Ambiguity

Recently I had to attend a course on recording and reporting. Before I begin I must point out that this was a course for any company to attend so does not necessarily reflect on our carers.








I went along thinking that it was a bit of a waste of time to be honest, I mean all you have to do is write down anything you do and report to the office anything that you feel needs immediate attention.Having said that there were a few eye openers  What some of you may not know is that these reports are kept for up to seven years and can be used in a court of law. So potentially anything we write down could be held against us in a law suit if we get it wrong. Quite a responsibility when you consider that care workers are on about the same money as someone stacking shelves in a supermarket. Because of this you have to cover your back, stick to facts and write down names of people you have reported to etc. One thing that I and many other carers are guilty of is writing ‘All OK on exit’. Apparently some carers have been hauled into court because they have written that simple statement down and an individual has taken a turn for the worse after they had left. The carer then had to explain to the court, why they did not notice that he was about to have a heart attack.



On the lighter side was the ambiguity of abbreviations; It is something that we shouldn't do, but again many carers are guilty of writing things like MOW for meals on wheels and DN for District nurse.

The ones that made me laugh were the following: -

I noticed his BO when he went to the toilet.
PA was tied to his bed.
John AWOL


Imagine what the family would have thought if they had read them. see the innocent explanations below

BO - Bowels Opened

AWOL - All Well On Leaving

PA -pendant alarm

Animal Antics

Many of my ladies and gents have pets to keep them company. I have often found these four legged friends to be a useful tool when visiting someone for the first time, start talking about their beloved animals and you are the best care worker in the world.

In fact some animals rely on my calls as much as the people I am caring for, because it is also their opportunity for a toilet break and food.








I have two ladies with cats; The first lady often greets me with 'Where's my cats? I haven't seen my animals for three days. I bet that Cow next door has taken them in.' She will then lean out of the window and start shouting at the unfortunate lady to let her cats out of her house. I might add at this point that she only has one cat and the neighbour does not take it in, and this regular event takes place at about 7AM most mornings until the feline responsible for all this commotion returns,usually before I have to move on to my next call. I have to admit I am always glad if the cat has already returned before I arrive because it makes my life so much easier; if the cat is home I have a calm reasonable lady to deal with, whereas she will be very agitated and won't do anything until the little moggy has returned.
On Wednesdays  I arrive later for one reason or another and on one such occasion,  I could hear the lady shouting out of the window before I entered the house.
'I have lost my cat, someone has stolen him, I haven't seen him for three days, I bet it's her next door.'
 I spent the best part of the call calming her down by saying that he always comes home, I saw him yesterday and it's a nice day so perhaps he has decided to spend time in the sunshine. All to no avail. I have to admit to being concerned myself at this time of day and even took to shouting out of the window myself in a vain attempt to lure him home. Because the lady was so agitated and I had other calls to make, I rang the office to explain the situation before leaving some 40 minutes later. It was on the way out that I happened to glance into the bedroom and saw the cat innocently curled up on her bed oblivious to the consternation it had caused.

Another lady's cat always comes over for a stroke as I enter, but scuttles off the moment I start work because it knows that I am about to get the hoover out. It always seems to forgive me afterwards and  comes back purring as I sit down to fill in my care notes. All very nice but I wish that it did not sit on the page I am writing on.

And finally there is one lady that I visit with two beautiful collies called Ghost and Whiskey. When I arrive they go berserk which proves very difficult when trying to get in the door. Ghost, a stunning silver grey wolf like creature, immediately grabs his ball and barges Whiskey out of the way. Whiskey, the old boy of the two, then barks relentlessly in frustration, as if he wished he had thought about getting the ball first.

There is not much for me to do at this particular call apart from checking the lady is OK and has taken her meds, so I often stay for a chat a and more often than not play with the dogs especially when the conversation dries up a bit. I have even taken to training them to take turns with the ball and have to admit this is a bit of a treat for me as I used to have a dog and since she passed away, we have decided not to have another one due to health reasons.

After I had been visiting for a few months the lady concerned answered the door with a smile and said 

'I think my dogs think that you come to see them and not me.'

'Why is that?' I asked
'Well ten minutes before you arrive they have both started to sit by the front door waiting for you'