Patient Story 03

Patient Story 03: an elderly man with a history of a stroke, admitted for a hip replacement

As a result of his stroke, this patient was aphasic (he couldn't verbally communicate clearly). While I was doing some assessments in the room, the kitchen lady came in to take the patients' orders for breakfast the next day. When she asked this patient what he wanted, he started babbling. He proceeded to reach for his pen and paper, but once the lady realized he had trouble communicating, she said "that's okay, the kitchen can choose something delicious for you to eat" and left the room. He continued writing something on the paper and I walked over and saw he was writing down what he wanted to eat. I took the sheet (*SHOVED IT IN THE LADY'S FACE*...in my thoughts) and told her this is what he wanted. The lady replied with, "thanks, I'll record it for tomorrow, but I have to make him non-selective (meaning he doesn't get to choose what he eats and he gets some defaulted meal) because other people won't wait for him to order his food."

Lesson: Sometimes you just have to put a little more effort and patience towards things.