"But for me, 98.4 means I have a fever...."

Flare, ASN, BSN · Mar 14, 2012

sounds like my middle school students... they think a temp of 99.0 means they have a raging fever

OrlyRose1992 · Mar 14, 2012

*facepalm* Gotta love the drama queens in this field!!!! haha!!! I wouldve gone to the ICU nurse and had them explain to her that 100- 115 is normal for a child of 3 years!!!

allnurses Guide · Mar 14, 2012

My son caused mass hysteria in his 3rd grade classroom one year. Apparently his tummy-ache was of such drama that one by one just about every other kid in the class had a tummy-ache too. The inexperienced teacher let all of them leave the classroom en masse to go see the nurse. :/ No, it was not food poisoning. My son just has a real flair.

anotherone, BSN, RN · Mar 14, 2012

DId you page the doctor about their fever? I especially hate it when the patient/family follows up with that gem and gets very upset when I say no. depending on the doctor/ service we page for 100.5 or 101.5..............

CrazierThanYou · Mar 14, 2012

On the other hand, we get mad when the mom says, "oh I didn't give him anything because I wanted you to see how bad his fever is" while the kid is miserable at 103. So, I'd rather believe you found fever at home..... especially if you bother to OWN a thermometer and can give me numbers!

I totally know what you're saying but I've had many, many instances with my daughters ear infections when her temp would be practically boiling and I'd give her some Motrin or Tylenol. When we'd get to the doctor, her temp would be normal or just slightly elevated. If I said it was high and I have her something, they would always look at me like I was lying or I was crazy. So, I got to where I was kind of hesitant to give her anything just so they could see that I wasn't lying about her high temp.

That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Mar 14, 2012

If you arent over 100 I dont care.

trauma_lama, BSN · Mar 14, 2012

I normally sit in the low 97s so high 98s actually makes me feel pretty flushed and icky. 98.6 is not everyone's norm...

CrazierThanYou · Mar 14, 2012

I can see how it can get really annoying with people behaving this way...but I know how it feels to be on the other side of it. I was in urgent care once for what my primary care later determined was panic disorder, complaining of palpitations and feeling really dissociated. My heart rate's usually 50-60, blood pressure 90/60. Well, I showed up with a pulse of 115 and bp 150/100ish. The triage nurse sent me over to the ER because she was concerned... But after being ignored for 4 hours, the doc came in and counseled me about the importance of staying active and eating better because it looks like I have some prehypertension...he didn't even acknowledge the fact that my vitals were scary (for me) high. My discharge instructions read "come back to ER for life threatening symptoms."
All I'm saying is that the patient might have a point, and you don't necessarily need to make them feel like crap.

Sounds like something that would happen at our local hospital.

xandarosa · Mar 15, 2012

RN-Cardiac: My ob took my BP when I had PIH because he didn't believe it was as high as the nurse said.

I've been on the other side of the fence.

-We're in the ER with my son and I told the nurse he had a fever. He took an auxiliary temp and his temp was somewhere around 98. I told him take it rectally (the room was very cold and his HR was 160's at 3 yrs). He started telling why we shouldn't do a rectally but I wouldn't back down. He finally agreed and was shocked his temp was 102.7.

-My son goes to the same unit every time he is admitted. They know us pretty well but every once in a while we get a new nurse. When we get to the room, I always ask the nurse to set his HR low limited to 45. Which they always insist is to low. It then takes an hour of the monitor going off for them to finally change it.

MomRN0913 · Mar 15, 2012

I'm pretty symptomatic of a fever at 99.0. My normal temp is in the 96's. I am tachy and get the chills.

KateRN1 · Mar 15, 2012

Many times patients aren't trying to be annoying, they really don't know any better. They may truly believe that 99 is a fever or whatever. But it really sucks to be the patient trying to tell a nurse something and get blown off. The last time I was in the hospital, the nurse started my IV exactly where I asked her not to--in my left wrist. It was uncomfortable at first, as most IVs are, but it flushed fine, so I tried to ignore it. Over the next hour, it went from being uncomfortable to causing writhing pain. I tried to tell the nurse that it was developing phlebitis, she flushed it, went in fine, so she upped the drip rate of the fluids. Ten minutes later, I tried agin with the neuro tech who told them same nurse and--within my hearing--told the tech that the site was fine, that I was a PIA know-it-all. (No one knew I was a nurse at that point.) By the time the CRNA came around, it was just starting to get red and I was in worse pain from the IV than from the ruptured disk I was there to get repaired. The CRNA recognized the phlebitis and pulled the IV. Another nurse came to start the new IV, thankfully and I didn't have to see the mouthy one again. By the time I was discharged the next day, I was black-and-blue from thumb joint to halfway up my forearm. It took three weeks for it to go away. Sometimes patients really do know what they're talking about. Not always, but sometimes.

wooh, BSN, RN · Mar 15, 2012

On the other hand, we get mad when the mom says, "oh I didn't give him anything because I wanted you to see how bad his fever is" while the kid is miserable at 103. So, I'd rather believe you found fever at home..... especially if you bother to OWN a thermometer and can give me numbers!

Who cares about a thermometer? A mom can tell if a kid is feverish.