So we are switching to a new computer system at work. Not everything will carry over and we have to do some manual entry of certain things. Allergies is one of the items that falls onto that list. We are able to print out that info from the old system so we can put in onto the new, so the information has all been verified at some point by nursing staff or physicians. Which also means at one point it was all ENTERED by someone with a license or someone who is supposed to have enough medical knowledge to do such things.
Some of the "allergies" (complete with reaction, since it's a required field):
Nitroglycerin---"it makes my ears ring"
Tetnaus shot---"my arm hurts after I get one"
E-mycin---"diarrhea"
iron supplements---"makes my BM dark"
and my favorite:
Epinephrine---"makes my heart race"
Seriously?! I can shrug and say "meh" to many things, but truly?! WHY do trained professionals DO this? Go ahead and put some of these things down and attribute the poops after an ABX to a side effect, but not an ALLERGY. Yes, side effects, intolerances and allergies are all options to choose from.
I am not even entering the epinephrine "allergies", nope, not doing it.
We had a patient once who developed angioedema at home in the early morning hours. Rather than calling 911 or even going to an ER, he drove himself to the outpatient clinic at my hospital. My hospital has inpatients, and a 24h hospitalist- but no ER, and no 24h OR staff. He sat in the clinic waiting area and waited for clinic to open- 2 hours from when he arrived.
A housekeeper found him blue and unconscious about an hour after he arrived and called a code. The hospitalist gave epi and high dose steroids and tried to tube him to no eval.
Thankfully, head and neck surgery loves to round on their patients obscenely early, and they responded as well and criched him on the clinic waiting room floor, then took him to OR to clean it up once they had an airway.
He went to ICU for a few hours post op then came to us. His trach was removed within 48 hours and he was discharged within 72 hours. He was on no high risk meds for angioedema, but they got rid of any meds that he could possibly do without. They never did figure out what caused it as far as I know. They sent him home with an epipen and a rescue medrol dose and instructions to call 911 if his tongue so much as tickled.
Specializes in School Nursing, Public Health Nurse.
This reminds me of camp nursing and going through the medical forms from parents: allergic to....
-milk: actually lactose intolerance
-gluten: not an actually allergy. most were on no-gluten diets for non-medical reasons. A few had actually insensitivity, but no allergies
-aspirin: no real allergy, just wrote it because under 18 and shouldn't have aspirin anyway
-meat: vegaterian or vegan
Tried to do nursing education about differences between preference vs. intolerance vs. allergy. But I think a lot of people think if you mention the work allergy it will be held with the highest regards, but I think the term is becoming so diluted now. No one automatically thinks of Epi-pen and emergency when they hear allergy.
I have one allergy listed, and it's bleach. Now, I'm not "allergic" to bleach, but being exposed to the fumes triggers an asthma attack, so I prefer not to be exposed to fresh, wet beach.
I recently developed oral allergies to pecans and walnuts. I don't have it listed as an allergy because I don't need the hospital kitchen deciding that I can't eat anything cooked on the griddle because they serve pecan encrusted tilapia there. I prefer to just monitor my own food intake. It isn't an allergy on the line as the likes of peanuts or bee stings, well controlled with benadryl if I get surprised by surprise walnuts in the apple cinnamon muffins at work.
I had my provider add pseudoephedrine on my "allergy" list for adverse reactions. Yes, it is not unusual for decongestants to cause increased heart rate but my HR was 130-140 for 12 hrs or so after one dose of ZyrtecD. I had new respect for the term "impending doom" & don't want to repeat that episode.
It's not until the last 10 or so yrs that peanut & gluten allergies have been big news. Anyone know why?
Gluten allergies are really just trendy. I don't think actual allergies to gluten have increased, but I know awareness of celiac has. I think the percentage of people following gluten free diets that have a diagnosed medical reason to is
Peanut allergies are up, and there's been a lot of speculation as to why, but no real answers to the best of my knowledge.
Gluten allergies are really just trendy. I don't think actual allergies to gluten have increased, but I know awareness of celiac has. I think the percentage of people following gluten free diets that have a diagnosed medical reason to is
Peanut allergies are up, and there's been a lot of speculation as to why, but no real answers to the best of my knowledge.
This just isn't true. Many people have gluten intolerance as opposed to Celiac Disease that make them very ill. I know...I'm one of them and I assure you it's not because I'm trying to be "trendy". I had to have extensive and expensive testing that showed I was positive to sensitivity and had the gene that predisposed me to it, as well as large numbers of antibodies. Normal gluten testing for Celiac disease does not show that. Please do some research before you make sweeping and ill-informed statements. The ignorance on this thread is astounding.
This just isn't true. Many people have gluten intolerance as opposed to Celiac Disease that make them very ill. I know...I'm one of them and I assure you it's not because I'm trying to be "trendy". I had to have extensive and expensive testing that showed I was positive to sensitivity and had the gene that predisposed me to it, as well as large numbers of antibodies. Normal gluten testing for Celiac disease does not show that. Please do some research before you make sweeping and ill-informed statements. The ignorance on this thread is astounding.
TOS tells us we should not name call or be otherwise rude to other members.
We all have our own skill and knowledge sets, and also our own opinions.
There's a lot I personally don't know, either because the topic isn't high on my interest list, or because I haven't read all the things pertinent to it.
I try to make reasonable statements, but if someone has information that I don't know about, it's ok to let me know that what I say isn't 100% correct.
However, tell me I'm just ignorant and don't know what I'm talking about, I'll most likely just flip you off and scroll right past your reply without even considering it.
TOS tells us we should not name call or be otherwise rude to other members.
We all have our own skill and knowledge sets, and also our own opinions.
There's a lot I personally don't know, either because the topic isn't high on my interest list, or because I haven't read all the things pertinent to it.
I try to make reasonable statements, but if someone has information that I don't know about, it's ok to let me know that what I say isn't 100% correct.
However, tell me I'm just ignorant and don't know what I'm talking about, I'll most likely just flip you off and scroll right past your reply without even considering it.
Wasn't rude, didn't name call. Was just calling out inaccuracies. Best way to avoid that is to make informed statements.
I have one allergy listed, and it's bleach. Now, I'm not "allergic" to bleach, but being exposed to the fumes triggers an asthma attack, so I prefer not to be exposed to fresh, wet beach.
I recently developed oral allergies to pecans and walnuts. I don't have it listed as an allergy because I don't need the hospital kitchen deciding that I can't eat anything cooked on the griddle because they serve pecan encrusted tilapia there. I prefer to just monitor my own food intake. It isn't an allergy on the line as the likes of peanuts or bee stings, well controlled with benadryl if I get surprised by surprise walnuts in the apple cinnamon muffins at work.
What happens when you eat walnuts and pecans? Just curious.
RNsRWe, ASN, RN
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