A nurse should approach any and all bedside tables
with a suspicious attitude – and with the light
on. I have seen things in drawers of bedside tables
that would send Stephen King running. I've seen items
in the locker part of the table that would make the
most stiff upper lips quiver. And the longer the patients
stay, the more careful one should become.
Remove all needless foodstuffs: such things as moldy
grapes and half-eaten oranges and apples. The fruit
flies will lead you to the bananas stored behind the
urinal, destroy those as well. Keep only items that
are wrapped commercially and sealed until use. This
may take a certain degree of decorum and diplomacy
on the nurse's part, as the patient may be annoyed
or, worse, angry. Make sure the water you throw out
is not the Holy Water Father Murphy left yesterday,
but any glass with a scum on top needs to be tossed.
Cautiously approach all materials and clothing, until
you have ascertained whether they are one day or one
month old; clean or dirty; wet or dry. Old hospital
meal menus can go, as can the tape and cotton swab
from 60 blood-collection days. Puzzle books, notes,
and cards are all acceptable, and even the little plants,
but not the bottle of fireflies, the dog, or the hamster.
I have found everything under the sun stored in those
little compartments: bottles of rum, old liniment that
burned my eyes, black bean soup with mold, and, on
one occasion never to be forgotten, a big beach bag
with a live Welsh terrier – to this day we don't
know how long that patient had that little dog in her
room!! But it was cute … both the dog and the
hat it was wearing!
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Article published on Aug 4 04
12:59AM.
