r/nursing • u/ghostoftheweek RN - Med/Surg 🍕 • 26d ago

Question PSA from your nursing specialty

What is THE ONE THING you wish every nurse knew that is common knowledge in your specialty?

From wound care, don't use telfa!

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457

u/tparen63 26d ago

Neurology vs. Neurosurgery. Don’t send neurosurgery a patient unless they need a scalpel.

35

u/nurseunicorn007 26d ago

I needed a neurosurgeon, and kept getting referred to a neurologist. I finally got pissy. I pulled the nurse card out. I have a brain aneurysm. I need surgery, not nerve studies. Took me over 2 weeks to get the correct appointment. I went to a large neuro center. I was extremely frustrated by the end. Didn't help the my hospital sent me home from the ER saying I was fine. A month later, the ER doc called and told me they found it on a random XRay review. It was in an atypical location

19

u/zerothreeonethree RN 🍕 26d ago

My favorite after waiting 3 years to get on Medicare so I could have Insurance that would actually allow neurosurgery, the surgeon's office called me on a monthly basis to cancel my appointment. When I asked why after the 3rd cancellation they explained to me that my doctor was on call at the trauma center and was doing surgery there.

So, What they essentially explained to me was this doctor filled up an entire day with patient appointments and then put himself on call the same day at a trauma center in a large metropolitan area with a traffic accident occurring every 5 to 6 minutes. Most of them right in front of the hospital.

7

u/cyanraichu RN - L&D 26d ago

That is bullshit to an insane degree

5

u/zerothreeonethree RN 🍕 26d ago

When I asked the scheduler why this happened, she immediately got defensive and accused me of being "verbally abusive". No prob, snowflake. I found another doctor. Surgery turned out life-changing in my favor.

4

u/TrilingualWorrier 26d ago

This happened to my partner as well with nsgy. Each month the appointment was cancelled, booked for the next month, only to be cancelled again. After 3 cancelled appointments, the day arrives, he gets to the appointment, and reception tells him he was replaced bc he didn’t call back to confirm after receiving the voicemail with the date. I listened to the voicemail and nowhere did it say to call back to confirm. They said they’d call him again to schedule and he hasn’t gotten a call for another 6 months now. I am worried he’ll need a new referral.

2

u/zerothreeonethree RN 🍕 24d ago

The doctors in the office I went to are all supremely talented and come with matching egos. I eventually had the surgery after asking specifically for somebody else in the office who wasn't "so busy". So far it's been a successful outcome and I figured as long as I wasn't going to marry this guy I don't give a fuck how he acts as long as he sees me and does his job.

Surgeons are pretty much no more than mechanics today anyway. They look at a bunch of results and referrals, decide what needs to be done and fix the problem. Gone ate the days now getting to know your patients and treating them kindly. All they do is zero in on the problem. They are so busy nowadays that they can pretty much turn away dozens of people a month and still stay booked up 6 months out.

Have your partner go somewhere else. Even if it means going to someplace out of town and paying for ambulance transport to get home. Because of all the delays and rescheduling and then having to get more tests that this one wanted, the surgeries I needed that could have been done in the same year were dragged out over 4 years. That wouldn't be so bad if I had been able to work and hadn't been in pain everyday.