i'm still in school but the questions have already started. i get a lot of random calls from friends looking for medical advice. i remind them that 1. i'm not a doctor, and 2. i'm not even a nurse yet! still, their desire to discuss their bowel habits and the state of their genitals is amusing, and i do participate, for learning purposes of course.
anyway, today i got the strangest question i have ever received. after discussing with a friend his current stomach flu issue, he asked me in all seriousness, "will taking a molly make my stomach flu worse?" i'm glad we were on the phone so he couldnt see my face.
what is the strangest question a friend or acquaintance has ever asked you?
My mom used to ask me all the time about cutting my grandma's metformin in half because of GI side effects. I told her, this is a question for her physician. I didn't prescribe the metformin, and I certainly am not going to change this prescription to half a dose.
Another really awkward one was when my mom and aunts got into a discussion about my grandma's bowel status at the dinner table. They were hashing out what the cause was and what should they do...they all give me the "what say you?" look as I'm trying to change the subject. (Thankfully the poor woman wasn't sitting at the table; she'd gone into the other room to watch football.)
My extended family was involved in a medical malpractice suit. Both of my sisters are lawyers. As soon as I passed the NCLEX, they sent me copies of the expert testimony and asked for my opinion.
I worked in a call center during nursing school. When a guy in the back had possible stroke symptoms, they asked me what to do (call 911). Another colleague got pregnant, and worked until about a week before the baby was born. A lot of people thought I would be able to deliver the baby if she went into labor during her shift.
Specializes in Case Management, Acute Care, Missions.
I wasn't even in nursing school yet when I was at a conference with a group and an older lady in the group pulls me into her hotel room to show me the boil on her butt before I had a chance to even know what was going on.... needless to say, I avoided her at all cost after that!
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
My friend, who knows I have extensive OB/gyn experience, has been asking me questions about her female dog who is in heat. Asking how long it will take for the bleeding and labial swelling to go down. I have no idea, human females don't experience labial swelling when they're ovulating.
VampyrSlayer, CNA
546 Posts
Not to mention both her parents are Drs. Not physicians but they both have PHDs in Microbiology I think and shes pre-PA.