A slightly agitated senior citizen comes in with the triage complaint "My blood pressure is high."
Me: Hello, Ma'am, I'm GuitarGirl RN, the triage nurse. What's happening today?
Senior Citizen: My neighbor took my blood pressure and it was high! 178/110! He said I should come right in because I could be having a stroke or something!
Me: Ok, do you have a history of high blood pressure?
SC: My doctor told me I do.
Me: Ok, do you take your medications every day?
SC: I don't have any more. My Medicaid ran out and I have to get more Medicaid. Can someone just give me a few pills?
Me: It's very important to see your doctor regularly and take your medications for your high blood pressure.
SC: I don't even need medication every day! I use something else.
Me: What do you take for your blood pressure now?
SC: V-8 vegetable juice. I have a glass every morning and night.
Me: Ma'am, vegetable juice is very nutritious, but it won't lower your blood pressure all by itself.
SC: (getting agitated) Yes it does! It's low sodium!
Me: It's great that you drink low-sodium juice, but you need to see your doctor and take any medications prescribed every day.
SC: IT LOWERS YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE!! IT SAYS SO ON THE LABEL!!! You think I'm stupid! I know all about this! HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE IS DANGEROUS!!
Me: Uh...
SC: WHAT IS MY PRESSURE NOW?!?
Me: 186/92. You seem a little upset. Perhaps you should stay and see the doctor; we can give you some medication, and then a prescription for later.
SC: I DON'T HAVE MY MEDICAID! THAT'S WHAT I'M TELLING YOU!!!
Me: I hear what you are saying. Please wait to see the doctor; we will try to help you the best we can, OK?
SC: YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING! I'M GOING HOME AND HAVING A GLASS OF JUICE!
Me: Well, all right then.
7 comments:
Half of me is laughing, and can see several former patients going on a similar diatribe. The other part is terribly sad that she feels she has to substitute juice for her drugs because she has no health insurance.
I know, that's exactly how I felt! I really wanted her to stay so we could figure something out, but it was already about 11 pm, and she was going on and on about how she didn't want to wait til 3 am to see someone. I asked her to please try and wait, and as I left at midnight, she was inside seeing a doc. I'm sure they hooked her up with a clinic or gave her a number to follow up with social work in the morning. I hope she does.
Oh, oh, the juice...maybe we should stock that on the ambulance so I can take some whenever we have to deal with patients like *you*.
Come on---most bp meds are $4 at Wally World and if you can't afford $4 Q month, you're SOL probably far beyond the BP meds. I'll bet the V8 is $20/month minimum.
Have you seen how much potassium is in V-8? That shit is loaded.
It's not just walmart with the $4 scripts. Target and Kroger offer $4 generics now, too. Wouldn't surprise me if CVS jumped on that bandwagon soon, too.
We don't have a Wal-Mart or a Kroger, but we do have a Target that's reachable by public transportation. I'll have to mention that to patients who say they can't afford their prescriptions.
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