I met a doc the other day who was talking to me about his clinic practice, and he mentioned that when his rheumatoid arthritis patients were in the hospital, a lot of them commented on the lack of knowledge of med surg nurses. For example, he said, one patient told him about a nurse who did not know that when a patient is on Plaquenil they should have an eye exam every 6 months. He also said some nurses confessed to not knowing that Plaquenil was used for rheumatoid arthritis.
While I agreed that prior to administering medication a nurse should look up any unfamiliar drugs, the part about the outpatient eye exam schedule seemed rather nit-picky of the patients.
The doc was a nice guy but was genuinely curious about the state of nurses knowledge on med surg. I explained to him that I could not even remember the last time that I administered Plaquenil, and that you could not expect the minute details of uncommonly given drugs to be remembered on a med surg floor where you have practically every diagnosis/medication on your floor. (What med surg nurse has the time to ask the Plaquenil patient if they've had their 6 month eye exam anyway?)
The doc said that a number of patients had expressed concern and disappointment. Understandably the public does not know the sheer depth of knowledge a med surg nurse must possess in order to get through the day. So at first I was thinking this patient's concern was just an isolated incident (as I've mostly heard the opposite thought) but now, since it bothered the doc that much to ask, I am wondering if this is a more prevalent untold thought by our patients? Thoughts?