Denisem

i wanted to find out more about this and while doing a search on the internet found this post on a medical forum board so i guess it is not unheard of. cindymessage ] date posted: 07:26:08 11/15/05 tue in reply to: steve 's message, "physical exam by nutritionist" on 13:34:02 11/09/05 wed i am a nutritionist but not a nurse but my friend who lives in another state is both and does perform physicals, she calls it a physical assessment not a physical exam but it is complete.

I got the sense in speaking to her that she is doing them as a courtesy and there is no insurance billing or such for the service. I did ask her specifically what she does if she finds a problem. She said she strongly urges patients to see a doctor. I guess for someone like my friend who does not want to go to the doctor it will be better than what he has been doing.

I had the opportunity to speak to the RN today. She sure has had a varied career. Told me she was a nurse in a military hospital, nurse in a clinic which served low income people and a school nurse. She said that while she was working as a nusre she took classes in nutrition. She told me she has given hundreds of complete physical exams over the years. She works out of a building which houses many health service providers. Her initial consultation last 1-2 hours and all patients get a minimal exam, vitals, but if she finds a patient has not had a physical in a while she offers to do it. The price is the same and it's completely their choice.She told me she is completely qualified to do what she does and it is fully ethical. Seemed like a sincere person. I do feel better after talking to her and I guess it sounds like she's legit.

Thanks I was feeling much the same but thought I might be paranoid because he was a friend. Will try to convince it it's not a good idea.

If I understand what my friend is saying she is a RN who has left the field to go into nutrition but she must still use the RN credentials when she advertises.

Hi I have a family friend, male around 50, who does not like to go to the doctor's. Probably hasn't had a physical exam in 5-7 years. He does go, because I hound him, for blood pressure screenings and takes advantage of annual prostate exam at local clinic. I saw him recently and he told me that he was going to see a Nutritionist and when they were talking about his medical needs it came out that he hasn't had a physical exam and he told me she has offered to do it. She told him she can't order bloodwork but can give him a complete physical. There are some things that you should know: 1. She is an RN and my friend says that his prostate exam at the clinic has always been done by an RN so what's the big deal 2. She is not charging him extra for this but will be part of his initial consultation 3. She has told him if she finds anything that looks wrong she will strongly advise he see a doctor He won't tell me her name thinks I will get involved. Has anyone ever heard of this. I wonder if it is ethical for her to perform a complete exam in her capacity. I guess I should be happy he is at least getting an exam but I am concerned. Thanks for any feedback.

I have not repeated this story in a long time but I guess enough time has passed. Before I tell the story I want say at the time I really thought I was being helpful. I was in my late 20's at the time. We had this male patient around 35 or so. He was a great person and well liked by all the staff. He treated us all with respect. He would get very warm and only wear a pair of boxers and a tee-shirt and sleep on top of the covers. If he had visitors he would put on a robe. Well the boxers were the type with a slit on the fly but no button so there were times you would walk in and find him alseep but his member might have fallen out through the slit. Once he had an full erection while alseep and one of our nurses walked in on it during a night check. None of us said anything about it because he was not lewd in any way, it always was at night when he was alseep and he probably did not even realize what was happening, and he was in a private room. One morning I stopped in to see how he was, he was scheduled for some testing later that day. He told me that he had not slept at all the night before worrying about the tests and that he was going to try to get some sleep in the morning. Later that morning I stopped back to check on him and sure enough he was alseep on his side and positioned in such a way that his member had fallen out, he did not have an erection. I did not want to wake him, but was afraid that a family member would walk in and see it. He had an aunt that visited often. I got the bright idea that I could just adjust the flap on his boxers and cover him and no one would be the wiser. Well as I tried to this he woke up. After an awkward moment I explained what had happened. He thanked me for my concern and apologized. Despite his assurances that it was alright I decided I better tell my supervisor. Of course I was reamed royally for bad judgement. She went in and spoke to the man about the incident and I guess he convinced her that the whole thing should just be dropped. I got a verbal warning. About 3 months later she came to me and we talked about it and she said even though what I did showed poor judgement she is not sure she might not have done the same thing. Sorry this was so long but there was no short way to tell it.