Boy, I LOOOOVE my mom, but since I've become a nurse I am suddenly inundated with stories of her hemorroids and irritable bowel. I'm not trying to be snooty, but OMIGOD, MOTHER!!!!! I also seem to be a magnet for medical advice at the grocery store too, "Um, excuse me, is high top shoes better for a baby?", "Pardon me, mam, I have a mole that I'm concerned about..." Enough already!! Anybody else get bombarded by family or the public??
Mine is my brother in law. Ever since I started nursing school he has called me with his various ailments. Most of the time I tell him Go see your doctor! But the last time he called me with headache, nausea and sensitivity to light I simply told him.... LAY OFF THE SAUCE and if the symptoms are still there GO TO THE DOCTOR!!
I now know more about my mother in laws colon than I do my own!! She LIKES colonoscopies??? I am thinking the next time I should tell her to make an appt with a shrink too!!
Then there is my dad who had a hernia repair a few weeks ago. I knew he was going to need dressing changes so I planned for it daily. His first change was to be 48 hours after surgery. So I am taking the dressing off and he's like you're sure you know what you're doing?? I was like dad I only do this EVERY DAY of my LIFE! I am on the wound team for crying out loud!! Change your own darn bandage from now on!!
We were out to lunch one day and my MIL was telling us about how she had a mole on her back and it fell off. She put it in a plastic baggie to show me. She was about to grab it from her purse to place on the restaurant table when I stopped her!
If i have one more MORON ask me if we wear the same outfits that the Media "nurse" wears, the moron will need a dentist/oral surgeon/orthodontist that enjoys a challenge.:stone
If i have one more MORON ask me if we wear the same outfits that the Media "nurse" wears, the moron will need a dentist/oral surgeon/orthodontist that enjoys a challenge.:stone
Specializes in Infection Preventionist/ Occ Health.
Luckily my mom is a registered dietitian/ diabetes educator and my sister and brother-in-law are pharmacists, so I only get lab questions right now. My husband's aunt is a nurse, so she is the expert in that family. I'm sure that I will get more questions when I become an NP, but for now I'm glad to sit back and let them dispense the advice.
My husband, on the other hand, gets calls all the time to fix people's computers. Whenever anyone gets a new computer, he has to set it up, and he is constantly removing viruses and such. Luckily he's a nice guy and doesn't mind doing favors for his relatives (and sometimes mine!) :)
If I'm ever doing something right after work, I always bring a change of clothes. Besides the fact that I don't like walking around in my germy work clothes, I'm not too fond of the random questions. I could sum up 95% of peoples' question in to one: "Should I go see a doctor?" To which my answer is always, "Yes go see your doctor." There has only been one time in which I truly felt like my advice truly helped someone but it was one of my friends who needed the medical advice, not some random stranger asking me about a rash/wart/boil.
I'm doing my OB rotation now and I was telling my mother about a circumcision I witnessed. She proceded to tell me that my father wasn't circumcised until he was in his 30's! LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA
When my dad was being worked up for a kidney transplant at UCSF, he needed to have some blood drawn. UCSF sent him the tubes and told him to go to any drawing station and have them mail it up. To save time he came to my home. By then I had been an RN for nearly 10 years. I noticed he seemed nervous and I teased him about it, and after the effortless draw he visibly relaxed and said, "Wow....you really DO know what you're doing!!"
Oh Yes! lol From my parents, aunts and uncles, friends, cousins, neighbors etc...I have yet to have someone come to me in a public place and ask a question. I did however, run into a man who was seizing when I went to the mall afterwork one day with scrubs on. I saw it coming on, sat next to him and had someone call 911.
Enough already!! Anybody else get bombarded by family or the public?? 
LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA-LA
Sapphy, BSN, RN
87 Posts
Mine is my brother in law. Ever since I started nursing school he has called me with his various ailments. Most of the time I tell him Go see your doctor! But the last time he called me with headache, nausea and sensitivity to light I simply told him.... LAY OFF THE SAUCE and if the symptoms are still there GO TO THE DOCTOR!!
I now know more about my mother in laws colon than I do my own!! She LIKES colonoscopies??? I am thinking the next time I should tell her to make an appt with a shrink too!!
Then there is my dad who had a hernia repair a few weeks ago. I knew he was going to need dressing changes so I planned for it daily. His first change was to be 48 hours after surgery. So I am taking the dressing off and he's like you're sure you know what you're doing?? I was like dad I only do this EVERY DAY of my LIFE! I am on the wound team for crying out loud!! Change your own darn bandage from now on!!