Did we not explain ourselves?

As a Recovery Room nurse, not only do I recover patients who have had major surgeries, but I also work in our Ambulatory Recovery room.

In the ambulatory recovery I am recovering patients who have had primarily IV sedation for colonoscopies, gastroscopies, bronchoscopies, eye surgeries and general sedation for ECT's.

It's the IV sedation patients that I want to talk about.  Prior to their procedure they are told that they MUST have a responsible adult driver to take them home post procedure or alternate arrangements made for going home, ie taking a taxi.  The driver must report to the recovery to physically escort the patient to the car and ensure that they take the elevator and NOT the stairs.

When these patients come to the admitting area I know the clerk asks the patient who is driving them home.  She also asks for the persons phone number, or will that person be staying or do the nurses have to call for their ride. The clerk also advises them that the person who is providing the ride MUST report back to the unit to come and physically pick the patient up.   The clerk diligently writes this information down in the chart, so I as the recovery room nurse know what arrangements have been made for this individual person to get home.

It never ceases to amaze me how many patients still think that it is ok for them to drive home post procedure, and never follow one thing we tell them NOT to do.

Let me share with you some simple stories.  We had a husband and wife in. Both were from out of town, both were having a procedure that required IV sedation.  When they were coming around we asked about their ride and if there ride has a ways to come so we can give the individual enough time to get to the hospital to pick the patient up.  This particular couple's idea of having arrangements being made were to take a cab to the pub where they were to meet their friends. Hmmmmmmmm.

Another patient tells us that her husband is at the Pub and to call him there to come get her.  Sure enough we call the pub and the waitress tells us that well she doesn't see him at the moment but his "beer" is still on the table.

Another, a young fellow says he didn't realize he had to have someone drive him, we tell him we can't let him go until someone comes to get him.  He gets on his cell phone to get a hold of a friend, someone eventually shows up, the patient doesn't take the elevator as instructed but rather walks down the stairs, then once out of sight(or so he thought) he jumps into his vehicle and drives off.

Then there are the patients who have arranged a drive and the person who comes to pick them up appears to be in worse condition than the patient.  Sometimes the person arrives being short of breath and on home oxygen, so they are dragging their oxygen tank beside them.  Others have their ride arriving walking very slowly either utilizing a cane or a walker. Many many patients rides think they can just wait in the car, even though they have been told they MUST come to the unit to pick up the patient.  You can't imagine all the stories we get regarding patients rides, I think I could write a book on all the excuses or stories.

My point is that all of these folks are told prior to the procedure that they will need a RESPONSIBLE, capable and able adult to get them home.  We tell the patients that they are legally impaired, we tell them not to drink alcohol and the list goes on.  But I guess human nature being what it is, they will do what they want to do regardless of being advised not to do something.

I don't tell patients these things to ruin their day, on the contrary there are risks involved when you have had IV sedation and I must make ensure they are aware of these risks.  I personally would think that one would want to take those precautions.

Just a few things that just make me shake my head.