A little delusional

Delusion (from www.m-w.com)
Something that is falsely or delusively believed or propagated b : a persistent false psychotic belief regarding the self or persons or objects outside the self that is maintained despite indisputable evidence to the contrary; also : the abnormal state marked by such beliefs

Oh, that was the story of my life on a recent night at the Hotel. What sorts of delusions you ask? Plenty...

1. One patient, when asked the date, stated that it's 1893 or 1954, he/she couldn't decide. Same patient also said spouse was dead and could a couple of nurses please jump in bed with him/her so he/she could warm up. I don't think so...

According to the notes, spouse thinks patient may have Alzheimer's and cannot drive an electric wheelchair anymore due to too many accidents, running into people while shopping.

2. Another patient, with an alcoholic liver will be discharged soon. Patient says she's going home. Family says otherwise. The bus is coming, but no one's 'fessing up to the destination, especially not the POA.

According to the notes, doctor's not disturbing this delusion, either. Gotta thank the doc for this. This girl is a handful when perturbed, and our staff have the stories to prove it.

3. Maybe delusion, maybe not, but one of our patients actually likes the limb splints we have to put on  at night. "Hey where are you?" I heard on the intercom. "I want my thing put on, it's time."

If it makes you happy and isn't harmful, let's go! And off to sleep he/she went. Hooray!

Stay tuned...

Nuggets for December 6

Happy St. Nicholas Day to all! It's been a busy week at Hotel Madison, but it's been fun.

Evenings is always a blast of a shift to come back to if only for the havoc we sometimes have with staff. (One was a no-call no-show last night.) Patients are generally good, unless of course, they're busy sundowning. Last night was decent enough, so I am happy for little things. Our shift missed the annual holiday party that our manager has, so said manager sent pizza.

In addition to all of the early in the shift hubbub, we had a TV crew show up to talk to one of our patients. Nothing like having hospital PR staff, the nursing staff and TV people on your floor roaming around just before the craziness of dinner time.

Here are a few of the interesting topics I've encountered recently.

One of my patients I noticed was taking Demeclocycline. I thought it was an odd antibiotic to use until I read this article about SIADH.

Last night, our charge nurse and I were talking about one of our patients who has a tenodesis splint and one who needs one. Another option for this problem: one of our docs talked to a patient this week about getting tenodesis surgery to improve his pincer grip.

Finally, I saw a drug I haven't seen in a long time at our place...good old hydralyzine show up for one of our new patients on the floor. This patient was a character. He looked exactly like a famous criminal and when I checked him to give him the hydralyzine and told him what it was, he denied hypertension. (Surprise, surprise.) He's with us only for a short visit, so he'll easily be home by Christmas.

More later...