55 Surprising Patient Habits That Actually Make Care Harder for Doctors and Nurses
ER nurse. People walk into to triage with no or poor knowledge of their own medical history. No knowledge of the meds they are taking or what they are for. It’s absurd. I’ve had fathers bring in their children who don’t know their history, if they have allergies, some don’t even know their birthdate.
Alicatsidneystorm:
I will never forget the guy in the bed next to me and poor nurse is taking his history which was not easy. As nurse is walking away he yells: “oh I forgot about the kidney transplant.”
notreallylucy:
Not a doctor. I don’t know how grown up adults with no brain problems just walk around not knowing what meds they’re taking.
Lie, minimise symptoms. As Dr House says, “ everybody lies”.
WelfordNelferd:
I was doing an admission assessment on a patient and asked if they smoked cigarettes. They said “Only when I drink”. Then I asked how often/much they drank, and they said “Every day, all day”.
flockyboi:
Yeah, feels like some people haven’t heard the whole “always lie to the cops, never lie to your doctor” thing.
This is more for relatives but: when a patient brings a family member/friend to translate, I need them to translate, not speak for the patient.
I get that you think you’re saving time, but I need to hear from my patient in their words, and they need to understand the specifics of what I’m asking or telling them.
Also, it’s super dehumanising for us to just talk about a patient in front of them in a language they don’t understand.
summer-lovers:
This is why I always use the translator for anything more than stopping in to ask if they need anything. Otherwise, I just don’t have any confidence that family isn’t interjecting their own ideas and observations
Queenpunkster:
It is strongly recommended to use a medical interpreter for anything in medicine, even with bilingual friends or family available.
One reason is that a layperson, even an intelligent person, is not going to have the medical terminology to appropriately explain things to the patient and to assess understanding. This even applies to doctors who speak the language, who did not have their medical training in that language. For example, a native Spanish speaker who had their medical training in English, should not be translating for Spanish speaker unless they’ve had additional training in medical Spanish.
Another reason is that a friend or family member does not have a legal obligation to interpret accurately and may not do so due to cultural or personal reasons.
Is the patient insists on using a family member, they’re supposed to have a waiver that they have declined a medical translator. This is a huge legal liability.
Go to the bathroom by themselves and dump the “hat”
“I didn’t want to bother you” … yeah, you’re here for CHF and we’ve told you a dozen times need to measure your output. Please stop doing that.
Alternatively, go to the bathroom themselves because “they didn’t want to bother us”, but disconnect multiple wires/machines in the process of doing so and now we gotta straighten everything out.
Ik it can be hard to get someone to come in for the bathroom and that’s justified to go solo if nobody comes, but not asking at ALL to even give a chance for someone to come is so frustrating.
When they say “nothing has changed” when reviewing their meds and allergies. They think it’s helpful because the list is long and it will save time, but I need you to verify everything.
Don’t tell me nothing has changed, then I have to add 4 meds to your list because your doctor prescribed you new meds 3 weeks ago. And shrimp isn’t on your allergy list even though you just told me you had a severe allergic reaction to it at your niece’s wedding last week. How do we not have that on the list? Well, you went to a hospital 2 states away when you were out of town at the wedding. Hospitals don’t have some national system they all share.
Huge thanks to all the people who patiently go over their meds and allergies without complaint. Also to those who bring a written list, a list in their phone, or even pics of their meds. You’re the best. .
When the REALLY nice ones don’t ring, and then all of a sudden they actually ring. Then you go in, and they’re like I’m sorry to be a bother, I’ve been uncomfortable most of the night, or I couldn’t sleep all night. Girl/ma’/am/buddy/ms./whichever, you should have called to let me know. My job is to make sure you are comfortable, and taken care of. You are not a bother because you don’t ring at all for anything, and now I have to check up on you more often, because I lowkey feel bad that I didn’t do my job.
I love these patients by the way. They make my job a little more tolerable, because they truly need my help.
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