Is this ‘ normal’

[Skylark/2]

Good evening,

My husband was admitted under section 2 of the mental health act into a dementia unit ( small 32 bed ) hospital He has been there 12 days. There are lots of staff, nice atmosphere BUT in 12 days my husband has been involved in 2 skirmishes. The first one he mistakenly walked into another patient’s room, the man thought he was stealing his money ( there wasn’t any money ) and knocked him to the ground. No harm done thankfully. Tonight, he was walking down the corridor when a patient hit him, blacking his eye. My husband hit back giving the patient a cut lip.
I have a question……would you say there was a lack of safe guarding at the unit or do I just mentally shrug my shoulders and think, these things happen!

 

[leny connery]

I would say they should be watched so as not to be attacked by other PWD in the home. Having said that, I used to work in a care home with 20-22 residents on the floor in a long corridor of rooms rather like a hotel corridor. with just 2 of us carers working it was almost impossible to monitor the ones who wander, getting into other rooms or indeed meeting each other in a corridor and start going at each other. difficult, but would certainly lodge a written complain to the manager, I'd say

 

[sdmhred]

Mmmm my experience of both psychiatric hospitals and mum’s dementia home is that these things do happen regularly and can’t always be prevented BUT a good hospital/ home will act to prevent and learn from such incidents….that we don’t know about in ur OH’s unit.

I would be interested in where the staff were, how much observation was going on, are some of these gentleman now on 121 which should prevent this incidents, has a safeguarding alert gone to SS which should indicate what safety measures have been put in place?

if it was me I think I would be asking those sorts of questions,,,,and judge the response ….

 

[Grannie G]

I wish I had an answer for you @Skylark/2

I have no experience of violence in dementia units in a hospital but if freedom of movement is allowed within the unit and the patients are disturbed and confused I imagine a high ratio of staff to patients would be necessary to monitor and manage all patients at all times.

It`s a discomforting thought and I hope you will be able to get a satisfactory explanation.

 

[Kevinl]

My wife used to work in what those days was termed a psycho geriatric unit, what you nurse is what you get they say, she got early onset AZ.
Try walking a mile in the staffs shoes, it's not easy, driving your wife home while she's in tears about her days work, hard for the patients, hard for the staff too, me and the kids are just side show damaged, .
Sorry for sounding so bitter.
K

 

[Skylark/2]

Thank you for your replies.
i am going to see my husband this morning, check on how he is.
On a different subject, can anyone tell me why my husband now suddenly has started sitting with his head bent ?This is only in the last couple of weeks but now he will raise his eyes rather than his head to look at me when I’m speaking.
There is a part of me that thinks ‘ is it the increase in the antipsychotic medication that he has started taking because of the worsening symptoms of his Alzheimer’s. Are the worsening symptoms due to the cellulitis infection he has now recovered from’
i ask the nurses and they give the same noncommittal answers.
Any thoughts welcome, thank you.

 

[Grannie G]

Antipsychotic medication does have side effects but I suppose it also depends on the individual.

My husband was taking antipsychotic medication for a long time and still held his head up. Even sleeping in a chair, his head rested on the back of the chair rather than dropping forward.

I did see quite a few people in his care home with their heads dropping forward, but they were sleeping.

Is your husband`s mobility unaffected? I was wondering about muscle weakness.

 

[Rishile]

Thank you for your replies.
i am going to see my husband this morning, check on how he is.
On a different subject, can anyone tell me why my husband now suddenly has started sitting with his head bent ?This is only in the last couple of weeks but now he will raise his eyes rather than his head to look at me when I’m speaking.
There is a part of me that thinks ‘ is it the increase in the antipsychotic medication that he has started taking because of the worsening symptoms of his Alzheimer’s. Are the worsening symptoms due to the cellulitis infection he has now recovered from’
i ask the nurses and they give the same noncommittal answers.
Any thoughts welcome, thank you.

My husband used to sit with his head down and his hands between his knees whilst in the dementia unit. I hated to see him like that because he looked so unhappy and such a lost soul. I would try to make him sit upright and he would if I was there but if I walked in and he hadn't seen me, he would be sitting like it. I noticed most of the patients sat like that and assumed he was copying them.

When he came home, this stopped. Occasionally, if I leave him in a room on his own for a while, I may return and find him like it but he sits up as soon as he sees me.

Regarding the incidents in the unit, I found them to be quite frequent. On one occasion my husband was seen to have his hands on a patient's chest and pushing him. It turned out that the other patient had slammed a yellow 'cleaning' sign in front of my husband as he was trying to get into the toilet. I was informed but told there would be no follow-up because nobody was hurt and it was an understandable incident.

I found the incidents were dealt with a lot better in hospital than in a Care Home. There are far more staff per patient in the hospital and they were well-trained and understood dementia much better. If an incident occurred, they all knew what to do and looked out for each other and other patients and visitors. However, some incidents happen far to quickly for anyone to stop them. Some patients just have flash-points - I know my husband does.

 

[canary]

On a different subject, can anyone tell me why my husband now suddenly has started sitting with his head bent ?This is only in the last couple of weeks but now he will raise his eyes rather than his head to look at me when I’m speaking.

My OH is at home and is not taking any antipsychotic medication, but he does this too. Im looking at him now - he is sat on the sofa with a mug of coffee, but he is sitting with his head down on his chest. I think it is just part of the progression

 

[leny connery]

mine is stooping more and more. and as I am administering his eyedrops, I notice it is harder and harder to get him to look up. like his neck is stiffened

 

[Jaded'n'faded]

Good evening,

My husband was admitted under section 2 of the mental health act into a dementia unit ( small 32 bed ) hospital He has been there 12 days. There are lots of staff, nice atmosphere BUT in 12 days my husband has been involved in 2 skirmishes. The first one he mistakenly walked into another patient’s room, the man thought he was stealing his money ( there wasn’t any money ) and knocked him to the ground. No harm done thankfully. Tonight, he was walking down the corridor when a patient hit him, blacking his eye. My husband hit back giving the patient a cut lip.
I have a question……would you say there was a lack of safe guarding at the unit or do I just mentally shrug my shoulders and think, these things happen!

I think 'these things happen'. Staff really do try to prevent it. (It's possible there are lots of similar incidents every day with the various patients and they managed to stop all but two... 😲)

Let's be honest here: people with dementia and those with psychotic disorders or delerium are unpredictable. Even someone who is normally calm and placid can suddenly lash out. Short of having two staff members (one on each arm!) hanging on to each and every patient at all times, I don't see how every incident can be prevented.

A case in point: when my mum was in her care home, she was standing in the foyer area talking to a carer. Another carer was a yard away. But another patient walked up and - totally out of the blue - pushed mum hard in the chest. Mum went straight down on her bum and snap! She broke her hip. The carers were 1) unable to prevent the unexpected shove and 2) were unable to stop mum going down. This was simply an unfortunate incident and not a lack of safe guarding.

The other patient's daughter was absolutely mortified and apologised profusely to me but I pointed out it could just as easily been my mum shoving her mum... It happens.

Having said all that, it's very upsetting when something happens to your loved one in a place where you believe they're being kept safe. I don't know what the answer is. Drug them all up till they can't get out of their chairs? There's no doubt the 'chemical cosh' is used at times but it's not really an answer, is it?