Whatever happened to the good old days of lacerations, broken arms, appys, etc. They have all gone elsewhere leaving us with the chronically ill dysfunctionistas who frequent ERs these days. Its like we have a sign out:
***** COME YE OH COME YE ALL DYSFUNCTIONISTAS ******
Come here and let us cater to your every whim. We offer warm blankets, footies, juice, crackers, box lunches, bus tokens, cab vouchers. We have magical nurses who will listen to your tale of woe. All this and a month supply of Percocet.
45 comments:
If all these people had $150 ER co-pays like I do, yeah, the lobby would be quieter than a graveyard after an apocalypse!
I always love the irony of how the Pepsi in the waiting room is more expensive than the ER visit for these people.
Great post!! This is so true!!! I sometimes think it is just our ER that has to deal with all the dysfunctionistas!!! No one is ever a simple straightforward case.
HIYA I AM AS sufferer i have spent hrs in A and E I HOPE you never have to suffer as a dysfunctionistas!!! have you thought of a more rewarding caree because as a nurse you seem to have lost your caring way !!
Hi. I'm one of this dysfunctional people with an autoimmune disease. It is extremely painful but I don't look sick. I don't have any gaping wounds. I'm not bleeding and nothing is broken yet I'm in agonizing pain that at times is difficult to control. Why are you an RN? Must be for the money cause obviously you don't care. Compassion an empathy are vital in your role. A person with an invisible illness is already feeling isolated and then they're going to be faced with a heartless RN when they reach the desperate point of needing to go to an ER? Do you think they have nothing better to do. You, my dear are the dysfunctional one!
I have no idea why you are in the medical profession. Insensitive, cold and hardened people like you shouldn't work along side the doctors, nurses, PAs, receptionists, etc. that care for and care about their patients still, no matter how long they've been in the profession. I don't usually give advice so blatantly, but since you put your disgusting opinions up on the internet for all to see, I'm going to anyways: perhaps you should consider a different profession or consider going to a therapist to deal with your "burnout". Why am I so offended? Oh, I just happen to be listed in your little rant. I have two types of autoimmune arthritis diseases and find it ridiculous that you consider someone with an autoimmune disorder going to the ER for help to be a "dysfuctionista". I am very lucky to have an excellent rheumatologist, dermatologist, gastroenterologist and orthopedic specialist so I don't frequent the ER much at all. However, others with autoimmune illnesses aren't so lucky. And when you have no insurance or crappy insurance or you are fighting to find answers for your pain (as so many of us have pre-diagnosis) and have no GPs or specialists of your own to turn to and the pain is so bad that you can't move, think, or even breathe without discomfort then the ER is your only hope. There will always be people who abuse the convenience of the ER for meds, attention, etc. However, do not assume that everyone coming in with fibromyalgia, RA, ankylosing spondylitis, any type of autoimmune disorder whatsoever is there to abuse the system and waste your oh so precious time. Do your clients a favor and reevaluate your choice in profession, I'm sure they'll be grateful.
I also suffer from multiple autoimmune diseases and I am disgusted knowing YOU are nurse!! You couldn't pay me to go to any ER especially after reading what you and I assume the majority of your peers, think of us. I have gotten that look and/or treatment "This person is here for drugs" I have never said this in my entire life. Not even to my worst enemy! I hope you get some wretched ass disease that causes you pain 24/7-365 days a year. Robs you of having any semblance of a normal life. Then when YOU can't stand the pain anymore after taking everything you are prescribed you finally give in and go to the ER. Then, I hope you get a nurse EXACTLY LIKE YOURSELF!! I wish, I knew how to report you and your nasty blog to your superiors. Yes, I feel a tiny bit bad for wishing such a horrific disease, very tiny bit. You should resign immediately! One of the things that I have is Ankylosing Spondylitis. I have suffered for over 25 years it doesn't get better it gets worse all the time. Oh, I could just go on and on about you and your "professional" attitude. But, I already feel like I have lowered myself to your level.
P.S. I have an enormous copay so believe it IS an emergency if I would ever darken your door ways.
Signed disgusted sufferer
I also suffer from multiple autoimmune diseases and I am disgusted knowing YOU are nurse!! You couldn't pay me to go to any ER especially after reading what you and I assume the majority of your peers, think of us. I have gotten that look and/or treatment "This person is here for drugs" I have never said this in my entire life. Not even to my worst enemy! I hope you get some wretched ass disease that causes you pain 24/7-365 days a year. Robs you of having any semblance of a normal life. Then when YOU can't stand the pain anymore after taking everything you are prescribed you finally give in and go to the ER. Then, I hope you get a nurse EXACTLY LIKE YOURSELF!! I wish, I knew how to report you and your nasty blog to your superiors. Yes, I feel a tiny bit bad for wishing such a horrific disease, very tiny bit. You should resign immediately! One of the things that I have is Ankylosing Spondylitis. I have suffered for over 25 years it doesn't get better it gets worse all the time. Oh, I could just go on and on about you and your "professional" attitude. But, I already feel like I have lowered myself to your level.
P.S. I have an enormous copay so believe it IS an emergency if I would ever darken your door ways.
Signed disgusted sufferer
Perhaps you should consider being a STEWARDESS instead of a "nurse." At least then you'd get to travel.
I hope you get a needle stick, acquire HIV, and die a painful death in the company of nurses like yourself.
A person with an ounce of compassion and half a brain might actually look in to WHY there are so many people out there with autoimmune disorders these days, but I guess your too busy listening to the sound of your own voice. I feel sorry you.
I'm an AS suferer, and being as it took almost ten years to diagnose, I personally was in the ER more times than I like to count and paid the Co-Pay that pays your paychecks, I'm completely disgusted with this thread, you have no idea the amount of pain i live with every single day, the ER is a last ditch effort for there to be spome sort of relief living in a lifetime of hell that I genuinely hope on you, and as you slowly stoop over because ur insides are atacking your own body i hope that you are met with a nurse who believes as strongly as you do. I'v lived with people like you since this began when i was eleven and in a ER because it atacked my ribs and my heart and mimicked a heart attack. if your so bored go cut off one of ur arms, keep ur hateful mouth off of people like me.
Wow, i dont wish harm on you. I will pray the lord shows you another way. I am a very blessed person but i also suffer from an autoimmune disease. The reason why the pepsi is more expensive than the er trip is because the pain becomes so debilitating you cant work and afford insurance anymore. I try to avoid the er. I havent found anyone to be compassionate and all they say is follow up with your doctor. Er's are not equipped to handle people like us. You are right er's are more for people with wounds you can see. I found er doctors and nurses to be quite ignorant and a specialist of anything. Love and compassion goes further than hate and judgement.
Signed jenny r.
you know they say that knowledge is power and i would love to swap bodies with you for just one morning, you see in a single day in the life of an AS'er you wake up almost crippled with the excruciating amount of pain that you are in and excuse the hell outta us if we end up in ur ER because the pain kinda feels like ur dying or should already be dead. I have two small children who wonder why mommy cries in pain so much and the mesed up thing is that it's because of burnouts like urself who no longer see the person and instead only see someone who must be a druggie because my back isnt bleeding or literally on fire as it feels, or even better my ribs arent actually broken even though i cant expand my rib cage, it took past ten years for a diagnosis because of this responce. many ER visits because not being able to walk semed like a pretty damn big emergency at the age of 16-18.
3 years ago I was a trim, fit mother of two young children. We took the kids hiking three times a week and I was working at my dream job. Now, I spend every day in pain with an incurable auto immune disease called Ankylosing Spondylitis. I don't look sick but I most certainly am. Although I am on morphine and vicodin every day there are still many nights where I can't walk and fall asleep crying because of the pain. You see, I am afraid to go to the emergency room because of ignorant "nurses" like you. Two herniated discs, fused joints, cataracts from the iritis treatment, heart issues from the AS...but I just want drugs...right? Careful Nursey, your ignorance is showing - Jude
If only you were nursing from a heart of compassion and not judgement. I hope you never walk a day in my shoes as living with chronic pain from an auto immune disease is severely disabling. A sprained akle, a laceration etc will heal, but our diseases are incurable you ingnorant heartless woman.
This sickens me! As an Ankylosing Spondylitis sufferer and having nothing to take the pain away completely....you are a sorry excuse for a nurse. One day grief will come your way and I hope noone comes to your side to assist you..heartless bitch.
This sickens me! As an Ankylosing Spondylitis sufferer and having nothing to take the pain away completely....you are a sorry excuse for a nurse. One day grief will come your way and I hope noone comes to your side to assist you..heartless bitch.
As even a 17 year old girl training to be a CNA, I can tell that you either a) lost your compassion for people b) never cared in the first place or c) you were just in it for money.
You truly sound like you shouldn't be a nurse.
& honestly, you sound like a heartless, horrible person.
But God can judge you.
Not my place.
Even when you are sitting helpless in a nursing home. <3
You should really consider going back to school for a different carrer. My mother has MS and there are days she hurts so bad that she cannot even move out of bed and there are nights she goes to bed in tears because she is in so much. do you honestly think people with these diagnoses are just going to the er for the fun of it,? NO they arent. Nurses like you are the reason why I have trouble getting my mother to go to the doctor when she is in so much pain she cant move and is in tears. I wish that just one day you and all of the other nurses/doctors like you could walk the shoes these patience have to walk in everyday of there life for the rest of there life and maybe then you will have a different outlook on their situation. My mother went from being very active and going out and doing things with us kids and would love waking up and going to work. now she is lucky if she can get out of the house to go get grocerys due to the pain she is in. You seriously have mad me sick with this blog. I seriously hope you find a different carrer, because with people like you working in the er nobody will ever be taken seriously.
Smug much? If you could hear the things rheumatologists say about nurses like you, you wouldn't be. They make the things you say about your patients sound friendly.
If you only want patients who are simple to diagnose, family doc offices can offer you better hours and a neverending stream of runny noses and hemorrhoids. Let someone smart have this job you can't stand.
I think your education exceeds your intelligence.
Also, thanks for the entertaining blog. I enjoy your work.
I am completely DISGUSTED that you are a nurse. Imagine being in AGONIZING pain frequently. So painful that you can't even get up to go use the bathroom. I suffer from Ankylosing Spondylitis. And even in the worst amount of pain possible, I never darkened your ER with my presence. I am glad I've never had to deal with a nurse like you. For I would not have tolerated it for a second. It doesn't matter what your profession is, how much money you make, or your education, you are a human being. Same as I. And therefore we are equal. And everyone DESERVES TO BE TREATED WITH RESPECT
U suck....period
I somehow felt my self obliged to read more of your blog because there was no way you were this Jaded and unempathetic ... ( you are ! ) but I found a post you deemed having a positive upbeat tone to it .. and Number 7 of whats good about being a nurse ... you wrote 7) A LIFE WELL LIVED - As a nurse you can feel good about helping people, relieving pain, listening to people, educating them. You have spent your life doing something that benefits humanity. -
really ? You clearly dont believe that based on this blog ? Who are you helping with this horrible attitude ? Whose Pain are you relieving when you treat them as
"sufferers of the latest trends" Educating them ? Dear God ...Every time i step foot in an ear with my 16 year old Son for gashes and or wounds and they ask for a medical History i have to spend Fifteen minutes explaining how to spell said condition, What the medicine is for and how to spell it - I dont For the life of me expect a nurse to know what i know about my Sons medical Conditiosn but what I damn do well expect is empathy and compassion.
I wont go on to Bash you as a person, Its been done, Ill be original, and Point out your Hypocrisy in your very own words. I am Fibromyalgic Chronic Illness Sufferer, and I wont tell you how much I suffer Cause You so obviously dont care - and See this all as more whining of us Dysfunctionistas but Let me tell you what i told my son this morning about EMPATHY towards a cranky Teacher
"Well This is where you practice empathy - Maybe the reason is a bad day , or not feeling well .. Or who knows . This is where you say ... Mrs *teacher* Can i help you with something, Or just Smile unexpectedly at her, Or Compliment her., Being a teacher its not appropriate to say do you need to talk, But In the future remember that one. This is where you Practice Empathy and Feel some Care that maybe she needs an unexpected happiness! :O)
and That you Can Be the one to Change her day even just a little is a pretty powerful Tool we as human beings hold! EMPATHY is an amazing and useful Tool!You just never know what is going on in someones life. and Maybe She is just a cranky person, but Until you have walked in someons Shoes you just never know! - "
I read that you were an old Cranky Nurse in some of your other posts so I doubt anyone here will make you Take a moment to look inside yourself But I truly hope that My Lesson/lecture to my 16 year old and the sheer hypocrisy of your own words will at least give you moment for Pause - But Probablly not were all just whining and causing a Kafuffle Cause its true right ? ....
Seriously ?
http://emergency-room-nurse.blogspot.ca/2012/05/i-am-powerless-and-my-life-has-become.html
I guess I fall into the category of which you despise and makes your job something to complain about, since I have AS and have been forced to use the ER on at least one occasion (dysfunctional husband in tow). I don't know whether you were having an especially bad day when you wrote this, or you are so misguided and jaded that you no longer have empathy for those you profess to help. Just remember, Karma is a bitch.
It seems how you define "Autoimmune Disease" is different from what it actually is: "...is a condition that occurs when the immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys healthy body tissue. There are more than 80 different types of autoimmune disorders." Two seemingly simple lines, yet the complexity of each condition is so in depth that it can take years not only to be diagnosed, but for people going through it to even know something is up. Until it's ravaged their body enough to be in such debilitating pain that it is most likely too late to do much about.
People do not wish this upon themselves, and I do not wish for anyone else to have this. Keep in mind that these conditions mostly strike people early on in life, as it is not degenerative in any form. Imagine being in your teens or twenties and seemingly healthy, then one day you wake up and can't move at all. So, not knowing what else to do because it's the weekend, you use every ounce of energy you may have left to get out of bed and go to someone, somewhere. Where would this be on the weekend? The ER. I have made that trip once, and hated it, contrary to your belief. I also hardly took any of the strong pain reliever prescribed to me, since it hardly touched the agonizing peril my body was in. 3 months and 6 doctors later, I was diagnosed. Now, almost a year to the day later, I am fighting insurance companies to cover the one medicine that has helped my condition because it is $2300 per month. All this and I'm 27 years old with a full time job, house payment. You may see this as me complaining, but I'm just trying to shed some light on why your seemingly flooded ER has so many "pill seekers". Maybe if you took the time to actually see through to the inside, you would see a scared, pain-ridden person just looking for that one medical "professional" to give them the time of day and see what is really going on.
Sorry we are taking you away from your coffee breaks, gossip groups, and e readers to actually do the job you were hired to do. You are a sorry excuse for a nurse and should consider finding another profession that is more suited to your attitude. May I suggest a TSA worker or a New Jersey toll booth worker... you would be right at home.
I was going to troll you this morning and say cruel things, but refrained because I was still in bed and didn't want to wake your mom with keyboard noise. Have a great day, nurse angel who is doing so much for humanity out of the goodness of your heart! :)
You have no business being a nurse. You don't get to decide who comes into your ER. You don't get to decide that you only want to deal with straightforward cases. Those of us with autoimmune diseases and complex pain need compassion, caring, and someone who gives a fuck about us. Time to hang up the ugly nursing shoes and find yourself a new home.
yeah, I'm not with the ones who say you need compassion to be a good nurse, but you do need to be able to keep your personal shit from getting in the way of being objective. acknowledge that there are conditions you don't know much about, thatthere's a chance you're wrong or missing something. this is why we have labs nad imaging studies, why you examine a patient after you do the quickie assessment of them coming down the hallway.
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool." Richard Feynman (who didn't as far as I know have compassion or empathy for subatomic particles but nevertheless understood them)
How many people here have worked in the service industry, or nursing, or with the public? I am SURE that you have said worse. And if you are naive enough to think that employees don't talk about customers, you do not deserve to leave the house. The author here is just venting-like we ALL do.
I am aware that there are drug abusers. But hey YOU, there are also people in Chronic agonizing PAIN. Every day of my life for the last three years has been nothing but pain. No I will not die directly from my AS. It'll likely be cardiac issues that constant inflammation causes. I take narcotic pain medications. I used to take OxyContin and it was great. But I can not afford it. So now I take the cheaper Morephine Sulfate ER & IMMR. They do NOT take my pain away. They take the edge off of the pain. Bringing it from a 8-9 on the pain scale to a 5-6. Which I must bare. It allows me to get out of bed and bathe myself. To do some very simple chores. If I go to the store I need to use the scooter or I'll be in bed for days after. I'm only 36 years old. As a person with an invisible chronic disease my life is drastically different from the average thirty- something. My health is so bad doctors told me not to have kids. Most of my previous friends left when I could no longer go dining and dancing or hiking and camping. I walk with a Cain. Life is not much fun when you hurt every single day of your life. When your so tired that you can not stay awake at all. We don't ask to have this pain. But we demand respect. How would you feel if you were treated like shit by someone like you? Thank God there are professionals who do care. Because it is very clear you do not. While most of us would not wish our pain on anyone I bet we all wish it upon you. Remember carma is a bitch my friend. She will get you. God will ask you what you have to say for your life. Hopefully you repent and change your wicked ways. AS causes your spine and other joints to fuse. Your tendons are inflamed. Your muscles spasm. Your ligaments are turning to bone wich is causing the fusing. Does this sound fun? No anyone would say damn, sounds painfull. It is painful and uncaring, rude, inconsiderate people like you make it worse.
Our chronic autoimmune diseases do not go away. Most get worse. They reduce the quality of our lives. They reduce the length of our lives. Some cause severe pain. We're not talking about osteo-arthritis. We're talking about bamboo spine. One with no joints or ligaments as its fused to one solid bone. You can not bend up or down or left or right. Your fused. Your entire spine turned to bone. Your hips and other joints following the same route. Your chest is fused. All your ribs are solidly fused to your spine making one large bone structure with no movement. You must breathe through your abdomen. Fun fun fun!!! More enjoyable is not being able to do much of anything. It's not possible. The pain is agonizing. Tears roll with every breathe I take. Not to mention AS has some accompanying friends known as IBD or IBS and Iritis or how about throwing in some psoriasis? All such lovely fun. I itch, my eyes hurt and I can't see, if I don't go to the ER and get treatment I could go blind. I have the runs and can't turn enough to wipe my arse. Yes, so much fun. Since you think it so easy, well why don't you join us? Perhaps I can ask the great AS doctors how to give you our Particular genetics and then you can have fun too!!! Sounds great right??
You need God. You need Jesus. You need to repent and seek salvation. I pray you do. You need the ki d of help only he can give.
People with autoimmune diseases should be thankful for ER Nurses! They take care of patients professionally regardless of whether or not they have a truly life threatening emergency; they listen to whiny arsed patients and never say what they truly are thinking. If I said everything I ever thought about the people I work with, I would be fired on the spot, as would we all. I wonder why so many commenters are surprised, offended and as abusive themselves as they claim this post to be. Emergency Rooms are for emergencies and the Dr's and Nurses who staff them are not specialists in autoimmune diseases nor should patients expect them to be. Kudos to the nurses for not just smacking many of us patients upside the head and telling us to act our age and get some dignity.
PS: I have an autoimmune disease too, just not AS nor fibro
Go back to school find a different profession, you have absolutely no business in health care. Health care is body MIND and spirit. Sometimes a chronic pain, or a psychological crisis is just as life threatening as a level 1 trauma. You either are burned out from your profession or should be seeking psychological assistance yourself.
nursing shoes Job well done guys, quality information.
Whoa guys! Chill. We all know things happen for a reason. But does anyone of you have tried to know <a href="http://www.almostsuperhuman.com/book.php>super human?</a> Oh well you will know the secret if you like.
OK, I can understand your frustration with patients who seem oh so precious in their Quacker Factory QVC specials, and I get pretty riled when I go to sites to learn more about what the hell is going on with my body and why can't I move properly only to find the Fibronistas making a career out of being ill. Sorry, but there is a certain element of the Fibro community that I can't take seriously and it messes it up for those who possibly do have an, as yet unclassified condition.
I have Ankylosing Spondylitis and SAPHO, so not only do I walk like an extra from Planet of the Apes but my skin looks pretty awful too. I am still in work, but due to this stupid illness I've missed so much that I am no longer getting any sick pay and I'm pretty sure that I'll lose my job. I get migraines - the fabulous ones where I'm not sure which end of my anatomy to plonk on the bowl first and NSAIDS, gabapentin (morontin), and Sulfasalazine either don't do anything or make me violently ill.
So far, every medical professional has taken me seriously and I think your personal beef isn't so much the illness as overly precious attitude of some patients possibly? I haven't needed ER for a long time, but my husband developed a UTI and was passing blood, and I am eternally grateful to our NHS staff for getting him the help he needed so quickly.
It is a shame that medical school and nursing school fails to educate nurses and doctors properly about autoimmune diseases in america (3 weeks is not enough). You apparently choose not to continue your education which is a diatribe to your lack of intelligence. If you were to research them on your own instead of only using textbooks (whose publishing is paid for by pharmaceutical companies), then you would know the science behind it. I have ankylosing spondylits, multiple sclerosis, dystonia, and supposedly fibro (I still think fibro is a set of symptoms of one of my other issues). I started working as a web cam model with an iq of 176 since I can no longer work outside of the home just to avoid judgment of having a life long disease. I can't eat more than 800 calories a day since my ribs are crushing my stomach and I look fine if I hold my body up straight (unless I am in a full ms relapse). This is obviously an uneducated american nurse whose average IQ tops out at 118; hardly something to write home about in some superior attitude. Those imaginary diseases have caused degenerative disc disease, a replacement hip, and a replacement rotator cuff, plus kidney/liver failure. I pray that you never have any children. Due to misdiagnosis from 18 medical profressionals for 25 years my hip is fused to my pelvis and my ribs are smashing my heart. When my ms finishes off the nerves in my legs then the AS will continue to crush my heart and I will not have a long time after that so I fight to move every day. I have been in pain 24 hours a day 7 days a week since 1998 after being told by doctors that it was in my head; finally one gave me the correct test. I am now a medical research scientist and writing a book exposing the narcisisstic personality disorder crisis which has taken over the american medical community. I pray that you get primary progressive ms with a side of chrones and ankylosing spondylitis.
It is a shame that medical school and nursing school fails to educate nurses and doctors properly about autoimmune diseases in america (3 weeks is not enough). You apparently choose not to continue your education which is a diatribe to your lack of intelligence. If you were to research them on your own instead of only using textbooks (whose publishing is paid for by pharmaceutical companies), then you would know the science behind it. I have ankylosing spondylits, multiple sclerosis, dystonia, and supposedly fibro (I still think fibro is a set of symptoms of one of my other issues). I started working as a web cam model with an iq of 176 since I can no longer work outside of the home just to avoid judgment of having a life long disease. I can't eat more than 800 calories a day since my ribs are crushing my stomach and I look fine if I hold my body up straight (unless I am in a full ms relapse). This is obviously an uneducated american nurse whose average IQ tops out at 118; hardly something to write home about in some superior attitude. Those imaginary diseases have caused degenerative disc disease, a replacement hip, and a replacement rotator cuff, plus kidney/liver failure. I pray that you never have any children. Due to misdiagnosis from 18 medical profressionals for 25 years my hip is fused to my pelvis and my ribs are smashing my heart. When my ms finishes off the nerves in my legs then the AS will continue to crush my heart and I will not have a long time after that so I fight to move every day. I have been in pain 24 hours a day 7 days a week since 1998 after being told by doctors that it was in my head; finally one gave me the correct test. I am now a medical research scientist and writing a book exposing the narcisisstic personality disorder crisis which has taken over the american medical community. I pray that you get primary progressive ms with a side of chrones and ankylosing spondylitis.
I have AS. My life is pain.I was fired from my job because I was sick and I cannot get another job. I'm out of money. I'm in debit for about $40k.
The spiteful part of me wishes you all the evil that everyone here has already sent you. The better part of me understands that mean people are mean because they are unhappy.
I feel sorry for you.
Maybe instead of attacking the sick you should look at the dysfunctional medical industry. ive been sick 2 years trying to get diagnosis and right now i am on week 3 waiting for a phone call to get an appointment to be seen by a specialist. mr dr faxed referral in 3 weeks ago i feel like im going to drop dead before i get an appointment and now i find out that the ER doesnt care either. then why do i pay so much for medical when its worthless? You nurse k should be fired
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