Dealing with "Web-Trained" Patient/Family Members.

MN-Nurse, ASN, RN · Mar 28, 2012

If It appears the pt/family is not open to receiving evidence based information (sort of like the people in the flu vaccine forums here), I enter a note for the MD in plain english. Something like, "Pt's mother saw XX drug on TV and is demanding it."

Vespertinas · Mar 28, 2012

well MY MOM dispenses and follows health advice from CHAIN E-MAIL LETTERS!

One week it's about how lemons can cure *anything* from fungating cancer to brittle nails. The next week it's about how microwaves can disrupt pacemaker and make your hair fall out.

When my patients do this, I give them my best "Are you serious??" face and I think they get the point.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Mar 28, 2012

well MY MOM dispenses and follows health advice from CHAIN E-MAIL LETTERS!
One week it's about how lemons can cure *anything* from fungating cancer to brittle nails. The next week it's about how microwaves can disrupt pacemaker and make your hair fall out.
When my patients do this, I give them my best "Are you serious??" face and I think they get the point.

YES! I see your mom and my MIL must be buddies. I think at some point Coca-Cola was blamed for CA, my cookware was going to give me Alzheimer's, and if we'd all just drink enough filtered water and eliminate meat from our diets, why, we'd cure absolutely everything.

These emails, btw, are soon followed up with 'DON'T FALL FOR THIS SCAM...'(but of course the email itself is a hoax).

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Mar 28, 2012

As for the OP: I once had a patient, admitted very late at night, hand me a several-page sheaf of papers (which I could see was printed out from WebMD). She then proceeded to tell me "this is how you take care of me. I printed it so you'd know what to do."

Gosh golly good darn, if only I had SOME clue what to do with a drug seeking patient who had been there like a hundred times and discharged a hundred times after the million-dollar workup that shows there's nothing wrong with her that detox/rehab couldn't fix.

I think I said something like "oh, thanks, now I won't have to wonder whether you're supposed to wear an oxygen cannula or not..."

Good thing she had that printout. She might not have survived the night otherwise. :rolleyes:

OCNRN63, RN · Mar 28, 2012

I have you all beat. I had a patient's husband hand me a copy of the Constitution (pocket-size) and ask me if I had ever read it. (Yes, he was a Tea Party member.) I just thanked him for it and assured him that yes, I had read it.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Mar 28, 2012

Ah, I'll give you one more: first year of nursing, had a patient who did not speak English. Family gathered at bedside, all speaking Spanish. I inquired if there was someone there who would be staying with her, to help with translations and such (this was before we had a Language Line phone). It was a large family, and someone staying was actually kinda expected considering the circumstance.

But no, I had one of the fellas who was bilingual tell me---ready, here it comes--- "If you expect to make it as a nurse, you're going to have to learn Spanish." Deadpan serious. This, in an area where English is VERY CLEARLY the main language, and speaking Spanish would be a bonus, NOT an expectation.

Never mind the fact that the patient who spoke Spanish as her only language was in her early 30's, and had lived here for 15 years.

They can't bother to learn the language, not even so that they aren't helpless in a hospital, but *I'M* supposed to learn a new language to better convenience them??

My response to that guy was something like "Well, I'm going to try to understand what she wants, but if I can't, or she can't understand me, there's not much I can do. She'll have to manage". Suffice it to say, someone DID stay that night.

wooh, BSN, RN · Mar 28, 2012

I have the luxury of reinforcing that here in the ER we are focused on the Big, Bad Things which are an imminent threat to your life/limb. I cover the big concepts that I can review within about 45 seconds, smile/nod/ignore the rest, and have a glass of wine when I get home.

That's practically cheating... :)

mama_d, BSN, RN · Mar 28, 2012

I tell them, with my best Suzy Sunshine smile, "Oh, let me give you a list of reputable, well researched websites to look at. Your mom's doctor will love that you're taking such an active interest in her health and will enjoy the opportunity to discuss this with you."

If I really like the doc, I'll leave the last part out. If it's a d-bag, I do an evil chuckle as soon as I'm alone.

IEDave, ASN, CNA, LVN · Mar 28, 2012

What's worse....looking it up in line or seeing an ad in TV. I've had people who work in my building who have family members there call me and tell me "My mom needs_______. I saw it on television. YOU need to speak to her doctor." my response is always the same. You see ads for beer and Viagra and and and on TV. Does your mom need those, too?

Well, when she was with us still - maybe the beer... :devil:

----- Dave

IEDave, ASN, CNA, LVN · Mar 28, 2012

Oh boy... I used to be an intern for this obgyn and this probably tops my list of "Most Annoying Things that Patients' Families Do."
I once had a woman bring in piles of articles about how "Vitamin D3 was not a necessity of human survival, but in fact was detrimental to our health!" It was written by some hardcore vegan lady, who I highly doubt was any sort of medical professional. I wanted to ask, "Haven't you seen those 'milk builds strong bones' commercials, lady?" But instead I just told her the doctor would be in to answer her questions shortly.
As a CNA I don't encounter graduates of the Wikipedia School of Medicine as frequently but oh man... (it is ALWAYS the women who print out the dictionary-sized stacks of WebMD "research").

Promise, I'll try and keep my eldest niece away from you. She's notorious for tracking down quack ads - and then telling the entire family that "this guy says we're all gonna die..."; um, yeah. My personal fave was when she was completely convinced that microwave ovens were going to kill us all...thankfully, once she got hungry enough (and it took about a year, IIRC) she came to the "dark side" and is back to eating microwaved leftovers with the rest of us.

Still has to get her water from the vending machines outside most supermarkets - then proceeds to put them in plastic bottles that're outgassing solvents into her water...and buys her ice from the supermarket - which gets the water for the ice straight out of the municipal water supply, and is made using unsanitized icemaking equipment...and so it goes.

Sigh.

----- Dave

Bortaz, MSN, RN · Mar 28, 2012

Before my dad passed away in September, I got a call from mom telling me he was in the hospital with chest pains again. Something told me to ask if he'd been taking all his cardiac meds, and mom proceeded to tell me:

"Well, Lisa (granddaughter) told him she had read on the Internet that these meds caused ________, so he got worried and stopped taking them!"

Needless to say, asses were chewed, instructions given to listen to the nurse son and DIL rather than the HS Dropout flunkie, and the doc was called and informed.I could have committed murder.

Dazglue, ADN, BSN, MSN, RN · Mar 28, 2012

I think this thread jinxed (sp?) me. I met the top graduate of WebMD's school of medicine class of February last night. I'm not even going to go into details. It was just that bad. Ugh!