Tales from the Nuthouse: Lest You Think I have a Really Cool Job

[Shawnee123]

The Office Space scene is applicable.

Consultants...heeheee

Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach, consult.

[SteveDallas]

There are good consultants out there, believe it or not.

The problem is, consultants, like anybody else, are beholden to whoever is paying them. The person who decided to bring in the consultant is paying them and decides what questions the consultant is supposed to answer. In the best case scenario, the consultant will hand back the "correct" answer to the question even if it's not an answer the client likes. But even in this case, if they've started off trying to answer the wrong questions, the whole exercise is pointless.

[Shawnee123]

I know...I was just kidding, mostly thinking about consulting as it pertains to "head-choppers" or whatever they call the ones they call in to fire a bunch of people so management doesn't have to take responsibility for it.

In fact, I've considered the possibility of doing consulting for FA offices: my experience is well-rounded enough, having been trained in the trenches in my past job. Consulting as in "what could we be doing better?"

However, I cannot see me running a business.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Worse than pointless, misleading and disastrous.

[Shawnee123]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Worse than pointless, misleading and disastrous.

Who, me?

Well duh, who didn't know that?

[xoxoxoBruce]

I was responding to Steve, you cut in line. :p

[TheMercenary]

Half a person? How'd they do that.

[wolf]

Real and True Phone Call.

wolf: Hi, this is wolf from The Nuthouse™. I need to speak to a nurse about Patient CrazyPersonWeWantOutofOurNiceMedicalHospital.

ward clerk: Do you need to speak to a nurse?

wolf: Yeah. (Honey, I really hope that you don't have any actual patient care responsibilties. You're blonde, aren't you?)

Oh, the things that I want to say that I'm not allowed to say because I choose not to get in trouble with the boss right now. He ends up apologizing enough for things that I do absolutely right.

Healthcare and ancillary workers at many levels, especially those who deal with the mentally impaired, are taught to reflect patients' questions and comments back to them so that patients may pursue their own direction when verbalizing trains of thought. Unfortunately, this technique is often misused by poor/indifferent listeners and procrastinators in the healthcare industry who apply it to anyone saying anything that they are not particularly interested in ... like requests for them to do their jobs. It's somewhat analogous to supervisors who talk to subordinates the way they talk to their children at home. These traits aren't necessarily indicative of low intelligence; so, it's best to counter them with caution. It's often just a character flaw which demarcates those people as indifferent assholes.

[richlevy]

Originally Posted by NoBoxes

Healthcare and ancillary workers at many levels, especially those who deal with the mentally impaired, are taught to reflect patients' questions and comments back to them

And how do you feel about that?

Originally Posted by richlevy

And how do you feel about that?

That expression was kinda, sorta, maybe already done by Pie:

Originally Posted by Pie

How does that make you feel?

Seriously, the technique has worked well with my patients who have difficulty articulating their thoughts due to stroke (CVA - cerebral vascular accident), MS - multiple sclerosis, dementia ... etc. They are frustrated enough by their own inability to communicate easily without having others jump to conclusions about what they are trying to say and put words in their mouths. This is especially true of dementia patients who often have roundabout ways of formulating ideas, pathways which make perfect sense to them; but, would seem senseless to most others. Initially reflecting such patients' questions or comments back at them helps maintain their train of thought regardless of the pathway. Disrupting that pathway with one's own conjectures increases their level of difficulty by adding to their frustration ... anger with you.

Originally Posted by SteveDallas

We were discussing you, not me.

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!

[limey]

Originally Posted by NoBoxes

...
Seriously, the technique has worked well with my patients who have difficulty articulating their thoughts due to stroke (CVA - cerebral vascular accident), MS - multiple sclerosis, dementia ... etc. They are frustrated enough by their own inability to communicate easily without having others jump to conclusions about what they are trying to say and put words in their mouths. This is especially true of dementia patients who often have roundabout ways of formulating ideas, pathways which make perfect sense to them; but, would seem senseless to most others. Initially reflecting such patients' questions or comments back at them helps maintain their train of thought regardless of the pathway. Disrupting that pathway with one's own conjectures increases their level of difficulty by adding to their frustration ... anger with you.
...

Thanks for this NoBoxes. At times I have difficulty following my mother's conversations and not getting us both frustrated in the process (prolly borderline dementia, maybe a little TIA). I'll try this technique to see if it helps us both.

[Trilby]

I disagree. It's just stupidity.

[Clodfobble]

I have the same problem with the large number of elementary-school teachers in my family.

[lookout123]

You reflect their questions back at them? Kind of strange if you ask me.