her daughter in "so long" and "I want to see her". At this point I do need to mention that her family visits her nearly EVERY DAY. This is not a negligent family. Just yesterday she cried because her daughter wouldn't be there until an hour later. Look, that don't cut it with me. I've got one patient who hasn't seen her child in over 10 years.
The Director of Nursing sat her down and told her in no uncertain way that this behavior could not continue. She was better today. We'll see if it continues, if the pattern holds, I'm told by other staff, she'll get worse again before someone else comes along to get her attention.
Until then, I am the prey and she is the stalker. I always thought that if there ever was a stalker in my life it would be an ex-boyfriend or something. Not an 80 pound woman in a wheelchair hollering "I've got to pee!" down the hall.
Just so you know. I like "Susan". She amuses me as much as she frustrates me at times. And she can be quite funny and sweet as well as annoying!
Later y'all,
Lola
# posted by Qeltic @ 1:06 AM 
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Will you take ME to the bathroom when I have to pee? I know that has to get on your nerves. By the way, you left your sneakers here.
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