Nurse bashing, public view to a news item

Nurses Activism

Published

Specializes in vascular, med surg, home health , rehab,.

http://news.aol.com/health/article/its-better-to-be-a-bad-patient-actor/199619?icid=100214839x1210944416x1200656558

Read the comments, depressing & at the same time I know where some of them anyway are coming from having had a pts wife advocate for her spouse when my concerns were dismissed by his doc; he would have gone home with a K+2.3, mag of 1.4, cold turkey on high dose solumedrol. I had to ask if he wanted to order anything to correct the lytes, or deal with his DBP of 100-115. Or he wouldn't have.

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Specializes in Rehab, Infection, LTC.

omg, i got halfway thru the comments and couldnt read anymore:(

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Specializes in Trauma ICU, Surgical ICU, Medical ICU.

It's sad that the public isnt more informed. Most of these comments are from people who had ill effects from being at a hospital. Well duh! you are sick!! Things happen and not everyone gets better. A lot of it doesn't have to do with bad nurses or doctors, its just the way the world works. People die, sometimes way too early. Yes, even children will die in a hospital. After reading about the guy who refuses stat labs, well he would surely be upset if he developed serious ill effects from having abnormal labs! This made me SOOO ANGRY!!! And also the woman whos grandmother died of sepsis and called it a MISTAKE on the hospitals part?!?! Yet if she never had the surgery, would she have died anyway? Drs and nurses train hard and devote their lives to helping people and it seems that the public craps on us in return. I guess I should yell at people when I get my fast food if it's not right, and yell at the bank if they make a mistake, and just yell at every other professional, yeah, a great way to get someone to WANT to help you. :banghead:

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

I prefer to avoid the message boards on AOL and Yahoo. These places tend to be, more often than not, cesspools of undereducated people who cannot support their claims.

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I prefer to avoid the message boards on AOL and Yahoo. These places tend to be, more often than not, cesspools of undereducated people who cannot support their claims.

i miss the days when you needed to be at least somewhat intelligent to even know how to get online and navigate your way to a message board.

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Specializes in telemetry, med-surg, home health, psych.

of course I agree that it doesn't hurt to have someone with you in the hospital to keep an eye on things....I have seen many mistakes, we are only human.....I agree, change Docs if you are not happy with yours..sure....but this article is really out of whack !!!!! taking it to the point of ridiculous.....pity......

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I've worked med/surg 2yrs now... And from experience, there are way too many "bad" nurses out there, and everyone on the floor knows who they are, for a pt not to be or have a strong advocate. I think what this guy is doing is a good thing, and his advice overall is good.

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I've worked med/surg 2yrs now... And from experience, there are way too many "bad" nurses out there, and everyone on the floor knows who they are, for a pt not to be or have a strong advocate. I think what this guy is doing is a good thing, and his advice overall is good.

I agree. The fact that hospitals kill 100,000 patients a year in the US as a result of medical errors is more than reason enough for patients to be cautious.

The article isn't advocating yelling at doctors and nurses. What it does promote is a patient being informed and actively involved in decisions about their treatment instead of just blindly accepting anything they are told. IMHO, anytime you can get a patient actively involved in decisions about their health care that's a GOOD thing.

Patients should not be afraid to ask why providers are recommending specific tests or courses of treatment, and providers should be willing to answer them candidly and in detail. If they can't or won't give a meaningful answer, then the patient should dump them and find one that can. If more patients would do this it would help weed out some of the incompetents out there, and that would be a good thing for everyone.

As to the comments to the article, I read through most of them. Some had quite valid points. Others were pure mindless vitriol from someone with an obvious axe to grind - ignore them. As the "G" rated version of the saying goes: Opinions are like noses - everyone has one and they all smell.

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Specializes in Med Surg, Tele, PH, CM.
of course I agree that it doesn't hurt to have someone with you in the hospital to keep an eye on things....I have seen many mistakes, we are only human.....I agree, change Docs if you are not happy with yours..sure....but this article is really out of whack !!!!! taking it to the point of ridiculous.....pity......

This guy sounds like a Michael Moore Wannabe. Never liked him as an actor, either...

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Specializes in Hospital, med-surg, hospice.

I would like to know how nurses were giving him meds that his Doctors told him not to take?? How can you blame the nurses?:twocents:

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Specializes in telemetry, med-surg, home health, psych.
I would like to know how nurses were giving him meds that his Doctors told him not to take?? How can you blame the nurses?:twocents:

I don't believe it....

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I only read today's page of comments.

I did like this part of the article:

"Look, the only way to change things is through the marketplace."

We - the public - do look at doctors as Gods . .. .haven't we as nurses wanted to tell a patient to switch doctors?

There is a huge med error problem in America. Giving this message to the public is a good idea.

I don't like the bashing however.

steph

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