People really do ask you for medical advice! Wow...

Nursing Students General Students

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So, I have been reading a lot of the posts in the Nursing section, and have seen the part about how everyone asks for medical advice once they find out you are a nurse.

Well, I am a first year nursing STUDENT, and I just had my first experience with it...I just had someone ask me about the burning sensation when they pee. At work. With everyone listening.

Uh. Maybe go see your doctor? I am certain asking a novice in the midst of a group of cubicles filled with your co-workers is probably not the ideal way to get advice about your UTI/STD.

:no:

I am currently a LVN student and am a Licensed Phlebotomist. Yes, I do get asked, when in public, first, what do I do, when I say I'm a Licensed Phlebotomist and a LVN student, I get "oh, OK, so I went to my doctor's office today and got labs drawn and almost passed, what does that mean"? in the middle of the produce section at the grocery store!!! I ALWAYS preface, 1, I'm not a doctor, 2, I'm a STUDENT, 3, if it were me, I'd go/call my doctor...what's kind of scary (and funny) is the power of the scrubs!!

Specializes in ICU.

Please be careful about giving medical advice. You might be seen as "practising medicine without a license." Yes, it is OK to tell people they need to see their doctor, or tell them they need to follow their doctor's recommendations, but diagnosing is not within your scope of practise, unless you have a license to do so.

Specializes in Oncology.

I have friends that randomly ask me about their health issues. I tell them what I think it could be, and follow up with the fact that I'm not a doctor and could not say for sure, so I advise them to go in to see an actual doctor. Most of the time it is something minor, such as a sore throat or burning during urination. If I thought it was something serious, I would advise them to go to the ER. Sometimes friends and family will use the nurse they know as a guide for whether or not they need to go get help NOW.

Never had a completely random person ask me anything. I also don't wear scrubs outside of work.

Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..

Most often my advice is: "If you are concerned, go see your doctor. I am not supposed to give medical advice." after a while, people stop asking.

Ya I get that a lot too. Really?? I'm a nursing student barely half way through my PN program. Go ask your doctor! Lol

Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.

Uh. Maybe go see your doctor?

:no:

Eeek its all over this thread! Replace "doctor" with "primary care provider".

Specializes in Corrections, neurology, dialysis.

It's weird how it happens when you're in nursing school, but not so much when you graduate. Maybe it's the "go see your doctor" line that makes it stop. I try my best to not let people know I'm a nurse when I first meet them, otherwise I get stuck listening to them talk about how their health "problems" that aren't really problems but just them obsessing about something minor.

A couple of other things that annoy me is someone telling me that they have a daughter/granddaughter/niece or whatever that's getting ready to go to nursing school and they want me to "talk to her" about it. And say what exactly? The other thing that bugs me is when someone kind of forgets that I"m a nurse and they tell me about a bad experience had and how stupid the nurse was and "I told the nurse off" stories. I try to use them as teaching moments on how to talk to a nurse without being a jerk.

Specializes in Informatics, Orthopaedics.
Eeek its all over this thread! Replace "doctor" with "primary care provider".

Not entirely sure what you meant there, but I am guessing it's a politically-correct thing to say kind of thing.

In the future I will just say "go see the person who will give your dangle a handle"...there everyone wins!

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I am still chuckling about how serious he was about it too. I am guessing he had time to think about how dumb it was since now he is avoiding me like the plague.

Also, keep in mind that this is one of the same people who gave me the male-nurse stereotypical BS when I first started school 2 years ago. Ah, I just love people, they make me smile.

Not entirely sure what you meant there, but I am guessing it's a politically-correct thing to say kind of thing.

In the future I will just say "go see the person who will give your dangle a handle"...there everyone wins!

Actually, it's just a common courtesy to your own profession to say "primary care provider", considering that person may be a doctor, physicians assistant or nurse practitioner. NPs and PAs tend to be overlooked and undervalued for their work.

Specializes in Informatics, Orthopaedics.
Actually, it's just a common courtesy to your own profession to say "primary care provider", considering that person may be a doctor, physicians assistant or nurse practitioner. NPs and PAs tend to be overlooked and undervalued for their work.

Oh wow that did not occur to me. Point taken thanks I will remember that.

Specializes in Neonatal Nurse Practitioner.

Just happened and I thought about this thread.

I work at a gas station and I see a few regulars who are extremely interested in the cashiers lives. (I don't tell them everything, and sometimes it's not even true. But I do usually tell them what I'm studying in school.)

The conversation with one of these people went like this:

Regular guy: So you're studying to be a RN, I've got this thing that's got to be cut off my back. It's a big bump.

Me: *blink*

He didn't even ask me for advice. He just wanted me to know. Ugh.

Specializes in Informatics, Orthopaedics.

Regular guy: So you're studying to be a RN, I've got this thing that's got to be cut off my back. It's a big bump.

Me: *blink*

I am laughing so hard I have people poking their head over the cubicle...just the mental image of you standing there blinking like uhhhhhhh.........priceless.

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