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‘Do you have any allergies?’
This is something we nurses ask all our patients. It’s quite an important piece of your current and past medical history. It can determine the path of your plan of care in virtually everything that has to do with the maintenance of your health and wellness.
Here’s the problem:
‘No, I’m not allergic’ –
‘So you’re not allergic to anything? No allergies that you know of? (We ask this because it is clearly stated on the front and on every page of your chart’s order sheets that you in fact do have allergies)
‘No, I’m not allergic. I just can’t take Penicillin.’ –
‘Oh? You can’t take Penicillin? Why is that? What happens?’
‘Oh, I break out in some red rash thing. They tell me I also started havin’ trouble breathing’ –
‘They?’
‘Yeah, that doctor down at the other hospital’
Clearly you can see this can be and could have been a serious problem.
‘Do you have allergies?’ –
‘Oh yeah! Tons! Whew!”Don’t give me them pain meds. Pain meds make me nauseous. I get real sick to my stomach. I get dizzy and light-headed. My mouth gets real dry.’
‘If they give me that blood thinner stuff. I bruise real easy too.’
‘Oh, and once that doctor gave me Ibuprofen… or err.. That ant-eye-flamtry stuff. Boy did It make my stomach upset.’
(These are called side effects. These are not allergies.)
‘I see. We’ll be sure to let the doctor know about them.’ –
@ frogeyes10 Yes, I thought so.
LOL! I had a patient once who claimed she is allergic to MOM…so i can’t help but ask.. so what happens when you take it? I have diarrhea!!! (patient kinda got irritated) I said.. O-K!! The other one claims she can’t take soma at all because she is allergic to it when asked what are her reactions she said in a really scared voice how she fell asleep driving after taking it in the morning and she couldn’t wake up!! I said.. REALLY? You FELL ASLEEP?!:)
@ bruzilai Now those are new ones! Heh heh. Thanks for sharing!
LOL! I had a patient once who claimed she is allergic to MOM…so i can’t help but ask.. so what happens when you take it? I have diarrhea!!! (patient kinda got irritated) I said.. O-K!! The other one claims she can’t take soma at all because she is allergic to it when asked what are her reactions she said in a really scared voice how she fell asleep driving after taking it in the morning and she couldn’t wake up!! I said.. REALLY? You FELL ASLEEP?!:)
@ bruzilai Now those are new ones! Heh heh. Thanks for sharing!
LMAO…so true, so true!
@ frogeyes10 Yes, I thought so.
LMAO…so true, so true!
@ One Nurse Yes! Classic. And I too love comments! Thanks for stopping by.
@ One Nurse Yes! Classic. And I too love comments! Thanks for stopping by.
Sean, thanks for visiting my blog. I just love comments!!
I so can relate to this allergy thing! I hate it when you are admitting a patient and they have a peice of paper they pull out of their pocket FULL top to bottom of all the medications they can’t take (mostly because of side effects) because they are “allergic”. However they don’t know the names of the medications they currently take!
Sean, thanks for visiting my blog. I just love comments!!
I so can relate to this allergy thing! I hate it when you are admitting a patient and they have a peice of paper they pull out of their pocket FULL top to bottom of all the medications they can’t take (mostly because of side effects) because they are “allergic”. However they don’t know the names of the medications they currently take!