My friends often come to me for medical advice. I’m truly honored to be thought of as a go-to-girl for all things medical questions, but I often don’t have the answers. It’s not because I’m not qualified for my position (or even because I’m not a fabulous nurse…because I am), but because my medical training is nonexistent. I was trained as a nurse over 4 years, starting with the basics of biology, chemistry, and psychology. Then, the next 3 years were broken down into segments of Basic Health Assessment, Pediatrics, Mental Health, Med-Surg, Gerontology, Critical Care, etc. Each of these courses focused on the affected populations and conditions that they were frequently affected by.
We didn’t take courses on the common cold, or a sprained vs strained ankle. We took courses on interpreting blood gases and using those numbers to treat your patient, and I can honestly say that those classes helped me a lot more for my current career than talking about more “basic” problems (that my friends are more inclined to ask about). I almost feel like I should do more research to be able to answer those types of questions, but really, I’m still researching things that are prevalent in the CVICU. We can never know everything… I think I just have to get used to saying “sorry, but I’m not sure.”
But you have to admit that you have a greater amount of knowledge then your friends and because of this you can give better advise then say me. I would tell them to walk it off. And you can tell them more apropriatly when it is time to go and see the doctor for help.
Unfortunately, no – that’s just what I’m saying. For example, a friend might have a swollen arm – I might tell them to “walk it off” and they might go see a doctor and find out it’s from infected lymph nodes. (that really happened). My training is very specific as a cardiovascular RN and I’m excited to change that with a degree as a nurse practitioner.