Over-prescribing antibiotics at its best! (i can't believe this happened)

[HappyNurse2005, RN]

Ya know, some people want antibiotics for every little thing. Then the public hears about antibiotic resistance. There was a poster up in my ped's office that said "antibiotics DO NOT help the cold or flu". so on and so on.

So.....here's the story that kinda surprised me.

My best friend is in nursing school. She's a mouth breather by nature. Has been for the years i've known her. So she constantly breathes loudly because of this. As she says, you could hear her breathe across the room.

She was observing in the OR today. After the surgery was done, the surgeon left the room, came back in, and said to her"you sound congested-here's a prescription". He wrote her a RX for a Z pack(then had to ask her what her name was to put it on the RX).

Prescribing antibiotics just by listening to someone breathe and talk (through a surgical mask no less)-no health history questions, no "have you had a cold/sinus infection", no ?'s about are you already ON meds, what areyou allergic to, NOTHING. just "here's a prescrition!"

Crazy.

(she's not going to take it. She's not sick)

[Multicollinearity, BSN, RN]

Oh how befuddling. I have to admit, while the prescription was unsolicited and inappropriate, part of me thinks "how sweet of the surgeon to notice and be concerned." (If the tone of the surgeon was respectful while giving the inappropriate Rx LOL)

Why is her breathing so loud though? Mouth breathing shouldn't be that loud. I wonder if the surgeon didn't know how to tell her she was distracting, and this was his way? (Wild speculation, we'll never know)

[Beary-nice]

ya know, some people want antibiotics for every little thing. then the public hears about antibiotic resistance. there was a poster up in my ped's office that said "antibiotics do not help the cold or flu". so on and so on.

so.....here's the story that kinda surprised me.

my best friend is in nursing school. she's a mouth breather by nature. has been for the years i've known her. so she constantly breathes loudly because of this. as she says, you could hear her breathe across the room.

she was observing in the or today. after the surgery was done, the surgeon left the room, came back in, and said to her"you sound congested-here's a prescription". he wrote her a rx for a z pack(then had to ask her what her name was to put it on the rx).

prescribing antibiotics just by listening to someone breathe and talk (through a surgical mask no less)-no health history questions, no "have you had a cold/sinus infection", no ?'s about are you already on meds, what areyou allergic to, nothing. just "here's a prescrition!"

crazy.

(she's not going to take it. she's not sick)

oh my! that is interesting! i have seen similar situations, not often but have seen them. there are still some md's out there that believe antibiotics are for whatever ails ya. i worked in a small rural hospital where one of the very seasoned md's passed out antibiotics like they were water and he made minimal assessments. it came to be that many people in that surrounding community were accustomed to this practice and expected antibiotics for themselves and their children for even the slightest of sniffles. this all made things very difficult when the new, younger md started working there....he did not believe in this practice and you can about imagine the revolt he had from the patients when he did not readily prescribe antibiotics.

beary

[Beary-nice]

oh how befuddling. i have to admit, while the prescription was unsolicited and inappropriate, part of me thinks "how sweet of the surgeon to notice and be concerned." (if the tone of the surgeon was respectful while giving the inappropriate rx lol)

why is her breathing so loud though? mouth breathing shouldn't be that loud. i wonder if the surgeon didn't know how to tell her she was distracting, and this was his way? (wild speculation, we'll never know)

you know, this is a very good way to put it also!

beary

[Multicollinearity, BSN, RN]

Of course, either extreme is bad. A few years ago I had a sinus infection. The NP I saw wouldn't listen to me, that I knew my condition well and that I could tell when acute sinusitis had 'turned' into an infection i.e. the point of no return. She explained that most sinus pain is not actual infection, blah blah blah unecessary antibiotics blah blah blah. I am experienced with my sinus woes but she wouldn't listen. Told me I was young, blah blah. The next day I went into septic shock.

Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled thread.

[sjcooper]

I have to agree with one of the other posters. I cannot believe a surgeon or "god" whichever you wish to call them would have even gave a student nurse the time of day let alone an actual rx. However it is very troubling that he was so free with the rx pad without questioning any type of health or allergy history. Some doctors are really scary!!!!

[Geeg]

Was the student nurse a female? He probably gave her the time of day because she is young, cute, and not onto the fact that drs aren't God, yet.

[QuilterLPN]

Maybe she needs her adenoids out!

I had a mouth breather behind me in class for a while. It DROVE ME CRAZY!! Maybe the Doc was a little irritated too....

[LoriAlabamaRN]

I'm thinking the same thing... if you could hear her across a room, I mean, wow. Sounds annoying to me. I can't imagine trying to take a test, etc with Darth Vader in the next row. :chuckle

Perhaps he was just trying to help. I do believe that he should have asked for more info re allergies, but I think this was the doctor's equivalent of asking Heather Halitosis "Here, do you want a Tic-Tac?"

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

While possibly inappropriate, I think it was rather kind of the surgeon to actually give a dang.