Rant:Doctors and Nurses

[Gummiebear 0]

Rant on: I fell on a hot wheel this morning and I am certain I need stitches but when I asked the nurse at our hospital just to look at it and tell me her opinion she wouldnt give me a clear answer but said if I wanted I could go to the clinic at 9 oclock. So she pretty much blew me off because it was shift change and she didnt want to do anything. I wont go to our clinic though because I dont like the doctors and we live in a small town so there is no where else to go. I wonder if anyone knows would it be too bad if I just left it and didnt stitch it up.The wound is on my Knee and its about 2 inches long the skin is flapping like an acordian. I dont think a butterfly bandage will hold ths in place either because of location. I hate most nurses and doctors they are such (insert bad word) They never treat patients the way they should not in my part of the country anyway. My friend went in to our doctors because her tooth broke right in half down to the root and they treated her like she was just out to score some drugs. Thats how they treat everyone around here. They also do not respect the Hippa laws because they do stuff like shout patients weight across the room for everyone to hear. How rude is that. Anyway :Rant off.

PS if any of you are doctors or nurses I dont mean to offend any of you because I dont know u and am only speaking of people I have had experience with.

[Marimaru 7]

Perhaps you should report your local clinics to the medical board. It sounds like they are all being very unprofessional.

As for your knee (I am not medically trained) you should bandage it asap, and be prepared for what could be a gnarly scar if you don't get it stitched. Also, I think after a certain amount of time going to get stitches is moot because it's already started healing the way it is going to.

But ouch! I hope you're feeling ok!

[Gummiebear 0]

I ended up having to go in because my knee hurt too bad. I got one of the new doctors in town and he was actually nice. I ended up needing 6 stitches and he said if i had not gotton it stitched I could have gotton a really bad infection because there was a big pocket under there so I am glad I made the choice to go in. I just dont think nurses in ER's should try and perswaid (excuse my spelling) people from seeking treatment when its needed. Anyway just a small update

[Marimaru 7]

Glad you updated, and glad you went in! Maybe you could call the hospital manager and see what they think about that nurse?

[pippinje 0]

I don't think it's all doctors and nurses. My pet peeve it the ER. You might as well shell out the dough to take an ambulance ride to the ER around here. Otherwise, you can hang it up. You will be waiting for a minimum of like 8 hours before you will be seen.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

I don't think it's all doctors and nurses. My pet peeve it the ER. You might as well shell out the dough to take an ambulance ride to the ER around here. Otherwise, you can hang it up. You will be waiting for a minimum of like 8 hours before you will be seen.

You can thank the drug seekers and those that don't pay their bills for this one. You think ER staff enjoy being that busy?

One hospital I know of formed a new policy. If you wanted narcotics they would not give them to you. Got a headache? Not all headaches are Migraines that need Morphine. So they give Toradol and Inderal. Works just as good but no euphoric high. Lost your narcotics but not your blood pressure pills? Call your PCP. They started this policy and their ER visits dropped by 80%.

Then there are the people that don't want to pay $50 for an office call for a sore throat so they wait until after hours and go to ER, don't pay their bill, and the hospital eats it.

No ER WANTS to be that busy. They have no choice.

[pippinje 0]

You can thank the drug seekers and those that don't pay their bills for this one. You think ER staff enjoy being that busy?

One hospital I know of formed a new policy. If you wanted narcotics they would not give them to you. Got a headache? Not all headaches are Migraines that need Morphine. So they give Toradol and Inderal. Works just as good but no euphoric high. Lost your narcotics but not your blood pressure pills? Call your PCP. They started this policy and their ER visits dropped by 80%.

Then there are the people that don't want to pay $50 for an office call for a sore throat so they wait until after hours and go to ER, don't pay their bill, and the hospital eats it.

No ER WANTS to be that busy. They have no choice.

Well I wish whoever I had to thank was in RnR. :heh: I had a spider bite once and sat in the ER throbbing in pain and my leg swelling by the minute...which turned into approximately 300 minutes to be exact...and I am sure the ER doc would not have dug into my leg nearly as far as he had to if I did not have to wait. (I know TMI). And to make matters worse they sent me the "tell us all about your visit" survey. It was none to nice. :help:

[pippinje 0]

No ER WANTS to be that busy. They have no choice.

Sure they do. All they see is $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. :kiss

My mom is a nurse so I have nothing against doctors and nurses. Just ERs. Same hospital...my dad, who has had two previous heart surgeries and a by pass, was taken to the same ER..walk in of coarse, with chest pain. After being told of his prior history...you guessed it...sat in the waiting room for 5 hours. THANK GOD it was his gallblader or who knows what could have happened.

[Wheetsin 714]

I think this is something we're just going to see more and more.

I ran into something like this a little while ago. I needed to have my gallbladder out, and I elected to have my band surgeon do it. My band surgeon is about an hour from home. I had some issues post-op and they were afraid it was related to the surgery, so my local doc (10 mins from home) told me that if my fever got higher, I was to report to the ER stat.

Well it did, so I did. We went to the local hospital's ER for one because I was in pain and they were close, and for two because it's the hospital my PCP is affiliated with, and I was their on her orders.

As I explained what was wrong to the attending, he started to question my motives for being there. Why was I at their hospital if I had my surgery somewhere else... Had I been to their ER in the last 24 hours... Why hadn't I gone to my surgeon instead of my regular doctor... at first I didn't get why he was asking me the questions, but then it kind of dawned on me why he was being so suspicious.

I felt bad once I realized the intent behind the questions, and I didn't want anyone thinking I was just there to get some drugs, so when my nurse was placing the IV I was very apologetic to her. I'm really not the type to go the ER lightly, I *know* they're there to treat trauma, and unless you're trauma, it can probably wait. (A good friend is finishing her ER residency, and I hear the stories constantly.) She didn't really say much.

Then infection was found in my blood culture, and they started talking about having to admit me, had to schedule a CAT, and the entire tone changed. People who were really being pretty snobby were instantly nice and compassionate. The nurse came in to run an IV and I told her again I was sorry, and she said, "Oh hon don't worry about it, you need the help. It's the ones that don't need it, who are just looking for a fix, that we don't like to see." I asked her if it was really that big of a roblem and she just scoffed and rolled her eyes, and said "Every night."

It kind of sucks. The next time I end up having a need to go to the ER, I don't know how I will feel about it, knowing fairly well that unless my eyeball is laying in my lap, their first thought might be drug addict looking for a fix.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

It kind of sucks. The next time I end up having a need to go to the ER, I don't know how I will feel about it, knowing fairly well that unless my eyeball is laying in my lap, their first thought might be drug addict looking for a fix.

Wheet, how would you feel being an ER nurse who is so busy you can't take a pee because up to 80% of your patients are narcotic seekers?

I really think you have to see it to believe it. It's a huge eye opener. When most of your shift is trying to figure out which are the drug seekers vs. which ones have legit issues, it's very hard. The drug seekers know the lingo, they know exactly what to say to be seen quickly, and they know how to get drugs.

Most ERs have a database of the drug seekers. You should see the size of that thing. Without a doubt, hands down, most people in ER are drug seekers. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Most have nothing wrong, they just want the narcotics.

I've seen people get their narcotic Rx and ask to use the phone and FROM the hospital they are selling the Rx. Using the hospital phone!!! The regulars, they are the people with needle tracks up and down their arms. I had one lady that came in and after time, you can eyeball them and know bloody well what they are there for. She was having a hard time walking. Security was holding her up. First thing she asked me is if I was a compassionate person. I said, "No, not really. How may I help you?" She smiled and went on to explain that her OxyContin accidentally fell in the toilet and she was in soooo much pain. She needed another Rx. Turns out the reason she had to be held up by security was because she was so high she couldn't walk on her own. Her car was in the parking lot and she drove over a brick fence. Her car was on top of the brick fence. Know what her job was? She was a drug and alcohol rehab therapist.

Again, it's just something you have to see daily before it sinks in just how serious this problem is.

You might be shocked at how many narcotic Rxs are lost yet antibiotic and blood pressure meds are never lost. They are never dropped, flushed, stolen, or filled incorrectly. It's mind boggling.

[Wheetsin 714]

Wheet, how would you feel being an ER nurse who is so busy you can't take a pee because up to 80% of your patients are narcotic seekers?

No doubt in my mind it sucks. And no doubt in my mind it sucks from the patient perspective, too. It sucks knowing that I'm not getting help because they're busy having to deal with people who don't need to be there (addicts or otherwise).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not faulting the medical staff. It just sucks that that's the reality.

[Gummiebear 0]

I know drug seeking is a huge problem everywhere but when you live in a really small town like I do the nurses and doctors are Not that busy. I used to work in the hospital I am talking about and sometime they didnt see a single person all night in the ER. Its also easier to know who the drug seekers are because you know everyone. In our hospital they no longer give demerol they only give stadol (which I dunno what the big diff is they both make u feel the same). Our clinics and hospitals have a pain management program for people who need narcs. Most people who have a regular issue can easily get the meds they need just by signing a drug contract. I have been reluctant to get on any programs like this for my Lupus because I dont want to feel like I am relying on drugs all the time for my pain I just try to deal with it. I dont think ALL nurses and docs make these judgements about people but many of them do. I suppose its hard not to form an opinion when you see the same people come in night after night. Its really sad for the people who have real problems and need help. There was this one girl in my town who had real problems she had a mental disorder and once she jumped out of a car and another time she shot herself in the foot and the nurses just complained that she did it for the narcs. I think she just REALLY needed mental heath help but she had been there so much thats how they treated her. I have even heard one of the docs say that they always put a stomach tube in the drunks just so they have to suffer a bit. Seems like working in that enviornment can make people a bit bitter.

[faithmd 14]

Sadly, yes it can make you a bit bitter. I did Trauma/Burn/Emergency Surgery for five years and after about two years, I was grateful when I'd get a flaming drunk or coked out person that the docs sedated and intubated (put a breathing tube in) just because they were being a jerk. It is sad when you lose some of that compassion. I'm a VERY compassionate person and I do have the patience of Job, really. But after a couple of years of the idiots (dumbasses who played chicken with a semi going 75mph on a donor cycle, drunks who fell off rooftops while trying to write their name in the snow with their own pee, idiots who were coke heads or drunk and ran from the "50," etc), you start losing sight of why you went into medicine in the first place.

I'm sorry you had such a crappy experience, and I certainly can't account for why you did, especially in light of the size of the hospital and community you live in. You'd think that in a small community where just about everyone knows the next person that there'd be a little more care taken on how they treat folks.

But you gotta know that when you make a statement like:

I hate most nurses and doctors they are such (insert bad word) ...

Those of us who are medical professionals are probably going to come out and try to squash your statement, even though you followed it up with:

...PS if any of you are doctors or nurses I dont mean to offend any of you because I dont know u and am only speaking of people I have had experience with.

I agree with Marimaru, I'd contact the institution and talk witht them about how you were treated and why you think it happened (shift change laziness). Though you may not see any immediate difference, someone somewhere down the line might. They may look a their shift staffing and overlap them a bit so it won't be as big of a deal to "push them out" before the end of your shift. Though I have to say I (in theory) disagree with your statement about it being because she was lazy and didn't want to deal with you at shift change. Shouldn't matter a lick to her in the ER, that's what the next shift is for, unless it was an urgent care that closes at a certain time. Then I think that's crap to blow someone off that OBVIOUSLY (two inch flapping gash?-YOWSA) needs medical attention and stitches.

Glad it is taken care of and you are on the road to mending.

[WASaBubbleButt 41]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not faulting the medical staff. It just sucks that that's the reality.

I couldn't agree more.

I *do* feel bad that people who really are in pain are questioned to death. It's not right, it isn't how it should be, but it is a reality.

I'm sorry you had to be questioned to see if you really were in pain. I'd be a liar if I didn't say that I have probably done the same thing to patients. Heck, I know I have. I have even gone as far as to apologize before my behaviors were pointed out to me. It's a reminder that I do cop attitudes and it isn't right.

I'm not sure I know what the answer is. I'm human, I get frustrated. MOST of my patients in an ED setting are narcotic seekers. I don't trust anyone to tell me the truth anymore.

It's not right that we have bets and watch people checking into an ED to see if they are legit or not. But we do. I have learned that the more drama someone shows, the more I distrust them. If they are rolling on the floor of the ED waiting room, moaning and groaning... I wish there was a Valium salt lick in the same waiting room. But once every now and again, we all call it wrong and a faker isn't really a faker.

You fell in that group and I'm sorry for that.

[catzintj 1]

i tell all my family that if they have a real emergency and need to be seen right away , the golden words are SHORTNESS OF BREATH. gets you in fast........ ok, dont abuse it.........