Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Does it really matter at that point???

We get this patient in DT's (alcohol withdrawal) and my coworker that is assigned to her asks her, as part of the admission assessment, how much she drinks. The patient tells her that she drinks 1L (yes 1 liter!!) of vodka daily.
Now I was taught in nursing school that with cigarrettes and alcohol the patient rarely admits to the actual amount and that the general rule of thumb for both is to double it and then you are closer to the acutal amount.
Does this mean that this woman actually drinks 2L of vodka daily? And if it is 1L or 2L does the difference really matter at that point? She's pickling her liver either way and currently in DT's so, I ask again........when it's THAT much does the actual amount really matter?
It didn't to us then but it just got me thinking..............

3 comments:

Full time mom, part-time nurse said...

OMG! I don't want to know what her liver looks like! I added you to my blog.

kjjang said...

wow, it is interesting story. I also wonder how her liver looks like. although I am a heavy drinker, i don't drink that much. Also i as a nursing student know about that I better quit to drink.

Floor Heating Stamford said...

Nice post thanks for sharing

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