In my last placement, I was attached to a neurosurgery ward in the hospital. Most of my patients came in for elective or emergency craniectomies because of brain tumour. Some of these patients were completely normal before the surgery. (ie. They had Full ROM, Full muscle strength, nil sensation deficits and normal tone) Post surgery, some of these patients recovered very quickly. These patients recovered full strength by post-op day 2 and were up and walking around the ward.
Majority of these patients suffered from the post-op effects of the surgery (ie. Swelling). Due to the different parts of the brain being compressed by the tumour, it takes time before the return of function in the upper or lower limbs etc. Some of the patients may not have any deficits pre-op, but post surgery, they might result in one-sided weakness or sensory loss.
One of my patients had a (L) parietal craniectomy done to remove her tumour. Preoperatively, she was completely normal. She was a stay-home mum and was able to handle the daily chores at home independently. After the surgery, she was not able to move the (R) side of her body. She had a (R) hemiparesis. On top of that, she was not able to speak due to the expressive aphasia she suffered from post-op. In the integrated notes, I described her as “appeared depressed”. Obviously anyone in that situation would be depressed as they suddenly lost function and control of one side of their body! My supervisor told me that it was not right to say that a patient appears depressed because depression is a medical diagnosis. Instead, they normally describe a patient as have a flat affect.
This was something that was new to me and I would like to share it with all of you. I used to always use the word depressed lightly as I did not think much of it being a medical diagnosis. But currently, my vocabulary of medical descriptions has widened thanks to my supervisor.
Has anyone of you come across other words that were not as appropriate? And learnt a better word to substitute it?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I've used depressed before in the notes and had to change it, as the doctors began to test the patient for clinical depression! I changed it to 'pt's mood appears low' in case any questions were asked. I hadn't anticipated that what I wrote would have such an impact.
Post a Comment