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

[tenjuna]

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.

[NICUmiiki, DNP, NP]

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.

Since he wasn't asking for any advice, all I could think was 'Good luck with that..' but I didnt want to come off rude. Lol IDK

[Stephalump]

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.

Hahahaaaa! Wow. I guess that was uh...nice of him to share with you!

[bear14]

I used to do social services and I would get a lot of people asking my psychiatric advice. I only have a bachelors I am not licensed nor have I attended medical school.

[zombie]

People always ask for advice, but rarely do they follow it; and most of the time they know the answer to their own question.

Stop smoking, exercise, lose weight, and stop smoking crack. Stuff like this is common sense and I don't even have to be a nurse to tell you this. But, your going to do what you want to do and want a script that makes you feel better.

[nekozuki, LPN]

Lol, yep, I get that too. People read webMD and then come ask weird questions. But more annoying than that is when you can tell someone is totally lying about a medical issue, especially when it's a co-worker at your restaurant job and you just have to bite your tongue. "My white blood count is zero, my doctor sent me home with antibiotics but they make me tired, so I can work tonight, I just can't close." ......I...I don't even...

[tenjuna, MSN]

Lol, yep, I get that too. People read webMD and then come ask weird questions. But more annoying than that is when you can tell someone is totally lying about a medical issue, especially when it's a co-worker at your restaurant job and you just have to bite your tongue. "My white blood count is zero, my doctor sent me home with antibiotics but they make me tired, so I can work tonight, I just can't close." ......I...I don't even...

Hah...as much as I love helping people, I am starting to wonder how nurses can do their jobs while having a permanent bruise on their forehead from:

[Natkat, BSN, MSN, RN]

I get throught by not having any expectations. Actually I've become more patient with people over time than I was when I first started nursing. I don't "love" helping people. There is a certain warm fuzzy glow that comes with knowing you have helped someone. But for me I'm here to do a job, do it well, do a little teaching and hope that it takes, collect a paycheck that makes it all worth my time and effort, and have the satisfaction of having a job that is science based and fascinating.

[tenjuna, MSN]

Ok maybe "love helping people" is cliche...I could replace that with "I am very good at helping people".

[dhoff]

I laughed when I saw this post cuz it happens to me alllll the time! The other day at work my manager asked what this bump on his knee was and even made me feel it. I didn't know what to say. People think I know everything there is to about the human body and I haven't even started clinicals.

[christina731]

I used to do medical records/billing at an urgent care facility and I had friends & family call me during emergency situations because I "knew about that stuff." Just because I wore scrubs does not mean that I was a medical professional! I did know a ton of information about reimbursements from insurances, but that will not help you when your loved one is having chest pain!

I now work as a pharmacy technician (still not technically a medical professional) a major retail store and there was a customer that fell in the store and ended up with a head injury. He was unresponsive and bleeding on the sales floor and the genius cashier decided that it would be a good idea to walk all the way over to the pharmacy (at the other end of the building) to ask ME for help while the poor man was bleeding all over the floor. I said to the cashier "uhhh call 911, do you need help with THAT?"

Now I'm sure that once I start nursing school I will become a "doctor" according to those around me.

[rubato, ASN, RN]

People always ask for advice, but rarely do they follow it; and most of the time they know the answer to their own question.

Stop smoking, exercise, lose weight, and stop smoking crack. Stuff like this is common sense and I don't even have to be a nurse to tell you this. But, your going to do what you want to do and want a script that makes you feel better.

This one drives me crazy. I used to be a personal trainer. I would always get people coming up to me asking for advice once they found out my profession. "Don't eat so much, and work out more." Pretty simple advice to start with. But, no one is willing to do it. :)

[badwolf]

Has anyone else gotten "when you're a nurse I will be calling you in the middle of the night when my kid's sick"

Hahaha, so funny. But seriously, don't call me.