#emergencymedicine
#patientsarenotfaking
We don’t go to the ER for fun. And we certainly don’t go to be mocked or accused of faking. We go when we just can’t take it anymore. In fact, often due to previous mistreatment, many of us will avoid going even when we really should. I can’t count the number of times I have gone to the ER for unbearable pain and/or tummy issues, and have been accused of “drug-seeking” (a term I really despise because there’s NOTHING wrong with “seeking” the treatments you need to live .. but I digress), or being dramatic. I have been told multiple times that I am “wasting the doctors’ valuable time and hospital resources”. I have gone home crying after spending all day in the ER only to receive no help whatsoever, trying to figure out how I’ll now get through whatever flare I’m dealing with. Yes maybe I’m not sobbing in the ER or begging for help, but that’s because, after years of moderate-severe daily pain, I have learned that laughing helps me get through that 20/10 pain without totally losing it, and I also learned that crying and begging only makes it more likely that I’ll be called, “dramatic” or “a drug-seeker”, or “a waste of time/resources” or “an uncooperative/needy patient” (which really are codewords for, “a patient who advocates for themselves and knows what they need”). And despite all this, my story really isn’t all that bad, because I’ve survived all the misdiagnoses, dismissals, and malpractice/abuse (albeit with a lot of physical and psychological scars). Many don’t. Behaviours and attitudes like this from medical staff can cause serious harm and even kill. STOP DOUBTING YOUR PATIENTS AND START LISTENING TO THEM.
#doctor #nurse #nursingschool #medicalschool #emergencymedicine #medicine
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