The Dreaded "Not Yet"

Part of my job is to determine how patients respond to activity so when I'm walking patients around in the hospital I have to ask them things like "Are you feeling dizzy? Lightheaded? Nausea? Pain anywhere? Do you feel weak like your knees are gonna buckle underneath you?"

People often deny any of these symptoms or even give me weird looks like I'm crazy for asking them such silly questions. And then, of course, I get the occasional "Not yet." :-0

What does that mean? Are they gonna feel sick, painful, or faint on me in 30 seconds? A minute? Two hours from now? Should I be on complete alert ready to catch them as if they could faint at any second? Is this a contact guard assist or stand-by assist?

Thankfully most of the time I get these particular patients back to their rooms without having to do any fireman carries.









Still, I'm not a fan of "Not yet."