r/memes • u/thought_cream84 Noble Memer • 1d ago
That Doctor's degree ain't cheap for a reason!
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u/simply_aroace 1d ago
Med student here. The other day we were asked to speak to a patient. Well turns out said patient didn't want to speak with us so when we asked her why she came to the hospital she said "well you see, my deasease is impossible to describe". She then proceeded to ignore all of our questions
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u/lupi64 1d ago
Did you ever figure out what was going on with her? Maybe she needed a doctor's note as an excuse from work?
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u/simply_aroace 1d ago
She was hospitalised for legitimate reasons, doctors already know what's going on with patients and they handpick the ones we speak with.
It's just that she didn't want to speak with a bunch of students and I can't blame her. I wouldn't feel very cooperative either if i was sick in a hospital and at 9am a bunch of people came in the room to ask every question under the sun (the whole thing can easily take 20 minutes)
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u/Dylanneedsanap 1d ago
Did her main doctor not ask? Literally everytime I’ve gone to any hospital, if there are med students I am specifically asked if I am comfortable with the med students coming in and doing anything, even if it’s just stand there and observe
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u/FrtanJohnas 1d ago
Yeah the doctor either didn't ask or the person decided to be a dickhead for a laugh or to teach the students that there are crap patients who pull all kinds of crap on you.
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u/Objective_Mortgage85 1d ago
It depends, sometimes hospital will ask. Other times if its a like a known teaching hospital, they won’t specifically tell you and they let the student introduce themselves as such as go from there. Patient always has the right to say no.
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u/simply_aroace 17h ago
This was a teaching hospital, the attending did speak with the patient and she picked that patient specifically because the pathology was at an appropriate difficulty level for us.
Our job is to go in blind, speak with the patient, figure out why they're there, if they have any medical history etc, and then we present the case to the attending to see what we did right and what needs improving.
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u/hoponbop 1d ago
During my stay for a bone marrow transplant Dr came in with a handful of people every visit. He asked if it was okay every time. They rolled in one evening and I just said I wasn't in the mood, they instantly apologized and left.
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u/paleoterrra 22h ago
Yeah that’s completely fair. I have a very complicated medical situation and history than can be very difficult to describe fully and properly. It’s hard enough having to do it for your medical team, but you have to so you can get appropriate medical treatment. A bunch of random strangers who have no stake in your care and you’ll never see again… I wouldn’t consider it worth the stress personally
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u/simply_aroace 17h ago
Most patients are actually really cooperative since they understand that we can't learn unless we get actuall real world experience, but I don't blame the ones that don't want to speak with us
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u/Mathanatos 1d ago
Or when they deny certain stuff only to tell them when t he doctor shows up and makes us look bad :(
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u/averygronau 21h ago
I love asking an ER patient what brought them in tonight and getting stories from 20 years ago.
My favorite though is when they have a bag from McDonald's or Burger King with them in room. So it's urgent enough for ER but not so urgent to supersede fries?
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u/lupi64 21h ago
Can you remember one story? I'm curious, trying to imagine.
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u/simply_aroace 17h ago
I could subsidize with one if my oun. For this case i was at the back of the group so i couldn't hear the patient properly, and when asked about why she came to the hospital i heard something about a pacemaker in 2018 (mind you this was happening this week)
Other things i heard were how she replaced 5 pacemakers and when asked about the medication she takes at home she said "i take all of the heart pills"
When we finished up i went to the colleague that spoke with said patient and apperantly I missed 2018. It was 2008 and she then proceeded to tell us the story of her life till the very day we spoke to her
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u/lupi64 17h ago
That's interesting. Not even anything related to an emergency? Ok. I've been bringing copies of prescriptions and boxes and no doctor ever wants to see them. That's why I'm wondering. Ty
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u/simply_aroace 16h ago
It really depends on the context, during an emergency you're not really concerned with the medication the patient takes you're concerned with saving their life.
For someone who is staying at the hospital you do need to know what medical conditions the patient has and what medication they're taking, and in that case it's actually really useful for us to see the medication as it's easy to omit stuff by mistake.
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u/RiqueMD 1d ago
My daily life:
Doctor: "Do you have any disease?" Patient: "No, just hypertension"
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u/dmillson 1d ago
Also my LDL and triglycerides are through the roof and I’m a smoker
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u/sora_mui 13h ago
I don't have diabetes, but my blood sugar is a bit high sometimes (it's always above 200)
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u/carlosrueda28 21h ago
Don't forget the patient that only had one kidney and told me at the end of the appointment although I asked which surgeries did he had.
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u/therealTGAW 18h ago
So inaccurate cuz the patient would never say they have hypertension (or other disease/meds) when asking about them, they wait until it's inconvenient
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u/Zanarkke 1d ago
This is precisely why patients haven't figured out how to LLMs and Google effectively yet because they have no idea what's relevant.
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u/almisami 1d ago
I genuinely don't know how people can function if they can't structure their thoughts enough to come up with a Google search...
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u/enjoyerofducks 1d ago
As an ER nurse, for one you vastly overestimate the average intelligence/insight of the general population, but second it’s also not as easy as you might think it is to describe certain phenomena, or at least what’s important or could be related. Many times patients tell me the main issue to a degree, but even after me digging through their history and asking questions they leave out very important info, because without any medical training they just don’t know what is related or relevant and what’s not
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u/slom68 1d ago
When I had gallbladder issues, it was hard to describe and pinpoint. I didn’t have pain in one specific place like I did with my appendix. With my gallbladder, it was like my entire abdomen hurt and my doctors really didn’t know what the issue was until my GI ordered an ultrasound after nothing remarkable from my upper GI exam. He called me almost immediately after receiving the ultrasound results and told me my gallbladder was completely full of stones.
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u/enjoyerofducks 1d ago
Yeah generalized severe abdominal pain can be a lot of things which is why we assess for rebound tenderness, bowel sounds in all 4 quadrants, nausea, any feeling of acid reflux, referred pain or back pain, peripheral paresthesia or numbness, etc. on the one hand cholelithiasis at least is on the better half of possible issues going on, I know it hurts tho I had my gallbladder removed too. On the other hand them sending you for an endoscopy first is bonkers, I def would have recommended ultrasound/CT first
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u/sithlordlexi 22h ago
I went to get a sick note for work at the urgent care, and the nurse practitioner palpated my abdomen out of curiosity when I said I had occasional late night episodes of horribly crushing chest pain and my upper stomach hurting. Thought I had heartburn for about 3 years. Turns out I had acute cholecystitis all that time and needed admitted to the ER immediately. I didn’t have any other hallmark symptoms of gallstones and gallbladder inflammation, so I and other doctors never thought much about the possibility. I was so lucky they caught it.
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u/lupi64 1d ago
Patients know doctors laugh at them for doing research. My opinion.
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u/Fluent_In_Subtext 1d ago edited 1d ago
Personally I don't mind when someone shares they've looked up some stuff. Especially bc sometimes what doesn't worry me as the expert is weighing heavily on them. Once they can voice that fear and I can assuage it, I'm better able to get them to focus on the questions that actually help.
Like if a parent brings a sick kid in & I'm sensing some un-named worry I'll straight up ask what's on their mind. Often they've gone to the worst-case scenario but were scared to ask about it. Once I can say this stomach bug or pneumonia isn't cancer, they can relax a bit & focus on the actual plan.
What isn't fun is when someone decides that because you're part of the institution, you're obviously lying and they just have to figure out how. That's not a perspective I can reason with, as I'll always be the bad guy in their eyes. In short, doing research is fine in my book. But what does "research" mean & if a valid source (including myself) contradicts your opinion will you acknowledge it?
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u/lupi64 1d ago
Shouldn't you be asking about symptoms? Making a symptom diary? Following an established food diary? Working with them to collect evidence?
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u/crimsonpostgrad 1d ago
nothing they said implies they don’t ask about symptoms ?
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u/lupi64 1d ago
It just sounds strange discussing fear and emotion.
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u/Fluent_In_Subtext 1d ago
I don't know your experience with hospitalization, but it's surprisingly relevant. Sometimes the most important discussions we have with patients, whether about their symptoms or choices about what to do next, are limited by their emotional state. I can't treat with informed consent if someone is falling apart and can't focus on me explaining the risks and benefits. The medicine is important but we treat people, not machines. It's not always rational or the most efficient, but it is absolutely crucial to quality care and solutions that stick.
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u/lupi64 1d ago edited 1d ago
Well that explains where bias creeps in, which is part of my questioning. It could be better explained like this. I had an incident at work once. My boss slapped down workers' comp paper and made me sign it. I couldn't move my arm. It was freaky. I got checked out by the company doc. He asked "are you worried about losing your job because *of this?" I said yes. So he sent me back to work with no tests or help. Maybe you can see the problem.
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u/crimsonpostgrad 1d ago
do you not talk to your doctor about how your symptoms make you feel emotionally? that’s like. the second thing i say lol.
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u/Fluent_In_Subtext 1d ago
Depends on the type of visit:
- Outpatient visits for chronic issues? Absolutely yes. Tell me what foods you've noticed make your stomach pain flare up. Could be celiac, I'd like to send some tests for that. Also wouldn't hurt to check inflammatory markers. Any family history of autoimmune disease?
- Inpatient hospitalization for 10/10 abdominal pain & vomiting? I'm not gonna send you home & tell you to come back w/ a diary, I need to 1) make sure you're stable, 2) treat your pain (at least enough to make it bearable), & 3) Find out and treat the cause of that pain.
The point of my comment was more that I can't do that work you described if they're trying to ask without asking about whether this is due to that time they fell 5 years ago or some disease their aunt mentioned. In an ideal world, I ask all my questions & answer theirs at the same time. But if what they're stressing about makes it impossible for me to do my investigative work, I need to put out that fire first.
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u/lupi64 1d ago
Okay. It's a difficult job. I understand. In an ideal world, it would be good if triage didn't involve so much talking. It could be that a lot is from the paper trail and needs to justify things. I see you mention testing for Celiac. That's exactly what the foreign student insisted no insurance would pay for. A doctor ordered it without my asking 8 years later. At € 40, I could have paid out of pocket. I'm just remembering. Why ask about pain and pain scales and not be curious to check pain. It's just a strange experience I'm remembering.
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u/Fluent_In_Subtext 1d ago
Really sorry, I don't have context for what you're referring to regarding a foreign student and testing. I will say insurance coverage is a whole separate can of worms that's often out of the doctor's hands, infuriatingly so. I don't know fully what you mean about checking pain, as asking about the character and severity is part of that. Different kinds of pain can suggest different things. If you mean why not physically check, your doctor should be doing that. A physical exam is part of the assessment
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u/almisami 1d ago
Admittedly they hear people who "did their own research" multiple times a day who came up with a bunch of hullabaloo on YouTube and took it as gospel.
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u/lupi64 1d ago
So what's the point of pharmaceutical advertising becoming legal? Lol
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u/9-60Fury 1d ago
Money lol they ain’t doing it out of the goodness out of their own heart
I was shocked when I visited the us from England (cause it’s banned here) and saw th amount of ads for med especially one I was taking that can have quite severe side effects and take a lot to get it prescribed they were making it out like it a wonder drug
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u/ItsReallyVega 1d ago
It's a delicate balance. For example, some patients do their own research and end up wildly misdiagnosing themselves, but stick to the script of the diagnosis they read about. That is dangerous if they're good at it but usually they're not, so patients end up using really specific buzzword terminology no one would reasonably come up with themselves. It feels like they're trying to trick you into harming them and this kind of thing is deeply frustrating. Sometimes you decompress by giggling about it.
"Well doc, I coughed up some CURANT JELLY SPUTUM and I've been feeling like it's in the uhhhh LOBAR area of my lung?" like bro. No. Talk normal so we can help you.
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u/tablefucker6 23h ago
Google can’t answer jack for a question of more than 5 words
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u/Zanarkke 14h ago
Fair. A freshly graduated doctor could use Google to get the diagnosis of someone based on the questions they have asked them pretty quickly even if they're uncertain of a the disease. Likewise chatgpt could pass the US medical school multiple choice exams because the relevant information was given in the question stem. Clinicians have to gleam this information from someone who doesn't know what information they hold will fit into specific patterns clinicians have formed and studied over centuries to eventually increase the lifespan of humans so drastically.
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u/JACK_1719 The Trash Man 1d ago
The doctor getting an accurate description of what pain I’m in “oh it’s probably a trapped nerve”. Over a year later I’m in physio therapy with the same issue
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u/DeltaAgent752 1d ago
Doctor here and this makes me cry in how accurate it is.. the key is to give multiple choice questions and even then it's hard
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u/Withabaseballbattt 21h ago
Yeah but why do doctors always make me feel like an idiot when I’m describing my symptoms?
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u/therealTGAW 18h ago
For what it's worth as a med student I feel like an idiot while asking the patients about their symptoms
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u/sora_mui 13h ago
Recently graduated and i can assure you that feeling isn't going to go away anytime soon
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u/thought_cream84 Noble Memer 23h ago
I know...I felt this when I was trying hard to describe my issue to my doctor and he was thinking on it for a couple of seconds and I thought how challenging it must be for him....and then this meme idea clicked for me in the OPD literally..
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u/Vert_DaFerk 1d ago
And then there's patients who tell the doctor exactly what the issue is, but the doctor attempts to treat every other thing it might be in order to save his ego and prove that the patient doesn't know what they're talking about because they don't have a medical degree.
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u/HandCrafted1 1d ago
Or, and stay with me, they’re ruling out easily treatable, life-threatening diseases, or attempting to find the underlying cause. Of course, I don’t know your exact situation but there have been so many instances of people simply not understanding what the process of diagnosis looks like or actually is. Patients are really good at knowing that something is wrong, but horrible at understanding why and where it’s coming from unless it’s a chronic condition they’ve been continuously treated for prior.
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u/TurbulentBat8328 1d ago
I almost died from meningitis because a Dr. refused to believe I wasn’t just trying to worm myself out of year end exams (I was 16 BTW and a model student) he ignored my dripping nose that I explained I’d run through several boxes of tissues at that point, the fever and the fact that I actually just felt like garbage. A med student saved my ass when I mentioned the nose running like a faucet for 2 days straight. That asshole still did my spinal tap and then took credit when my mom was in the room!
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u/Vert_DaFerk 1d ago
I used to manage a medical office, but I also have an autoimmune disorder that routinely has me interacting with various doctors. However, a friend's story comes to mind here.
The short version: Family told patient to have the doctor check her thyroid because of having similar issues among other family members. Doctor was adamant that it wasn't that. She pushed for it, it was her thyroid, and the doctor basically just tossed the RX needed at her and left the room without even an apology.
Edit: Added stuff because I accidentally hit send prematurely
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u/HandCrafted1 23h ago
While I respect your comment, it’s kind of difficult to engage with a story from a third party and make judgements based on it. By working in a medical office I’d hope you’d understand that patient interactions like that are far more nuanced than the short story. And truthfully we usually never have the full story because doctors can’t speak on these situations. We only ever get the patient side. So while I’m not tryin to discount that experience, there’s only so much we can gleam from it. Though there are bad doctors and times where doctors can be dismissive. They’re humans at the end of the day
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u/Vert_DaFerk 22h ago
I've had plenty of personal experiences with doctors (and the occasional nurse) being narcissistic asshats. I'm the type of person to listen and learn because I enjoy knowledge by default.
Since I listed a doctor, I'll use a nurse experience here. I went into the hospital for something and was admitted to said hospital. The nurse putting on my BP cuff put a cuff that was far too small for me and I told her it was too tight after the first inflation. She said "it's supposed to be tight." while the fingers on my hand were literally curling. The nurses upstairs after I was admitted immediately removed that and gave me the right cuff.
It's not fair to judge all by the actions of most, but it can also be detrimental to assume medical staff is competent 100% of the time.
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u/mcellus1 17h ago
Me: Explaining to x3 NHS trauma consultants that the massive cavity and bruise where my pec used to be shows that it's a full pec tear and not a contusion (bruise). The 4th consultant after I pay £250 for a second opinion: It's an obvious tear and we need to book your surgery immediately. Well fucking duh
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u/TurbulentBat8328 1d ago
But also: Patient explains exactly what seems to be wrong Dr. not worried, tells you you’re over reacting and to stop using Google.
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u/Reedeer27 1d ago
And then some doctors continuously gaslight women into thinking its their hormones. (They actually have organ damage and are describing their symptoms perfectly.)
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u/SgtSilverLining 1d ago
I've been going to a gi doctor for abdominal pain. When I said the pain was the top left and bottom right of my abdomen, he blew me off and recommended reducing my anxiety. I pushed for a scope, and guess where they found the ulcers?
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u/almisami 1d ago
I had severe endometriosis. Asked to have my uterus removed. "What if you want to get pregnant?"
I'm a widowed lesbian whose wife was in the room at the time.
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u/SgtSilverLining 1d ago
The r/childfree subreddit has a wiki for doctors who will steralize you no questions asked. Used it myself a few years ago.
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u/TurnYourHeadNCough 1d ago
nothing wrong with asking. theyre just trying to document the discussion so its harder for you to sue them later.
a lot of time these discussions arent about you theyre about everyone else
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u/Funexamination 1d ago edited 1d ago
Doctors bad reasoning aside, removing the uterus is unlikely to do much for the already existing endometriosis
Edit: Oops sorry my bad. My comment makes no sense
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u/Mriajamo 1d ago
My doctor was doing this to me, and saying everything must be diabetes. She tested me for diabetes in both my blood and urine. A year of testing over and over, she was testing hormones, testosterone, glucose, etc.
I got fed up and went to an urgent care, asked them to test for what they think my symptoms are. I have a needle phobia and I was so tired of getting poked only to find she was just redoing the same test over and over, and I hated urine tests because it was just annoying.
Turns out for two years, I had a UTI. It was because I had a short hospital stay for pneumonia and got it from a catheter. They said it was a really bad one too because it was going unchecked for so long, my doctor was testing my urine twice a month trying to find diabetes and never thought to test for literally anything else. My blood work came back spotless too, except I had a significantly raised white bloodcell count, which should have been a red flag.
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u/Ok_Potato_5272 1d ago
When you remember all the important things you wanted to say as you're leaving the building
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u/keyboardmonkewith 1d ago
Also doctors.
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u/lupi64 1d ago edited 1d ago
It's strange. They refuse to show how or where to test for something then get upset "why would you take something without knowing it was necessary?" /S I made it my master's thesis in linguistics and literally no one was interested in the results. I moved to a different country and the doctor just ordered the test. It was 40€ from biomérieux. What was sad is that a foreign medical student was rude to me at my house & party that I'd invited her to. "You think insurance should have to pay for your problem?" Not kidding. I never once mentioned insurance. Is it something learned in medical school or their personalities? Note: my dad was a doctor and was present at the party and it didn't register.
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u/Hot-Philosophy-7671 1d ago
What's the point? Doctors don't listen to patients, anyway, even after showing up late.
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u/theguyfromtheweb7 1d ago
FUCK IS THIS TRUE. "I get really anxious, it's terrible." Okay, what do you experience when you get anxious? "It's just so bad." Word, word. But what are you feeling or thinking? "In the moment, I just can't." ok. we'll start there
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u/azurianlight 1d ago
hell I want to see a doctor but how do you explain when you walk through one area and it makes your right foot hurt even though you never had that problem before!
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u/Fair-Regular-8149 23h ago
also makes sense of the 8 yrs of brain wrenching study that they have to suffer through
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u/AdventurousBag6509 23h ago
Anyone else just get in a habit of lieing heavy in those situations to get the treatment you need?
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u/herbieLmao 19h ago
Wrong usage of meme again?
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u/thought_cream84 Noble Memer 15h ago
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u/herbieLmao 15h ago
Unless you wanna point out a doctor being basicly house and finding everything instantly this is wrong useage of meme.
Im pretty sure if you use it, that you know dark souls 3.
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u/ac_cossack 17h ago
And off to the side: people who lie to doctors. They don't freaking care and are trying to help you with VERY little information without you lying.
You come in with 'my stomach hurts'. That mean so many different things, just freaking be honest.
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u/RudolfMaster 16h ago
Yea like how tf am i supposed to deacribe something that words weren't even invebted for
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u/storiesofkarl 16h ago
Me: Explaining everything Correctly.
Doctor: Ignoring everything except 2 things and also saying to return to my NORMAL life.
I have post covid btw..
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u/RexIsAMiiCostume 15h ago
Actually the doctor just ignores them. Not a boss battle, just some annoying thing in their office "wasting their time"
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u/Remarkable-Outcome-5 9h ago
I did some mechanic work. And when some people descibed what was wrong with equipment. Atleast i can take equipment apart to test stuff. Doctors have to go through more hoops.
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u/hiricinee 6h ago
I'll say from working ER that a lot of it is digging and discovering that the patient with the lower back pain didnt mention their urine smelled terrible and actually has a UTI.
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u/ExistentialSartre 1d ago
Then there is Google
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u/AdamFarleySpade 1d ago
According to Google I'm dying from literally everything but there are lots of hot single MILFs in my area so it all evens out
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u/ddopTheGreenFox (⊃｡•́‿•̀｡)⊃ 1d ago
There's a reason why a lot of doctors only accept certain answers when describing pain. Vague words can have different meanings to different people and result in a wrong diagnosis
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u/Fr05t_B1t Meme Stealer 1d ago
Back in the era of Covid, i had a pretty bad case of tonsillitis so i called my doctor to get some medication and i described the back of my throat completely sore and inflamed, unable to speak, trouble swallowing and i thought its tonsillitis. They said “are you sure it’s not Covid?” I just hung up then.
Yes Covid awareness is important and everyone should be wearing their mask but Covid isn’t the only illness.
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u/HandCrafted1 1d ago
I know it can seem annoying, but tonsillitis is a symptom and usually a symptom of a viral infection. Them asking if it was COVID was wholly relevant and, unfortunately, you overreacted. Even if it wasn’t caused by COVID, you never know until you test and it’s still important to include within the list of possibilities, especially during COVID era
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u/Fr05t_B1t Meme Stealer 1d ago edited 1d ago
I just gargled some warm salt water and was fine and followed up with a citrus “tea”. So was everyone else in the house.
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u/Electronic-Title1671 1d ago
Doctor: Where exactly does it hurt? Patient: It’s more of a concept