Announcements

I could use one of those boards in my house.

I guess they were very organized.

whats with the dress code......maybe if its hot ,shorts and t shirts etc...

That for lack of a better word is the "reality" board. If you've been in a while the days run together.. It helps keep track of the days, and the weather. The dress bit is more like It's cold oudside ,dress warm and such.

mmmm. did they go on holidays?

mmmm. did they go on holidays?


I would imagine quite a few of them went out for fun and adventure. These places weren't prison y'know. If some one was willing to take a patient out, or a group they could go.

When you are trying to reorient people who have reality/perceptual issues, a good place to start is with concrete things, like what day is it, what's the weather like, etc. You can both check to see whether the person is oriented to date and time (a quick mini mental status exam) and assist the folks who don't currently have this concept.

lynne you keep educating me, and for this i say thank you..

Surely, Shirley. ;-)

yet if you write it up on a board, assuming the patient could read are you asking these questions without the said patient seeing the board, if not how can you judge this abillty to have a concept of reality if the answer to your question is clearly written in front of them.and if the board isnt in view of the patients then i find that even more strange. dean.waddington@hotmail.co.uk

It's kind of like in a classroom when you are assessing a student's abilities. You start out with the "lesson" verbally and gauge how everyone is doing. Are people watching you, can they follow what you are saying, can they tell what day it is, can they tell what year it is, are they reading the board versus listening to you read it, are they even paying attention, if you say that it is snowing out and ask what kind of clothes you should wear, do they know to wear cold vs. warm weather clothes, etc. You learn a ton of info by asking simple questions and gauging peoples' reactions, depth of knowledge, ability to string a sentence together, stay on topic, listen to the rhythm and "prosody" of their voice, see how close they sit to others, how much eye contact they are able to make and for how long, whether they have any possible movement disorders from their medications - as I said, you check out how they are reacting and interacting, how they are processing, and how they are learning from the situation.

It's a great way to learn about people without staring at them or making them take a test. :-)

As always, I have to agree with Lynne. The "daily board" helps both the staff and the patient.

As a former patient, the "daily board" has helped me try to gain more awareness of my surroundings. When reality and mood are uncontrolled... the simple things can help you try to hang on.

your knowledge is endless, thank you.

That things been drawn all over on by now, I think it was in Hilltop?? I really don't remember.

there where a couple of them. "Monday: Sex with patients. Tuesday: Sex with FEMALE patients"

wheres the menu ?

They were like prisons. All who entered were at the mercy of the aides. Yes mercy.

There is a board similar to this on the wall in the long-term care ward for elderly people at the hospital in my town, only it's a magnetic board and there's magnetic numbers for the date, etc. and magnets for each season, the kind of weather, day of the week, month of the year, and the next holiday. And they all have fun little pictures on them (i.e. a picture of a snowman and a snowflake for the "Winter" season magnet)!!! :D

i can definitely see the need to post something like this, to assist committed patients in having some structure to their existence. I left school for a while after becoming very messily depressed and breaking down. After returning home I became quite a reclusive shut-in for quite some time, remaining in my room, mostly in the dark, a year of fitful sleep and not much movement. literally. i experienced significant muscular atrophy. it was easy to lose touch with it all, to forget what day, what month it is, and to even be disturbingly hazy on the year.

they're not doing anything.

guess the bowling ally's free

Nice shot. We had one of those boards on the wall when I was at_____hospital. The staff would put up little decorations during the holidays and stuff like that. A lot of these pictures bring back memories both good and bad. Thank you Mr. Motts for the photos and thank you for posting them.

These boards are sometimes confusing for staff--you come in to work, pretty sure it's Thursday (although you hope that it might turn out to be Friday) and the board says "Wednesday." Now, you ask yourself, *is* it Wednesday...or did someone just forget to update the board?

lol dme. I could easily see that happening.
"Did Bob change the board this morning? Is it really Wednesday? "

These are the announcements:

Today is: Sunday
Today's Date: 8-16-2009
Weather is: Sunny
temperature is: 87 degrees (I think)
Dress: regular summer clothes
Next Holiday: Halloween/ Vacation to Disneyland CA (I'm confused... is it supposed to be a national holiday or a vacation holiday???)

fail

Anouncements long gone!