I noticed this clever signage posted in my husbands hospital room a few days ago. He had just had knee surgery and was confined to his Orthopedic bed that was state of the art. The bed intermittently massaged his entire body, raised up/down, raised the head/feet, and could summon help when needed. This all worked via the push of a button. The same device could control the TV as well. When I started my career as a Nurse, I had to do all those things for the bed ridden patient... including the massage part, which was called "Back Massage 101" Things have definitely improved for the patient and the caregivers. However, some things have not improved, no matter how many instructions and signs you give the patient they still do exactly what they want ... even if it poses a risk to the patient and more work for the medical staff. The sign at the top seems obvious to most people after surgery, sedation, low blood pressure, low sugar, lack of sleep, etc. After all, the sign is in clear view and in red with big letters! No, the patient (my husband included) must read it like the sign at the bottom, which says "You can do it yourself, Go for it!" or "Free brownies served by Victoria Secret Models in the next room!" Patients do not listen to signs or instructions on more occasions than you would think. They still get up and fall, drive while under the influence of drugs, rip off their bandages prematurely, soak their surgical site in water before they should and eat pizza loaded with grease on the way home after anesthesia. As Nurses, we just shake our head and hope the occurrence doesn't involve a lengthy incident report to fill out. It would only take up our time. The same time that we could be spending instructing the next patient to not do the same idiotic things!
