Patients family in the medical field

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Is it just me or does it bother anyone else when a patient has a parent or family member that's a nurse or something and they try to show you up and make it seem like they know more then you ot just as much. It's not a competition, just doing my job. Sometimes it's a blessing other times it a headache. Its like Ok I understand your in the field also...

Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.

What I find interesting is that the ones most likely to hide their profession are physicians that are patients. Nurses will tell you most of the time (some are fine, some want to question everything), but it seems a physician will go out of his/her way to keep their identity a secret. Must have treated nurses badly in the past???? Kidding. I have found that having a physician as a pt is much easier than another nurse.

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Ends up the son was a psychologist. Not a psychiatrist MD--a psychologist PsyD. He googled all the meds.

We had a patient whose family member claimed she was a nurse.

Turns out she was...

she was...

a nail technician :laugh:

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Specializes in critical care, ER,ICU, CVSURG, CCU.

all i can say is after some 43yr in critical care, i know what I am talking about, there is no need for a nurse to know Im an experienced nurse, except when their critical thinking and patient mgt. skills are lacking in a crisis.....

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Specializes in psych, addictions, hospice, education.

A few years ago my son was seriously ill. We had been to the ER, to his family doctor, and to a specialist. None of these providers took his symptoms seriously and did no tests. Finally after he had lost 50 pounds, couldn't walk upright due to pain, and couldn't keep food or liquids in, I demanded testing. It turned out his appendix had burst weeks ago, and he had a pretty rotten case of multiple abdominal abscesses. By this time I didn't trust doctors much, and I became Mama Tiger and no doubt wasn't pleasant to hospital caregivers. I felt I needed to know what was happening and be there to be sure he got the care he needed. Two things I caught that nurses didn't notice possibilities were a UTI and side effects from Demerol.

This was an extreme case, for sure. Maybe some other pains in the neck have been through extreme situations too. Maybe they are responding to extreme worry about their loved ones too. We don't tend to be ourselves when our stress levels are extreme...

Incidentally, my son ended up ok, and I actually worked on that hospital unit, happily, awhile after my son's hospitalization. You never know what might happen!

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

In peds ICU, when someone informs me they are an MD or a nurse, my response is "That's great. But I'm going to assume that you don't know anything about pediatric critical care- because it unfair of me to assume you know everything about a specialty which you do not practice in. Just like I'd want YOU to assume I didn't know anything about YOUR specialty- because I don't. Fair enough?"

This is usually followed by a huge sigh of relief on the part of the parents/ grandparents.

The exception, of course, are our chronic, medically complex kids. Their parents often DO know more than I about their child's weird syndrome. And parents certainly know when their child is OK and when he is not- very helpful information for me to have!

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What I find interesting is that the ones most likely to hide their profession are physicians that are patients. Nurses will tell you most of the time (some are fine, some want to question everything), but it seems a physician will go out of his/her way to keep their identity a secret. Must have treated nurses badly in the past???? Kidding. I have found that having a physician as a pt is much easier than another nurse.

I'm currently going into L&D for weekly NSTs. I keep getting 'you look so familiar' from the nurses. This is my 3rd, so I'm just playing it off as "you helped deliver my younger son" or "I took the prenatal class with you before my first was born." And that's true. But I also did my maternal-child clinical rotation there last summer. I'm a new grad, so I feel awkward saying something about being a nurse. I'm hoping when the baby comes, my family will keep their mouths shut about it, too. I just want to be a patient now.

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It used to make me uncomfortable but not anymore, particularly in my field.

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Specializes in Acute Care Pediatrics.

I have encountered three types of medical professional parents of my patients in my line of work.

Type 1) The sympathetic helpful RN. This parent understands the work that you do, and the situations that you do it in. They understand when you are a few minutes to bring that medication, or why a med is hung late, etc. They know they don't need to call me for water/ice/food/blankets. They can silence the IV, but know better than to just turn it off or mess with my lines- they call me and let me know they silenced it and could I come and fix it when I have a second? They are sweet, kind, and appreciative. I love these parents.

Type 2) The random specialty RN or physician that has nothing to do with my level of care or the diagnosis we are dealing with but still feels the need to insert their incorrect opinion. This type also loves to wear their employee badge all the time. Or wear scrubs. Dear dermatologist, you don't know anything about ORIFs of the femur, please let me do my job. Dear office nurse, please quit demanding things of me because you "work in the system". Yes, I understand you have medical knowledge.... I appreciate that and respect it. But you be the patient/parent and let me be the nurse! No, FNP, this small IV infilitrate will not cause your child to "catch compartment syndrome".... you do not need to call administration, these things happen, let me get you some ice.

Type 3) The co-worker .These are the scariest ones and I don't want to take care of them. :D They are my friends and their precious cargo, and when they show up on my floor I am on high stress alert! But, they do their own vitals and get their own blankets. So there is that. :D

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Specializes in Emergency/Trauma/LDRP/Ortho ASC.

We had a lady who was a Code STEMI, her daughter came in pitching a fit about "I'm a physician, why wasn't I consulted prior to her treatment?" Yeah she was a hand surgeon. Sorry love but your Mama is alert and oriented and your medical opinion isn't needed!

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If they're sincerely knowledgeable and helpful, I don't mind. If they're silly or overbearing, it does get annoying ...but I've found that it works best to treat them like they know a lot, regardless. I let them know my plans, involve them in decisions, and gush about how great the patient's care is sure to be with such wonderful family at the bedside. 99.9% of the time, that makes them happy.

A MUCH better attitude to communicate to a bedside family than, "Oh, so annoying," or "Oh, so you're a nurse, whoopdedoo." How would YOU like to pick up vibes like that from your husbnd's/parent's/child's nursing staff at any level?

Also give them some wiggle room, thus:

"I know you're a nurse/therapist/physician, so I'll use terms you're probably familiar with. But none of us know all of everyone's specialty, so please interrupt me if I say something you'd like me to clarify, or if you have anything to add."

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We had a patient whose family member claimed she was a nurse.

Turns out she was...

she was...

a nail technician :laugh:

Is she the one taking care of Jahi in Joisey?

(sorry, couldn't resist)

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this reminds me of that one episode of Grey's Anatomy where Callie's patient wanted to consult their "doctor son" before they went ahead with a surgery. Turns out the son was an orthodontist.

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