I'm not a nurse YET. But while in the military I recieved more medical training (ALS) than the normal troop and through out my life I have tried to stay up to date and educated in the field of medicine.
I am no where near as educated as a CNA or a nurse but I know enough to be dangerous. hehe.
My question is this. What do you feel about a pt who knows what is wrong with him or her.
As an example and this may be TMI but it is relevant.
I have an enlarged testicle. No pain. I researched all possible causes and conditions. I came to the conclusion on my own that it was a Hydrocele. But I am not a doctor. So I did the smart thing which I always do and went to see my MD. As the nurse was doing my assement I told her of my findings and what I thought it might be. After all the tests I am back in the exam room and see my MD getting out a book and looking up my symptoms so he can make a diagnosis. After reading he come in the room and tells me I am correct. I have a cool doc. He then asks me the treatment. Which I tell him and I am correct. How cool is that. As an aside here I need surgery to fix it.
Does it irritate you or is it helpful if the patient has an good idea as to what is wrong with them?
LOL. I did (and do) that. I am in remission from cervical CA. My onc has learned to listen when I tell him something.
I was getting outpt chemo through an inplanted port. I told him that I thought there was something wrong with my port. Because I insisted, he ordered an imaging scan - yep! There was a fibrin sheath nearly occluding it. I has to have a slow rTPA infusion in the hosp RR.
A few weeks later, I went in for my chemo and asked to see him. Told him I had a DVT in my left arm. It was slightly purple. Went for ultrasound - had a massive DVT that ran from midclavicular left subclavian distally and upward into the jugular and downward into the axillary veins. Major to do over that. Admitted for heparin - developed HIT syndrome. Had to switch to lipiruden. Had to remove port. Hosp stay of 3.5 weeks
So then, a week after I went home from that hosp stay, I went to his office with terrible head pain. The onc thought it was a migraine. I'd had one a few weeks before in the hosp and was under a lot of stress - so he was really sure that's all it was. I told him it was a head bleed. He wouldn't believe me but admitted me to hosp for pain control of migraine - and, by the way, do a CT. Yep, I was right again. Had 3 subdural bleeds.
Now, he really listens when I say something is wrong.
I am a new nurse, and have been working for about 2 1/2 months on a telly unit.
In my limited experience, I have had patients who were very involved in their care, know whats going on with themselves, and are often right on target as to how to treat their problem. They have MDs who take the time to educate them and give them the correct information. They are great to work with, and often can teach me things I did not know.
On the other hand are those patients who think they are medical experts because they watch the medical reality shows and "have a sister who has a boyfriend who has a friend that is a nurse, LPN, CNA, etc." These people drive me nuts, because they refuse to listen, think they know more than you do, and are most often so wrong that they make total idiots out of themselves. Teaching them is next to impossible, because they think their sisters boyfriends friend is the expert rather than the MD's and staff who are working with them. They also get lots of the info from TV or an off the wall site on the WWW.
I enjoy working with the pts who are well informed and involved, but it is very frustrating to work with the other kind.
So my point to all this is it really depends on what type of patient you are.
It is sometimes easier to have a patient that is educated about what is going on. But on the flip side of the coin, it is hard to educate someone who thinks they know everything that is going on et know what should be done because the problem is......a lot of times they only know what they have heard, not what is right.
LOL. I did (and do) that. I am in remission from cervical CA. My onc has learned to listen when I tell him something.
I was getting outpt chemo through an inplanted port. I told him that I thought there was something wrong with my port. Because I insisted, he ordered an imaging scan - yep! There was a fibrin sheath nearly occluding it. I has to have a slow rTPA infusion in the hosp RR.
A few weeks later, I went in for my chemo and asked to see him. Told him I had a DVT in my left arm. It was slightly purple. Went for ultrasound - had a massive DVT that ran from midclavicular left subclavian distally and upward into the jugular and downward into the axillary veins. Major to do over that. Admitted for heparin - developed HIT syndrome. Had to switch to lipiruden. Had to remove port. Hosp stay of 3.5 weeks
So then, a week after I went home from that hosp stay, I went to his office with terrible head pain. The onc thought it was a migraine. I'd had one a few weeks before in the hosp and was under a lot of stress - so he was really sure that's all it was. I told him it was a head bleed. He wouldn't believe me but admitted me to hosp for pain control of migraine - and, by the way, do a CT. Yep, I was right again. Had 3 subdural bleeds.
Now, he really listens when I say something is wrong.
Oh My God!! UNBELIEVABLE!!! You are incredible. How many life threatening complications can one human being tolerate?? It sounds as if you are in good spirits as well. OK you are now officially my hero!! I am soooo sorry you have had to go through all of this. You are truly an inspiration. I think I would have had to check myself in to the psych unit somewhere. How are you doing now??? Bless you for your courage and fortitude.
My health care providers did not want to give me more than 3 cortisone injections per season for my pollen allergies. This did not provide sufficient relief. I was the one to ask for a nasal cortisone prescription, after reading about it in Dr. Gott's column.
I heard about Nasalcrom from Paul Harvey, and about Claritin from various news sources. Prior to that, I started 2 different desensitization programs (doctor moved out of town the first time, I moved out of town the second time). Desensitization treatments provided no apparent benefit. I have since read that they do not work well for those of us who show an immediate allergic reaction even to pollen that we have not previously been exposed to.
When I was scheduled for a colonoscopy, I decided to read the internet in order to find out what I was getting myself into (neither informed consent information nor a description of the procedure had been provided to me). After repeatedly reading that I would not be able to drive myself home, I called the doctor's office to double check (no one had told me that, either).
It would appear that being an informed patient is entirely up to me.
Knowledge of our bodies is very important, and as healthcare professionals, that can also get us into trouble!
I have trigeminal neuralgia, and several months ago when I started having pain in the right side of my face, I attributed it to a flare up of my TN. I went to an immediate care center for treatment, told them of my TN, and they just went ahead and treated me for the TN flare.
About 2 days later when I realized the symptoms didn't match up (although it was the typical one-sided facial pain- it didn't have the ice pick int he ear I was used to), I went to a local ER and told them I thought it was the TN, but with atypical symptoms. The ER doc luckily knew his stuff, and based on clinical exam and blood cultures realized I had cellulitis.
Lucky for me, I didn't push the TN "diagnosis" on him, too, or else I could have had a lengthy hospital stay and god knows what else!
So, yes. I think education about our bodies and disease processes is important. But it still doesn't mean we're able to pinpoint what's going on at any given time, all the time.
:)
Good luck, and you sound like you have a head that's screwed on straight!
One trip to the doc, I was coughing, upper respiratory crap and all of the joy that goes with it... he had a PA student rotating clinical with him that day. PA student comes in and very snottily asks me what's wrong. I said I thought I had bronchitis. Immediately, I got more attitude and the what makes you think you have bronchitis? crap... I explained very patiently that I get it every January, and when the cough doesn't go away, it's a pretty good indication. In comes my doc, and he says hello, we go through the usual pleasantries and the "How about them Yankees" preliminaries. He asks what brought me in, and before I can answer, student butts in with "She says she has bronchitis". I just sat there and rolled my eyes. Doc does the usual tests and says "Kylee, you've got bronchitis". No kidding..... DUH... He didn't take me at my word, and he did the tests, but the PA student didn't have to be so snotty about it...
What I find kind of cool about my last encounter with my MD when I presented with my hydrocele is that I knew more about my condition than he did. But then again a hydrocele only effects about 1% of the adult male population. (per http://www.emedicine.com/emerg/topic256.htm) But based on that I am probably safe in saying this is a first for him.
I do stay on top of my body and it's condition. I only have one so I have to take care of it. Now if I could quit smoking. (working on it)
By being educated about my body I am able to deal with most things on my own and not have to use the healthcare system for minor things. Don't take me wrong here I do see my MD when his services are needed. But when I do go to my MD I like to have some idea as to what I have and what the treatment may be. I have found for me it makes things much easier on all concerned and help to stream line my healthcare. A few times I have had to see an MD that does not know me I get the doe in the headlights look when I know what they are talking about and make that known. I have always found learning anything medical comes easy to me. I am hoping that this will be an advantage for me once I start CNA school this winter (crosses fingers).
It can be intimidating for some health care professionals to have a well informed patient. I suspect that the younger more recently schooled docs probably are more used to it as the net has been around for their entire careers. My doctor has always been great- he listens to me and seems to respect my opinion about treatment options( do i want to increase my meds? do i want this test? How about trying this med?) I suspect that is because he knows i am a nurse.
Well done on diagnosing yourself. Sometimes that is even harder to do since you have all this extra information and are - shall we say- a little close to the subject matter:-) Hope all goes well with your surgery. You being well educated will help you I believe.
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EmmaG, RN
2,999 Posts