Hi all, venting again.
We took my GF to the hospital last Sunday, he had a fever and chills, and was disoriented. God knows how long he had been feeling bad, but this was as soon as he told us. My mother went bats, demanded that I get right over there, even though I told her she needed to call EMS if it was that bad. I got there, and the house was 84 degrees! (Chills, much?)
I listened to him, VS were otherwise stable (my family thinks VS are gold), lungs were clear, just a high fever that he had had "a couple days" and that he had taken "some ASA for". No degrees, no milligrams, just some.
We got to the ER, labs were great, except for WBC of 11.3. Fever came down with one dose of Tylenol (imagine that). Delirium resolved. Doc and I talked and concurred that it was likely a virus (I'm in grad school, make rounds in this ER), and decided that I would care for him at home, no abx necessary, which I also agreed with. I don't believe in throwing abx at everything.
Fast forward, he does OK for a couple days, but, as you know, things change. That is why they tell you to FOLLOW UP with your doc. The ER made a follow-up call to check on him and offer abx if he was not better. He's running a fever again. The thing is, GF won't do anything for himself, my Mama has to do it for him. So her take on this is that the ER did not do their job. Apparently, the whole of the medical profession is an idiot, including me by extension.
Her words, "If he needs abx now, he needed them then." Well, maybe not so much. They wanted to know why they had to go in for a recheck, could they not just look at what they had and call something in.
And the cream......my cousin is also a nurse...she told her mother, my aunt, that "Based on his age (81) and his pacemaker, and the fact that they do not know what he has been around, they should have given abx. His WBC were on the low side of normal, he needed it for a 'boost'"
Since when is a WBC count of 11.3 low? What 'boost' could she mean? And of course, the rest of the family took it for gospel. Never mind the fact that she was clinically wrong about a very basic nursing fact. I pointed that out, proved it to myself when I got home with my Pathophysiology text (please correct me if we're both wrong, book says 5-10,000mm3 is norm), and still they side with her. Fine. So be it. These people could not be bothered to take GF to the doctor this week, would not hear of it ("He's better) yet they want to rip me apart for not 'doing anything'. The man does not have sense enough to check his own temp, family that stays with him does not, lets him sit there, glassy-eyed and burning up, and does nothing. And it's my fault and the ER docs fault because we did not give abx for a condition that did not require it AT THE TIME OF TX! I don't have prescriptive authority yet anyway. After this, I'm not sure I want it.
The fact that I explained that ER care is for EMERGENT tx only and that they should have gotten him to the doc Monday or Tuesday has no effect. It's the ER's and my fault, we didn't give him abx. Did I mention that no one asked for them while we were AT THE ER?
What can I do? I have already told them that since they don't see fit to accept the fact that I might know about labs a tiny bit more than a lay person, and that they seem to think I don't know what I am doing, that I would rather they did not come to me for advice. Since they think my cousin is so wonderful, they can call her. If she thinks an 11.3 WBC is low, I hate to think what she considers high (minor mistake, maybe, but it was pointed out in a setting and in a way as to make me look a fool). I am so mad i can not think right now and any advice, atta girl, or commisseration would be appreciated. Thank you for reading my novel.
Would you like to comment?
I decided that I would stay COMPLETELY out of it and don't answer any of the family's questions, but refer them back to the doctor. It keeps me from pulling my hair out. Good luck!
