Dimple's Discoveries

It’s funny story time again! I have a few that I have been remembering and/or experiencing since last time, so here we go! I have only ever heard this story, but its legend at one of my jobs. One of my patients saw our med tech walking through the dining room in her direction. All of a sudden this patient dove under the table and yelled “THE GERMANS ARE COMING!” The med tech, in true fashion with how we often react to crazy things that my patients do, played along. She dove under the nearest table too. Apparently this happened another time, only the patient got a little confused and hollered Jews instead of Germans. Whoops! :) Recently I was helping a patient out of the shower and into her pajamas, and she had ted hose (compression stockings that are meant to compress the leg to prevent swelling and blood clots) and those are really hard to get on a patient under normal circumstances, but to put them on someone who is wet is twenty times harder, so I was trying to ex...

This week was a long week, I was working doubles every other day, with one shift in between each, and I am exhausted! But it has been a really rewarding week, good thing I love my job :) Tonight I want to post about a sweetheart I got to know well at one of my jobs tonight, one of the rewarding moments of my work came out tonight. This patient is very confused, with some sundowning tendencies, and I had mostly been working graves when he first moved in, which meant I dealt with the worst of both conditions for eight hours. He was notorious for pottying everywhere, wetting the entire bed as well as the floor sometimes. One night I even came in to find him on the floor, lying in a pool of urine, stripped naked, curled up in fetal position, completely confused as to how he got there, and apologetic. Another night he took the water carafe, which holds 1020 cc (mL) and pottied into it until he filled the entire thing. Good thing the aide helping me noticed it and recognized that it wasn...

As CNAs, we give up a lot of things for the people we serve. Our job is physically and emotionally taxing, and not many people see how much it is. In a given eight hour shift, this is a typical schedule: 2pm-Receive report on how the day has gone, any falls that have occurred, etc. 2:30pm-Start vitals on your team (group of patients), as well as answer any call lights, Q2 checks (changing briefs of patients who are incontinent or rotating position of patients who have bed sores, etc.), and handling any emergencies that could arise 5pm ish- Dinner (you are taking note of how much patients eat and recording it for your charting later) 6pm-start rotating breaks for staff members while maintaining sanity on the floor 8pm-snack time. Your showers should be done or getting done by this point, help tag team any patient who is an Extensive 2 or more lift (meaning they cannot be transferred or done without at least two aides) 9pm-Your I&Os need to get to the nurse, (measuring h...

As CNAs, we lie. A lot. All the time actually. I know what you are thinking, 'That's awful!' and that is kind of true, but it also is better for the patients sometimes. I work in geriatrics, where my patients are forgetting everything. My dementia and Alzheimer patients especially struggle, and life is often miserable being trapped in the memories they are. Sometimes reality isn't the best way to deal with a situation. I'll give an example--I have a patient that will hardly eat. It isn't uncommon for her to go a few days without eating anything besides a cracker or two, or maybe a cookie. When you lose your sense of taste and/or don't have much motivation to live, why eat? The only way we can get her to eat is to tell her that her mom is looking for her, and she is in the dining room waiting for her to come eat breakfast with her. My patient will jump up and hurry down to the dining room, and by the time she gets there and breakfast is in front of her, she h...