r/emergencymedicine • u/Asleep-Palpitation43 Nurse Practiciner • Feb 02 '25

Advice Allergy Olympics

Is it wrong that if I see a patient has more than 10 allergies I IMMEDIATELY assume she's (bc it's always a she) a psych case?

In 24 years I've never been wrong.

You'll never read this in a textbook but add it to your practice today and thank me later👍

495 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

369 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

30

u/Pediatric_NICU_Nurse Hospice RN Feb 02 '25

2nd person could be an experienced pt who know’s they’ll be admitted.

That’s me with my CPAP machine/laptop and my autoimmune diseases lmao. I’ve seen this with a lot of oncology pt’s as well.

36

u/buttpugggs Feb 02 '25

Unless they're really ill, I tell basically every patient that I take in by ambo that they should bring their phone charger.

16

u/Beautiful-Carrot-252 Feb 02 '25

And not the short one. At least a10 foot cord. My husband was just hospitalized and the outlets were all on the far side of the room and even a 6 foot cord would not have reached from his bed.

6

u/BlueDragon82 Feb 02 '25

After having an unexpected admittance that lasted nearly a week as well as numerous patients and their family members ask to borrow chargers, I always bring my long charger with me if I'm going as a patient. Besides, reading or watching something is a great way to distract from pain and discomfort. If you focus hard enough on something else it can make things bearable until you get the help you need. Best thing is to keep books or shows/movies downloaded on your phone if possible since a lot of EDs and certain parts of the hospital have zero cell service.

16

u/rixendeb Feb 02 '25

I have a bag with a charger and stuff in my car cause my youngest likes to get admitted from asthma and rhinovirus. I've definitely taken it in with myself.

4

u/nobutactually Feb 02 '25

I just always have one in my bag anyway

1

u/Megaholt Feb 03 '25

This. I pretty much always have a charger on me, just in case someone needs it.

That is the person I am.

2

u/Negative_Way8350 BSN Feb 02 '25

I mean: Still not an emergency. The point stands. 

1

u/Flautist1302 Feb 03 '25

I feel the blanket can also be the experienced hospital patient, who knows that blankets can be hard to come by in hospital, and are usually freezing, and it's nice to have something from home...