The title of this blog is directly copied from a line I read time and time again in patients notes.
X has been settled and appropriate throughout the shift...
X has demonstrated settled and appropriate behaviour whilst on the ward...
...initially unsettled, X responded well to PRN medication and has been settled and appropriate for the rest of the shift...
Poor X.
What the staff member actually means when writing the term "settled and appropriate" is usually something like:
Patient X has kept his/her head down all day and hasn't done anything to create a fuss or cause me to notice them. In fact, I only really know Patient X is here because the healthcare support workers have marked him as present on the hourly fire checks. For all I know, patient X may not even exist.
Settled and appropriate indeed.
RMJ