Patients Think They’re Helping Doctors And Nurses By Doing These 55 Things But They’re Actually Not

Me? I am just a medical imaging tech. Been doing nuc med for 34 years and nothing patients do, except for showing up late, irks me. Took me a little to understand that I am working with people who are nervous and scared.

permabanmaybe1:
“Understand that I am working with people who are nervous and scared” is such a big winner here. I get that people are annoying, rude, and entitled but so much of this comment section is so whiny because they’re just tired of the nervous and scared reactions from patients. I’ve been the one yelling at any poor soul in my path and guess what, I also work a very stressful job where I’m yelled at for things out of my control. So, thank you for your post, and thanks to everyone out there taking the extra time to have patience and empathy.


ZweitenMal:
As a patient, I learned the best thing I can do is be calm and cooperative with techs. I've seen people really light up when I ask them to tell me more about what they are doing. They are not allowed to diagnose or really even describe what a test is showing, but I've found they will let you look if you ask nicely. MUGA scans are incredibly cool. And it's nice to get a peek at your PET so you can prepare yourself for the wait to get the full report.

When they say “nothing has changed” when reviewing their meds and allergies. They think it’s helpful because the list is long and it will save time, but I need you to verify everything. 

Don’t tell me nothing has changed, then I have to add 4 meds to your list because your doctor prescribed you new meds 3 weeks ago. And shrimp isn’t on your allergy list even though you just told me you had a severe allergic reaction to it at your niece’s wedding last week. How do we not have that on the list? Well, you went to a hospital 2 states away when you were out of town at the wedding. Hospitals don’t have some national system they all share. 

Huge thanks to all the people who patiently go over their meds and allergies without complaint.  Also to those who bring a written list, a list in their phone, or even pics of their meds. You’re the best. .

This is gonna sound awful but I’m in the ER, we have a ton of stuff to do and patients will come in telling us everything under the sun. We don’t really have time to sit there for 20 minutes listening to every little side effect and history unless we ask for it specifically.


owlanalogies:
As a patient, esp. a woman, this one is tough because we're often misdiagnosed for lack of context or have symptoms ignored for years.


Relevant_Struggle:
This is my mom
She's 80 and in a decline. She wants to explain everything in detail about everything. I try to stream line her as best as I can, but unfortunately, she is a talker. I went with her to get GP recently and I stopped her like 3 times from rambling. She has fallen. I mentioned she wasn't using her cane. Dr told her to use the cane. She starts going on about how her left leg is weaker and if she builds it up it will get better. I cut her off. With mom use the cane

I'm neither but I do coordinate surgeries.

Please stop making your surgical clearance appointments before we've called you and then get upset when we tell you that the appointment was scheduled too soon and has to be rescheduled.

And don't lie to us. If you say you have an appointment made, we will follow up. If your surgeon requires medical clearance and you don't do it, you don't get surgery.

AND STOP EATING THE DAY OF SURGERY

I understand having to be NPO until 1pm sucks but like...they make clear pre op drinks to help.



cicadasinmyears:
I really wish that the medical team explained the rationale behind the NPO pre-surgery more often: I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “but she was so hungry!” from the parents of younger children.
Like, ma’am, the reason this is a pre-procedure requirement is so that your beloved child doesn’t aspirate part of their stomach contents during the procedure, not because the medical team wants to make your child uncomfortable. It can result in very serious complications. Do not cave to the whining and complaining, even if it’s difficult.

Deciding not to take your medication, or starve, or not drink before a test "just in case it interferes with the test". We send out appointment letters with clear instructions. Unless you are specifically told to stop something, you should carry on as normal. If you randomly stop things, it's much more likely to result in the test not going ahead.

"I didn't take any painkillers so it wouldn't mask the problem when you saw it"

please just take them. It's not masking it.


dreadwitch:
Strangely I did take painkillers and the dr said I'm clearly not in that much pain so it's not a serious issue and sent me away. I was in hospital the next day.

I become a Speech Pathologist in June after I graduate from my Master's program. I'm in my advanced placements now (Externships basically) so I've been seeing patients for a while now.

Number 1 unhelpful thing: PARENTS. STOP TRYING TO CORRECT YOUR CHILD DURING AN EVALUATION! Please, please, stop trying to interject while I'm giving your child an assessment. It doesn't matter if they're saying "a glove" or "a clown" over "glove" or "clown" because I'm only judging the word itself.

Stop trying to interject and tell your kid "slow down, take your time.". I NEED TO HEAR THEIR AUTHENTIC VOICE. Do you want your kid to get services or not? I can't correctly assess their language or articulation abilities if you're trying to change how they speak!

Number 2: Please, if your child is in feeding therapy, and we tell you to send in foods your child doesn't like alongside foods they do; stop sending ONLY foods they like! In a similar vein, send foods that THEY are curious about, or food that looks appetizing.

I cannot effective get your child curious about food they don't like the look of! Sending in cooked chicken that has visible gristle, bloody bits, and is *grey* is a recipe for your child continuing to question it.

Number 3: Have concerns. Please. For the love of God. If your child is *clearly* delayed or experiencing a disorder in Speech or Language ACKNOWLEDGE IT!! You are not helping your child by putting them in therapy but refusing a full diagnosis. Nor are you helping by not carrying over treatment at home hoping it goes away.

If your child sees a Speech Pathologist, it's because they medically qualify for a concern that is affecting their development in some way. Please, please, just acknowledge it. I know it's scary, I know it's hard; I know it feels like the floor is going to drop out from under you. But your child *deserves* parents who have those concerns and are actively trying to help them recover or resolve their delays.

Being too polite (or shy) to ask questions. Don't worry I've heard it all.

I’m a dental hygienist. This is a light hearted one but when patients turn their head super far to the side facing you as soon as they lay their head back.

Yea, we can’t see when you do that haha. If you’re reading this, please wait for the hygienist or dentist to direct you how to turn your head. Don’t guess because that makes our jobs a lot harder (we can’t see).

lawl-butts:
I want you guys to move my head like a mannequin, I'm tired of this gentle "please move to the left. A little more, nope, a little back, yep there"
Move my head and I'll keep it there.
I feel like the last few times I've been to the dentist it's been this way, just manhandle me please


NieceyBabe:

Dental hygienist here. I absolutely love what I do and I enjoy getting to know my patients on a personal level. But it's the folks who think that I'm a licensed therapist and they want to use my time to dump on me every single little event that has happened in their lives over the past six months. There is so much that I need to do in my hour that I have with you that I can't spend it all with you chatting me up the entire time. And I know that I can just 'shove my hands in your mouth' and keep you from talking, but some folks just truly don't get it and will continue to chat the entire time.
Another peeve of mine is after I've spent the better part of a hour discussing dental needs with you are the patients who wait for the doctor to come in for the exam at the end and all of a sudden they want to tell them about a tooth that's been bothering them on and off for months now or a weird sore that comes and goes. When I ask specific questions throughout the cleaning about things like that and a patient doesn't say anything, it makes me look like I haven't done my job at all.
Oh, and medications. When I ask you what medications you take and you respond with 'nothing that affects my mouth or nothing you need to know about', that's complete bullshit. I absolutely need to know your health history because the vast majority of Rx meds can have effects on your oral health, or the types of anesthetics that we use in the office. Men are the worst at this because they don't want to disclose they take viagra or cialis or meds for their prostate. Get over it. We don't judge you for it.
I have way more things I can list about my career that I love versus what I hate, so I'm grateful for that. But please, before you come in for your dental cleaning, brush and floss your teeth. Don't tell me on the way over to the office that you just ate chicken curry in your car and you figured that I could 'just get it all out'. I will absolutely 100% judge you for that.

As an ER nurse, please medicate your children for a fever. I don’t need to “see it.”.

Telling me your great aunts sister’s daughters health history from 1974….basically telling long stories that have nothing to do with why you presented to the ER today.

Joking around when I am trying to ask straight forward admission questions. I know you want to be funny, but these are important and I don’t want to miss anything. I also don’t have the time to drag answers out of you. So if I ask, “Have you fallen recently?” and you say, “I think I’m falling in love with you” or if I ask, “have you had any thoughts of harming others?” and you joke “well I sure want to” just know that you are making my day infinitely harder. PLEASE just be an adult and say yes or no.



Eshlau:

Years ago we all had to tell my 90+ year old grandma that she needed to stop joking when asked questions like "do you feel safe at home" when she would go to the doctor. On more than one occasion she thought it would be funny to say that her adult sons beat her when they're angry. Thankfully the nurses were understanding, and my grandma was usually chuckling or winking when she was saying it. 
Her sense of humor was pretty impressive. My grandpa passed away from cancer on their 66th wedding anniversary, and when a nurse heard about that day being their anniversary and said that she was so sorry, my grandma said, "it's ok, I think he probably did it on purpose to get out of taking me to dinner!" 

When they come in with their home meds to show you that's great. When they bring their home meds in their purse and take them without telling you, Not great.

Random vitamins and supplements are probably more likely to give you medical problems than help you. I don’t know what’s in those. You don’t know what’s in those. They aren’t really regulated, and whoever told you to take them is probably just trying to sell you their brand of wellness activities/supplements/ideology.

There are reasons you would need to be prescribed vitamins, but the average person taking multivitamins doesn’t fit that category.


Redditheist:
My sister was looking for a new chiropractor (yeah, I know) because hers was retiring. She asked hers what to look for in a new one, and he said:"if you walk in and there's a wall of supplements they're selling, walk out." He also told her one time, "if I can't make you feel better in 3 visits, you need to go see a MD." Her husband was practically disabled and they (his work comp) had him doing chiro for over a year before they investigated further.

It’s such a minor one, but asking me a question about what they need to do and then ignoring my answer. I work in medical imaging and it’s not the end of the world, but a constant time waster. Patient comes in for a head CT or a chest xray, asks if they need to remove their watch, belt or shoes, I say nope we aren’t imaging those areas so no need, and they hit me with “I’m going to take them off just in case.” Just in case of what?? If those things end up in my image, then I’ve done a really poor job. I’ve had people try to move part way through their CT because they remembered some change in their pocket, after I already said their pockets were fine. Not only does it make my job harder, but it makes it longer. A chest xray takes like two minutes, but now I have to stand there waiting for the patient to tie their boots and put everything back in their pants pockets before I can free up the room for someone else. It essentially doubles or even triples the time I’m in the room, and it’s such an unnecessary delay.

I think a lot of people get hung up on “no metal for MRI” but do you really think I wouldn’t ask you about metal before we go into the room? Anyone who has had an MRI knows you are asked about metal a million times before you even get close to the machine. I’m also the professional here. If I say it’s fine, it’s because I know it’s fine. It’s not helpful to disregard that.

Patient currently OD’ing “I didn’t take anything”. Now is not the time to lie to me.

They come in for pain.
"How long have you had it?"
I don't know
"Can you describe what it feels like?"
I don't know
"Has the treatment you received helped?
I don't know.....

Making changes to their medication plan. Like, I prescribed you that for a reason. If you are having side effects or something, talk to me rather than just doing your own thing and hoping it’s ok. I had someone crushing tablets that shouldn’t be crushed then dissolving it in a cup of coffee to drink.

Shave before surgery. Don't worry about your hair. We'll shave what we need. But DO clean your bellybutton.

Please stop blaming and being angry at the nurses for everything. We are part of a team, not THE team. We aren't dietary, transport, social work, pharmacy, respiratory, bed control, or the Dr - and we don't work FOR any of them, we work WITH them, and we can only do so much. If you are frustrated about something, chances are we are, too, and we are trying to rectify it. Please talk to us like adults - yelling/chastising/threatening/calling your adult children and having them call us from home is not going to get you faster results.

Also, if you are a family member in the ER, please do not walk into a room where CPR is being performed and ask what is taking your mother's ginger ale so long. Yes. This has happened. More than once.


ZoraTheDucky:
Saw the frustration of nurses first hand when my mother was in the hospital a couple years ago. Basically the in house GI team was trying to defer to my mothers pre-existing GI doc and the pre-existing GI doc was more or less just not answering the phone. Wasted a whole day. Eventually got through to the pre-existing GI doc (on day 2 of trying to get through to them) who declined to treat my mother further and it got punted back to the in house GI team and things eventually got rolling...
A couple nurses were really pissed off that my mother was in the hospital for a full day with absolutely nothing being done but waiting on a phone call because the in house team wouldn't do anything without hearing from the pre-existing team first.
My mother changed doctors after that.


Esteraceae:
Hey i have an explanation for that - in my country, some private specialists are very protective of their patients. Going against the private dr can be met with their disapproval and also the risk of changing their treatment plan drastically. Not to mention that private records are not kept on the public system, so sometimes its hard to figure out exactly what is happening with the patient without chasing their records first. And sometimes, the patient themselves may prefer to be transferred over to the private dr's care for the rest of their admission (sounds like that wasn't the case here) That's probably why they wanted advice from the previous doctor first.
Yes it can be frustrating to get through to private dr's as they may not be at work every day of the week, or may be on leave. I once had someone's cardiologist call me back while they were at the airport about to board a plane!