Yesterday I was feeding a man supper. At the table with us was a woman who sometimes becomes paranoid and/or hallucinates. She was having a REALLY bad day yesterday, and kept hearing voices mixed into the radio.
Usually the radio isn't on at meals, or at least not for this impaired dining group. I turned it off.
As soon as I got back across the room someone snapped at me for not just turning it down. I explained my reasoning and went back to my patient.
After I left and then happened to come back into the room they'd turned it back on and she was sitting there quietly crying and mumbling about why wouldn't the people she could hear come talk to her and what must be wrong with them.
I'm so angry about this. I feel like I overdo it with music anyway; we have music all the time in therapy, but it's soft rock, not music that our patients are likely to like. I even had to tell my staff no more swearing music a while back.
But I only know how wrong they were because I've been there. I think that is the most frustrating thing about not being open with this illness.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
1 comment:
MAN! That sucks. It is totally within OT reasoning to setup an environment for maximum success. With the obvious goal of giving the patient tools to begin to note and manage their own triggers when hopefully they are not so limited.
I hate when docs or CNAs just expect people to "act normal". Like, if they were able to be their best self, they probably wouldn't be here!
Post a Comment