occupational health argument

DeeaCatalina · Mar 6, 2015

"Is your mother still alive?" - best answer I could think of: "Why wouldn`t she be?"

DeeaCatalina · Mar 6, 2015

I'm not "assuming", as I referred you to earlier, I'm repeating the World Health Organization's well researched data on the prevalence of the BCG vaccine in Eastern European countries. Thanks for the helpful/condescending advice though.
I think you've got that backwards. Asking "how is your relationship with your mother" is what assumes your mother is still alive, asking if your mother is still alive doesn't assume that she isn't, it's how you would assess whether or not she is in order to avoid making assumptions about whether or not she is alive, such as by asking "how is your relationship with your mother"?

If the patient tells you they have not had that vaccine, and is not cognitively impaired, alert and oriented X 3, you go by what they tell you. You do not negate the health history the patient tells you. Doing so, is exactly what the opposite of providing compassionate care is.

No, you got that backwards. Asking a 20 year old if her mother is still alive leads her to thinking "Why wouldn`t she be alive? She is only 50 years old, for God`s sake!"

dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN · Mar 6, 2015

You are missing the point of the question. Alive or deceased and cause of death of immediate family is part of your medical history. Your relationship with your mother is something a therapist wants to know.

My mom died when I was 26, btw.

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Mar 6, 2015

"Is your mother still alive?" - best answer I could think of: "Why wouldn`t she be?"

The fact that a patient is in their early 20s doesn't guarantee in any way that their parents are living. My mother's mother died when my mother was 28 d/t a sudden CVA...at least she had died fast and without suffering.

Death tends to ignore the person's age. Otherwise we wouldn't have neonates dying.

That question was actually rather appropriate to ask, especially if the nurse asking it was getting a history. The ages of when people in the family have died can shed some light into the health history of the family.

vanilla bean · Mar 6, 2015

MunoRN,
Lets respectfully agree to disagree. Please do not further reply to my topic, I only wrote here to vent and look for support, if you cannot offer this, ignore it.

I think the problem here lies in your choice of words in the beginning of your thread, "I am looking for your input in this issue." In future, if what you really mean is something along the lines of, "I am looking for strangers on a public forum to validate my feelings and echo my outrage," you may want to be more explicit about your expectations.

While I'm at it, I'll weigh in on the issue at hand. It appears, through your retelling of the events, that you may have over-reacted to the situation with the occupational health nurse. Additionally, no discrimination took place based on the events as you've retold them.

dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN · Mar 6, 2015

If the patient tells you they have not had that vaccine, and is not cognitively impaired, alert and oriented X 3, you go by what they tell you. You do not negate the health history the patient tells you. Doing so, is exactly what the opposite of providing compassionate care is.
No, you got that backwards. Asking a 20 year old if her mother is still alive leads her to thinking "Why wouldn`t she be alive? She is only 50 years old, for God`s sake!"

No, this is wrong. A and o x3 patients are perfectly capable of being mistaken or outright lying about their medical history. I had such a person the other day tell me his only cardiac history was hypertension. I had his medical records -- he had a MI, CABG, and was currently in CHF. But he wanted his knee replaced without having to see his Cardiologist first.

DeeaCatalina · Mar 6, 2015

Meriwhen,

The nurse asked if my mother was alive to further ask me if she would be able to provide information on the BCG vaccination. In my opinion, a simple question like "Can you ask your mother about it? would have been fine, the extra question just annoyed me.

mariebailey, MSN, RN · Mar 6, 2015

Hello fellow nurses,
What I wanted to ask you, is it legal what the occupational health nurse did? I believe she falsified my medical records. I have been sent to get a blood test for TB which came negative, and she told me the positive TB skin test is because of my BCG vaccination, which by the way, never happened!! I have never had the BCG and I do get a skin irritation from the preservatives, but that is not a positive TB. I now have false data on my medical records, and my managers think I have an anger issue because I protested against it What should I do??
Sorry for the long post !

I don't know how you could have escaped a BCG vaccination if you were born and raised in Eastern Europe. She took the appropriate step of IGRA (TSpot or Quantiferon) to ensure that an BCG did not interfere with a PPD though. I'm posting a link to a website that tells you when & how often various countries vaccinate with BCG. I pulled up Romania, Latvia, Estonia, & Bulgaria, which all vaccinate with BCG. What she did protected you from unnecessary x-rays & potentially 9 months of treatment. The BCG World Atlas: A Database of Global BCG Vaccination Policies and Practices

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Mar 6, 2015

Meriwhen,
The nurse asked if my mother was alive to further ask me if she would be able to provide information on the BCG vaccination. In my opinion, a simple question like "Can you ask your mother about it? would have been fine, the extra question just annoyed me.

The fact that a question annoys a patient doesn't mean the question is neither appropriate or therapeutic. You're going to see that for yourself once you start working as a nurse: you are going to encounter patients who will overreact to or get offended by even the most benign questions.

DeeaCatalina · Mar 6, 2015

Guys, nobody is trying to validate any feelings. I have the LORD for that, he is faithful and forever loving! I do not go longing for people`s acceptance, I already have my acceptance from the one who shed his blood for me! He is the way to true joy and happiness.

On top of this, I was curious if I can encounter some maybe Christian nurses here, that love the Lord and want to share his love to others through this thread. Clearly, no born-again Christians around here...:) That`s ok!

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Mar 6, 2015

No, this is wrong. A and o x3 patients are perfectly capable of being mistaken or outright lying about their medical history. I had such a person the other day tell me his only cardiac history was hypertension. I had his medical records -- he had a MI, CABG, and was currently in CHF. But he wanted his knee replaced without having to see his Cardiologist first.

I love the patients that swear on the Bible that they haven't used any drugs. Then I present them with the positive UDS, and they get all sheepish with the "yeah, I might have tried it once last night..."

OP: even if the patient is AOx3, a prudent nurse can't take that patient's word as irrefutable law and not question any further. The patient may be lying, mixing up or omitting vital information...sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally.

DeeaCatalina · Mar 6, 2015

mariebailey,

European countries are not strict on vaccinations like you guys are here. If parents want to vaccinate their child, then they take them, if not they don``t, and often times they forget to keep appointments. Eastern European countries, especially, are not keen on preventive medicine. They go to the doctor when something hurts. Hope this helps, you have to understand the culture also, it plays a major factor into their health. You can have statistics about other countries laws, but you cannot know how people live their life there unless you go experience it for yourself. I appreciate you guys doing research about these things, however I cannot say I am proud about "our" - developing countries- lack of understanding the importance of preventive medicine. Unfortunately, these countries have a long way to go to reach the Western health literacy level.