Patients on Vacation????(long)

Specialties Emergency

Published

I live and work in the Last Frontier(Alaska). I love it!!!!...BUT...The people that come up on vacation drive me nutz....They forget their meds, past medical hx, why they take what medication, ect, ect. Then they get angry with us because we cannot "access that information on the computer" even though they are from....whatever state they are from. Why do these usually intelligent individuals leave their brains at home?ummm...think Carry a list of meds, past hx,ect. with you when you travel, it makes perfect sense...At least to me...Not all the travelers are like that...But a surprising number "forget".:trout: We get a LOT of tourist in for simple things like fish hook removal :nono:(wear safety glasses and a hat) but we frequently get MIs and CVAs along with MVCs du jour. WE NEED TO KNOW YOUR MEDS AND HX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am not psycic(psyco maybe) and do not know you...

Just out of curiosity....Is Alaska the only place this happens?

Specializes in ED, trauma, flight.

Ugghh! The penalty box of triage is bad enough; when this happens it's a game misconduct! No, it's not just tourists, vacation is just the excuse for not having the info. I have tried to make use of this teachable moment and tell my patients the importance of carrying a med and history list. We started giving out the preprinted cards. If time allows, I fill them out so to make it a little easier and it strokes the patient a little bit, which makes them happy.

I agree that it is a public health issue. It would make a great project in Community Health nursing. Not just passing out cards, but maybe a PSA during the local news or something. It would be cool if someone went out the the senior centers and handed out and filled out cards during a BP screening or something. (I know, it's not all seniors, but a lot are and it would hit a lot of people in one shot!)

BTW, is anybody's ED involved in community service? I've tried, but no one seems interested here!

Specializes in Med/Surg/Oncology/CCU/ER.
I live and work in the Last Frontier(Alaska). I love it!!!!...BUT...The people that come up on vacation drive me nutz....They forget their meds, past medical hx, why they take what medication, ect, ect. Then they get angry with us because we cannot "access that information on the computer"..........

Just out of curiosity....Is Alaska the only place this happens?

It happens everywhere, and not just from people on vacation. It cracks me up how incredibly unresponsible people with multiple health conditions have no idea why they take what they take and get angry with us because we don't know what the little yellow pill is for. Even if the pt. is in our system and we have a previous med list, if we discuss the list with them they don't know if there are any changes. We confirm the list, only to later find out from a PCP that they stopped taking Lasix 6 months ago!

I also love the question/answer...why are you taking this...b/c my PCP told me too? :angryfireShow some initiative please!!:angryfire

Specializes in ER.

I think it's reasonable to expect people to know what meds they take daily, allergies, and why they are taking each pill. I don't need an h&p, just tell me your problem areas.

My pet peeve is people who come in and say,

"well Dr xyz takes care of all that for me."

- he's not here right now, can you remember any of your pills?

"well can you call him?"

-the office is closed, it's the weekend, he's at home

"he knows me, he won't mind if you call."

Specializes in Emergency.

I agree there needs to be more public teaching/education with patients. Especially on the proper use of the ER. It really annoys me when people are there and they're complaining about how much longer, can you get me this and that and standing in their doorway when you know they could've seen their pcp or even used one the urgent care centers. They take me away from the true emergencies. It drives me crazy. I've tried to educate pts but all I get is resistance and usually a complaint that I wasn't Nancy Nice Nurse let's bend over backwards and make your stay @ our hotel much more pleasent.

I also agree it just doesn't happen on vacs. My favorite is "I gave the information to the ambulance people" Please Please bring all bottles with you, if grandma is breathing it takes only an extra minute to grab a grocery bag and dumped them all in there.

We're in the process of working on a 8x10 card right now brightly colored to post to the refrig. that ambulance crews will know what is with all the important info. i.e. meds, hx, allergies, etc. But it's up to the pt and their family to keep it utd.

Thanks for letting me vent. It just becomes frustrating day after day

Specializes in ED, ICU, PSYCH, PP, CEN.

I feel your pain EMSBOSS, you must have had a hard day at work today. Most of our ER patients don't know anything about themselves either. And they aren't on vacation.

Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.

I am always amused at Dialysis pts who travel around the country and just pop into an ER to arrange dialysis at their convenience of course and the poor dialysis nurse comes in at 0200 hrs.

or

She is 96 yrs old and we brought her down for a vacation, can you admit her and check her over for us.

Specializes in ICU/CCU/CVICU/ED/HS.
I think it's reasonable to expect people to know what meds they take daily, allergies, and why they are taking each pill. I don't need an h&p, just tell me your problem areas.

My pet peeve is people who come in and say,

"well Dr xyz takes care of all that for me."

- he's not here right now, can you remember any of your pills?

"well can you call him?"

-the office is closed, it's the weekend, he's at home

"he knows me, he won't mind if you call."

Canoe...I agree that it reasonable for people to know their meds...I ALSO agree people take much offense "Why should I learn this stuff??? Why isn't it in your computer???:trout:

And the call the Doc thing???? Yeah...Right....:idea:

Specializes in ER, ER, ER.

Happens here in little bitty Door County Wisconsin too. God help me, the next person who comes in saying the whole "I take a pink pill, a white pill"....etc thing....do you think making them write "I will learn the NAMES of my pills and keep a list of my medical history" 1000 times might make a difference??? :angryfire

It always kills me that people seem to think that everything that has ever happened to them in any PCP office or hospital is just there in the computer somewhere, and the nurse can just "pull it up".

Sheesh. My brother spent 2 months arranging out-of-town dialysis for a trip, I couldn't imagine having the gall to show up at an ED, with no warning, wanting to dialyze. It's not like you didn't know you were gonna be away from home.....

I had to smack my DH recently. He called the pharmacy for refills of "whatever it is my son had filled last month" He needed his ADHD meds, but last month he also had an antibiotic and the pharm tech was no doubt banging her head against the phone.

same thing happens here in georgia and we do not have tourists in the area that i live. it's maddening!!! the thing that just drives me nuts is that they think "that computer over there has my information" and get upset when we tell them it does not. the medical record ,even if we get it from med rec, is often incomplete because everytime they come in they never have the info.

even more maddening is when patients tell you "better not give me anything that i am allergic to", how are we supposed to know that when they don't even know that??

sometimes i think that it is society in general, no one is responsible for anything anymore, including their own healthcare.

Specializes in CCRN, CNRN, Flight Nurse.

as a matter of course, my dh and i carry a piece of paper in our wallets listing next of kin, contact numbers (including contact numbers of someone outside the family), pmhx, allergies, meds with sig. also includes distinguishing features and needs (such as glasses/contacts and hearing aids).

as my children get older, they also carry something similar in their wallets.

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