I curse the Internet!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Allow me to vent!

It seems ever since the Internet was easy access for all, Everyone is know it all about everything! What's the point of having a license when some secret internet somebody can diagnose and cure everything?

I belong to several message boards and another publishing medium. I see this all the time. It drives me insaine. Not to knock people who just have highschool diplomas, but they graduate highschool, read some crap on the internet and then think they know more then you do. I mean, they REALLY think they know more.

I guess I'm just aggrivated right now because I have this sort of "cyber-stalker" that is following me around trying to debate every comment I make on my writing medium.

I tend to have this attitude that we don't know what other people want. Especially when it comes to childbirth and raising children.

These are just such hot botton issues because there are some people who think their way is the only way and everyone else is wrong.

So curse the internet! In the cyber world, my license is moot because there is so much access to all this information that everyone is a doctor, qualified to hand out cures for diseases.. and have the ability to tell people that they should refuse such and such treatment because they know more then "reality" doctors/nurses/professionals do.

Anyone else notice this?

I curse the internet because of the amount of time I spend here. It's such a facinating medium!

LOL, I think that's my problem, too! :)

I wish I had a buck for every person who was a self-taught expert on medicine through internet use. I recently had a person admitted to my unit who pulled out printed pages from WebMD describing her condition and what the treatment should be, could we please get this to her doctor, and you nurses, you should read this so you'll know "how to treat me"...... Gosh, thanks. We couldn't have done it without that.... :rolleyes:

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Specializes in acute medical.

The internet is useful though for getting the latest treatment, presuming you use accredited journals and databases etc. I found some information for a medical condition I have. The doctor didn't believe me but sent me on to a specialist. I showed him the information from journal articles, he went and consulted with a specialist from a different field, and now he has changed his practice. But I didn't question his treatment, I just asked what did he think of this information, so I think that is why he was more amenable

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:rotfl:

LOL, I think that's my problem, too! :)

I wish I had a buck for every person who was a self-taught expert on medicine through internet use. I recently had a person admitted to my unit who pulled out printed pages from WebMD describing her condition and what the treatment should be, could we please get this to her doctor, and you nurses, you should read this so you'll know "how to treat me"...... Gosh, thanks. We couldn't have done it without that.... :rolleyes:

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

That is totally hilarious!

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Maybe they slept at a Holiday Inn Express last night. ;)

I love it! I sometimes call them "Cliff Clavens" (the character from Cheers) - who seemed to know everything.

I don't mind patients educating themselves on their conditions & etc. However, at the same time, these are examples where a little bit of information is hazardous. I love it when some try to tell me how to do my job - yet they can't even pronounce the words correctly. - Let alone tell me how to do a procedure (without looking at a book or printed off piece of paper)...

I come from an ER background and what I really can't stand are the ones (family and friends included) who are placed on one medication, they take it, then look up the side effects of it. Then, all of a sudden - they are having ALL or MOST of the listed side effects. They are seen again (in the ER of course) for the same problem - placed on a different medication - they take it, look up the side effects - and well - you see the pattern here... :(

grrrr......

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:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

That is totally hilarious!

:)

Just another "boring" day in med-surg !

I also had a neighbor call me up to ask about something she feared she might have contracted (yep, I'm the Neighborhood Nurse) and when I gave her the info I had, she told me about everything she had read online. I repeated what I knew of the disorder, and that she should probably go to her physician to have it looked at, and again she told me about what she'd read on the internet. Okay, okay, you win: the internet really IS the best place to diagnose your ailments! :D

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I love it! I sometimes call them "Cliff Clavens" (the character from Cheers) - who seemed to know everything.

I don't mind patients educating themselves on their conditions & etc. However, at the same time, these are examples where a little bit of information is hazardous. I love it when some try to tell me how to do my job - yet they can't even pronounce the words correctly. - Let alone tell me how to do a procedure (without looking at a book or printed off piece of paper)...

I come from an ER background and what I really can't stand are the ones (family and friends included) who are placed on one medication, they take it, then look up the side effects of it. Then, all of a sudden - they are having ALL or MOST of the listed side effects. They are seen again (in the ER of course) for the same problem - placed on a different medication - they take it, look up the side effects - and well - you see the pattern here... :(

grrrr......

I think we know some of the same patients, LOL! Sometimes have to gently remind them that EVERYONE has SOME of those purported side effects from time to time; it does NOT mean that you must switch to a different med. Heck, if I looked up a pile of symptoms I'm currently experiencing (without being actually sick, just daily life) I bet I could ask for about a dozen prescriptions! :D

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Glad I'm not alone!

I've been having a real bad run-in with a midwife-in-training and a different doula-wanna-be-hasn't-started-class-yet......

Everything I type gets taken out of context.. They get very defensive.

Just yesterday, I was replying to an article I read about someones birth experience.. She said she feels sad everytime a woman brags about how much they look forward to their epidural or how much they love it.. All I said was is that for some women, it's their birthplan to remain painfree.. some people want no pain meds and others don't want pain meds and then get them... It's nothing worth beating yourself up over after the fact (from this woman who self-loathed for months after the birth of my son because I didn't have things get done the way I had hoped)

I was trying to show compassion and make her feel better, it gets turned around on me.

I'm not a doctor, I don't attempt to play that I am one.. I don't agree with some studies that I've come across, but that doesn't give me the knowledge of dismissing it as bullcaca just because... Grrr

I would like to give these two a little salute for not being patient advocates. It is the patient's birth NOT the nurse's, doctor's, CNM's husband', etc. If she chooses an intervention that is medically acceptable, she has that right. They need to get with about the whole idea of pain being subjective for the patient. BTW, I did have three children w/o an epidural because that was my preference.

My personal favorurite is when they see someone else's child who was born at X gestation and is "okay" because they are "so uncomfortable" and can't stand being pregnant anymore.

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Specializes in Lie detection.

what i really can't stand are the ones (family and friends included) who are placed on one medication, they take it, then look up the side effects of it. then, all of a sudden - they are having all or most of the listed side effects. they are seen again (in the er of course) for the same problem - placed on a different medication - they take it, look up the side effects - and well - you see the pattern here... :(

grrrr......

arrgghh. my sister ! :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

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[color=#483d8b]no matter how many times i tell her that no one can possibly have all the side effects and how they must publish all effects people are having during clinical studies, etc. oh she gets that and she is intelligent but a bit melodramatic!

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

You need to check out today's Dilbert cartoon (2-18-07)...

The company has decided that the new health insurance coverage is "Google"... and it goes on from there. Hilarious.

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Just last week I was doing some patient teaching for a gentleman scheduled for hernia surgery. He said (and I quote) "I know how this stuff works, I watch Gray's Anatomy and House on TV." :rolleyes:

I went on with my teaching as planned. :D

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I agree. I belong to a few message boards and people always post questions and they say Like "To all the nurses on the board, help!" There are only a few, maybe 3 on one board and 2 on another. Now since i am a new nurse, I rarely answer posts, unless I am 100% positive that I know the answer and the other reason is because you see so many people responding "I googled it and...." or " this website is great for..." Sometimes I see stuff being said that just irks me! But I don't say anything. One time I actually posted a poll "just out of curiosity how many nurses do we have on the board?" Only 1 responded that she was. The others were OT, or PT and one said she teaches nurses but isn't a nurse. I think one mom responded to give yogurt to someones child who had been vomiting all day "give her yogurt, it will calm her stomach" Ok but when my kids are vomiting, I keep them npo and if they complain of being thirsty I start with ice chips then water, then jello and stuff.

Oh well......guess I curse the internet too!

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a small part of the problem with these message boards and non-professionals is that they don't have the background education (do they?) and they are not accountable nor responsible for what they advise (are they?)

I also have encountered message boards on the internet where people are recommending various medications (without knowing anything much about the recipients' health history or other medications) - and this, of course, is part of what health care professionals are taught to be knowledgeable about.

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