Parents who are Doctors

[missriss65]

Hi Guys! Just checking to see how you deal with parents that are physicians. I work in an expensive private school and deal with parents of many job backgrounds which include many physicians. Some are nice and some are not so nice. Am I the only one who feels a twinge of anxiety in speaking to these parents? Usually they ask their child's symptoms and are either are accommodating in picking them up or are very aggressive in refuting your findings and insist on not picking them up. While I always reference our school policy, I'm curious to see how others handle these parents. Do you ever defer to their opinions since they are practicing physicians?

[Amethya]

With some exceptions, I've seen doctor parents forget they went to medical school when it applies to their children.

Agree with this statement. When I worked at the camp I went during the summer, one of the nurse's daugther had to get stitches and she was panicking and she's been a RN for years! It happens.

[MrNurse(x2), ADN]

Interesting.

Side note, slightly off-topic but not: I have a friend who is a NP take her 5 month child to a chiropractor for an adjustment to help with frequent recent illness/ear infections. I had admittedly never heard of such a thing. And then I started to do research. And I wish I hadn't started...

The sad stories are those poor patients who believe Chiropractors can cure cancer and heart disease with the inevitable end results...

[BeckyESRN]

My chiropracter parents are almost universally against immunizations....

^Same here. None of my chiropractor parents have immunized children.

[Amethya]

There is a lot to be said for giving private school parents leeway (not that I agree with it). I work in public school but the camp I worked at last summer (and will be returning to) has a pretty wealthy population and I was overruled a few times for things that were deemed too inconventient by the camp director for parents that were paying $11,000 for their child to be at camp.

We had this issue in my camp.

One kid obviously and was recorded that she had psychological issues, but I don't think her parents were doing anything. What I was told that each year she promised to be better, but never did. We're talking about a 14 year old who would throw tantrums and cry and scream and kick just because she didn't want to wear the clothes she had. I'm not sure what she had but I felt bad because can you imagine how she felt? So many highs and lows that extreme? When I was there it seemed that year seemed to be the last straw, but who knows.

[terter]

Being more proactive about keeping them updated has always worked well for me.

[scuba nurse, BSN, MSN, RN]

I work in an inner city poor school district, most of my parents dont even work! I have a few parents who are in nursing school, and they think they know it all because they are learning it, most of the time they just dont want to acknowledge that their kid is actually sick and they got busted for sending a sick kid to school.

[djh123]

When I saw this thread title, I thought it was going to be about parents who THINK they are 'doctors' - in other words, think they know more than you do. I occasionally run across a family member who thinks they know more than I do, and I don't mean to say I 'know everything' - I'm talking about people with no medical training who act this way.

[icepak]

I LOVE the handbook line! Especially with attorneys.

[Surprised1, MSN, RN]

wrong thread, sorry