Things Patients Have Taught Me NOT To Do

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Never....NEVER...cut a potato in half and use it as a pessary! :eek:

Anybody got anything to add?

Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.
One of my patients just rang this weekend after a house fire - if it had been benzos or narcotics I'd have been more suspicious, but the call was for ARV's. I feel bad that my first thought was to look for an angle, but I think the two hours of organising a replacement dose and repeat script compensate a bit ;)

Talaxandra, what's ARVS?

Carol

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Psych, Tele, ICU.

ARV's=antiretrovirals

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.
carolmaccas66 said:
It's like, how many times do I need to tell you DON'T touch the IV pump! They should have a coded and locked keypad on them I reckon.

Our hospital has that feature on our pumps. NOT a great thing for critical care to have to either key in your employee number or scan your ID badge before you can do anything with them when your patient's going down the tubes. But for the rest of the hospital they'd be very handy.

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Specializes in Intermediate care.
rph3664 said:
"Diet management" doesn't work for any diabetic if their diet consists entirely of candy by the pound. And no, you aren't allergic to diabetic candy because it gives you diarrhea. It's sweetened with sorbitol, which is a laxative, and you're not supposed to eat the whole bag in one sitting.

Yea...It amazes me at how uneducated people can be about there own diabetes. he was 26 years old and lived with it since he was a young child. At this point I would think you would be educated about it enough to know you cant last long periods of time without your insulin, or atleast tell your wife you have so you can get some. I don't think it was quite 2 months, and he kept changing his story of how long he went without it. But still...a blood sugar of 2,150...YIKES!

His wife was also the one who tells me that he does not have a glucose meter even though he is on sliding scale insulin. He guesses how much insulin he needs by how he feel because it "saves them money"

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He was a type I with this kind of attitude, and lived to be 26? He must have had the consistution of Keith Richards.

Actually, health care professionals with type II diabetes are probably the most noncompliant people on earth. :uhoh3:

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Specializes in Intermediate care.
rph3664 said:
He was a type I with this kind of attitude, and lived to be 26? He must have had the consistution of Keith Richards.

Actually, health care professionals with type II diabetes are probably the most noncompliant people on earth. :uhoh3:

Exactly! I was shocked too. You could tell they were of lower education, because the wife was shocked to find out you have to take your blood sugar to follow a sliding scale. She also didn't understand the "diabetic diet". The kitchen sent up their diabetic diet for him and she runs down to the cafeteria to get regular syrup because the kitchen sent the sugar free stuff and he "doesnt like the taste of it." she was bringing him regular soda because we wouldnt give him any. We literally had to give her a list of food that contained sugar or carbs because she didn't understand "I didn't get the mt. dew throwback for him, that has sugar. this is corn syrup" so really, his wife was no help with it either.

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Most people who are not diabetic, or do not work in health care, would not know about sliding scale monitoring, or the details involved.

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I will never smoke, thanks to a couple of emphysema and lung cancer patients. I don't want to be lugging around an oxygen tank and feel like I'm drowning when I'm in my 60's.

Not as entertaining as all of yours, but it's one thing I learned.

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Don't swerve your car expecting that it will cause your unrestrained child to stop crying

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Specializes in Intermediate care.
Most people who are not diabetic, or do not work in health care, would not know about sliding scale monitoring, or the details involved.

but HE was diabetic. ALL i really said was i was shocked that he didnt know he was supposed to take his blood sugar to know how much insulin to take.

...Since he has been diabtic since he was 11, and is now 26 he should at least know that a blood sugar has to be taken. You can't just go by "how you feel your blood sugar is"

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Don't kneel down and cut a tree stump off by pulling the chainsaw toward you...this behavior can result in bilateral above-knee amputations.

Don't pick at the scabs on your bulging AV fistula aneurysm unless you are very close to the ED.

Don't hide your cellphone under your pannus thinking you fooled the pre-op nurses who wanted you to give it to your family...the OR staff will find it eventually!

Don't eat a Denny's Grand Slam and then lie about being NPO before surgery...vomiting 300cc of eggs and grits and coffee is very upsetting to the anesthesia staff and can earn you a trip to the ICU on a vent.

Don't ask the OR staff if anyone has any weed...trust me, we don't. Even if we did, we wouldn't share with a non-compliant diabetic smoker with end-stage renal disease and no feet.

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Specializes in Medical.
Don't swerve your car expecting that it will cause your unrestrained child to stop crying

Oh dear, that's... worrying. Do I want to know what happened? Well, I can guess to a degree, but how bad was it?

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