I am not a Robot yet they are so convinced of fool proof protocols that they strongly pressure you not to ask your own questions relevant or not. Now I on the other hand always ask questions that are relevant to Pt. care. I am not a Stepford Wife or Robot.
If a Pt. tells me he has a sore throat and that he just went to the Doctor today. I am not supposed to ask what the Dx was. I want to know if it was a Peri tonsilar abscess or Strep I wanna know how bad he was before and after treatment by the Doctor and
We are getting so automated! The protocols even give us the "Recomended Disposition" Which I will frequently upgrade or downgrade as I see fit based on my own clinical judgement. There is no reason we should not be able to ask any question that we feel is relevant.
How do the rest of you Triage Nurses feel about this issue?
I had a Supervisor advise me that I was asking to many of my own questions and that it was not nesessary to ask what the Pt's diagnosis was when seen by the Doctor earlier today. To me that is ********! It is very relevant! Why streamline your history taking and miss something very relevant?
That's nuts that you can't ask about diagnosis. Just nuts! When you get the med history, shouldn't that new diagnosis be included in the documentation? I'm baffled. It is imperative to know this info to give the best advice.
It's all about streamlining the triage process and reducing time on the phone to take more calls. It is an assembly line in which you get allot of crap for interjecting your own questions. The belief is that everything you have to ask will be found in the protocol you choose and that the "Automatic Computer generated disposition will be the correct one!
Jerry 75
171 Posts
I had a Supervisor advise me that I was asking to many of my own questions and that it was not nesessary to ask what the Pt's diagnosis was when seen by the Doctor earlier today. To me that is ********! It is very relevant! Why streamline your history taking and miss something very relevant?