Geriatric medicine

One word on this list looks like an old acquaintance and turns out to lead several lives. Die Fixierung is a fixation in a psychology textbook (die Fixierung auf den Vater), the fixing of a print in the darkroom and the preserving of tissue before it goes under a microscope. On a geriatric ward it means something no English cognate does: a belt round the waist, wrists or ankles that holds a confused patient in bed or in a chair, in other words physical restraint. The verb has yet another sense, since jemanden fixieren can also mean to stare fixedly at somebody. Die Patientin wurde fixiert therefore reports a restriction of liberty, which is why it is documented, justified and reviewed, and why the list sets it beside das Delir and die Hinlauftendenz, the states that tempt a ward to reach for it. These pages explain words and give no medical advice.