STUPID! (vent)

Published

Sorry, I'm a little upset right now so I figured I write the anger away. My mother has been seeing this doctor for several weeks for a condition that's been bothering her for the last couple of months. Anyways, I have no problem with the doctor but the nurses that work with him... well, it seems they don't know anything. Here is the latest example. Today, one of the RNs calls my mother at work and says "All you labs are normal but you have a chronic condition". Now keep in mind my mother doesn't know any medical terms and it is within her right to ask what that means. So... she says "what does chronic mean?" And the nurse says I DONT KNOW.... that's fine if she didn't know what the condition itself was.... but she didn't know what the word CHRONIC meant... so this upsets my mother... now she's thinking something is REALLY wrong with her, so she proceeded to "go-off" on the nurse and told her to get with the doctor then call her back in 1hr. So the doctor called her back to explain it to her... but my God. Chronic? Come on...

~Crystal

P.S. I feel better now!

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Maybe the nurse misunderstood what your mother said? And...are you positive it was a nurse?

....just checking....

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

I agree, check and make sure it WAS a nurse that read those results.

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Specializes in Public Health, DEI.

You say you don't have any trouble with the doctor, but he is ultimately responsible for the delivery of test results to patients. Yes, he can delegate it, but it is up to him to make sure that the person he delegates to understand the results well enough to at least answer basic questions. I agree, it probably wasn't a nurse, especially if she didn't know what chronic means. But really, let's put responsiblity where it belongs- the doctor, who needs to pay better attention to what goes on in his office and who needs some traning before she mans the phone again.

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Specializes in Telemetry, ICU, Resource Pool, Dialysis.

I agree - you need to be really careful in assuming that you are dealing with a nurse when it comes to communicating with the doctor's office. The doctor could delegate the duty to relay "normal" test results to just about anybody. I remember having this problem with the clinics when my kids were really little. Having to convince someone over the phone that your child truly IS sick enough to get an urgent appointment. I always thought I was dealing with nurses, and maybe I really was blowing a 103 temp out of proportion - turns out most of the people I initially spoke with were just appointment setters, or office assistants.

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Yes, I am sure she was a nurse. I've been to the doctors office with my mother, I know who works there, no techs, no medical assistants, there is the doctor, his associate, an NP and 2 RNs.

And I'm really sure the nurse didn't misunderstand, "what does chronic mean?" considering she said replied, according to my mother, "I don't know what it means" so... I dunno... the situation really made me upset cause my mom was at work when it happened and she got all upset... I don't like when she's upset cause it upsets me too.

OH WELL.

~Crystal

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