Nurse, there are Giraffes in my room....

We recently had a Client, young by our standards, only 79 years old. She underwent hip replacement surgery.  The surgery, by all accounts was a great success, but the Client was reportedly suffering a post operative delirium.

The medical staff predicted she would recover, but they could not say how long it would take.  The Client's daughter contacted me and told me her mother was reporting giraffes in her room. Also,  the Client telephoned her friend at 5am wondering if her dinner would be there soon.

We decided to head to the bedside to investigate further.

When I walked into the room and greeted the Client she recognized me, did not seem to be in distress and reportedly did not have any pain.

What I noticed next was a poster of a giraffe, hanging on the wall, directly in front of the Client. The Client was correct...there were giraffes in her room.

Next I noticed the clock on the wall. It was too far away to be read by a patient in the bed (who did not have her glasses with her in hospital, I might add...) There was not a lot of contrast betwen the colour of the face and the colour of the hands on this particular clock and even if it could be read by the patient, did not have an am/pm indicator.

It was Fall. And for those of you who are early birds, like me, you know that at 5am it's dark outside- it's also dark at 5pm.

So if you were in an unfamiliar setting, waking up to the stare of giraffes, the darkness of evening and possibly hungry for something to eat - you might call your friend at 5am and tell her "there are giraffes in my room and I'm hungry for dinner".

The Patient left hospital shortly thereafter and did well with some follow up physiotherapy at home.