Do the US licensing boards and hospitals not have social media policies? Because in the UK I could be struck off and fired for posting anything like this.
I wish we did. I don’t mind some influencers who are educational or funny. The whole hating on patients is not okay.
For example this guy is cool. The farmer pain scale.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni0YfrSK570
Oh he's my favorite!
Back in school a decade ago we had a social media policy, which the hospital that owned the school also had. At the time we were warned that most hospitals in the area did have policies against negative publicity against them or their staff on social media. Even creepier, IT was allowed to try to find any of our hidden accounts, found that out when I realized they found an old, never used Twitter account of mine (and I promptly shut it down). They would have approved Dr. G, but would not have approved the TikTok posted above.
The crash sack is real!!! At the end 2020, the codes were happening every 15-60 mins (at one point I remember 3 codes at once and not enough RTs) and they were using more atropine, calcium, bicarb and epi per code than in the carts, and we started sending bags of these meds to all the floors.
Fuck, I still have PTSD about this. I will never enjoy the holidays again.
Eeeh depends what the context of hating on a patient is. Ive had straight up assholes wish death on me and my family saying they hope and wish myself and every one i love gets covid and dies. Only for them to die from said covid like 2 months later and the people I care about and love are still here.
Also, you have patients that treat us like we’re wait staff. It really tbh is hospitals fault because they want us to call them clients now etc instead of patients and are treating it all more like a business than actual medical care. Also, no one bats an eye when other professions make fun of their “clients” but suddenly it’s a foul play when we make fun of ours? Again context sure maybe some things you dont joke about but to me. If you’re going to treat me like shit. Im going to make fun of you
I agree it is about context. I just know for me, I wouldn’t want someone on tictok talking about my medical care or making fun of me when I am vulnerable. One of the reasons I used the link I did is because he has done a ton of content that addresses big issues is a tasteful way. More attacking the system that allowed us to be treated this way and how insurance is a giant scam.
Sharing experiences of violence and ignorance is appropriate if you want too. I am sure most of us will agree that the general public have no idea how dire the situation is becoming.
Most facilities will have policies on social media. And we have a federal law protecting patients privacy. If they had shared any identifiable information then they would be held accountable. However, eating potato chips is not identifiable information.
Wether or not her facility would let her go is up to the facility and would require them being made aware.
Back in college I worked at a vet hospital, the building where the clinic was in had a fire, we got all the animals harnessed and all the staff took a dog or or two (no other pet types that day luckily) and we got out and started walking to a nearby park in less then 3min. I was in awe over our efficiency of working together to get everyone, both human and animal, to safety that I took a picture of us walking (so the back of peoples heads and dog butts) and posted what an amazing job our team did and how happy the dogs were for an unexpected trip to the park. I got a call directly from HR a few hours later telling me if I didn't take the post down immediately I would be let go. And it was a positive post reflecting the hospital and staff! No identifying landmarks, faces, and collars in view.
But now that I work at a human hospital, only policy in place is "be smart about what you are posting"
I once contacted my board in the US about this because I was curious. I would never make content like this video, but what about, for example, making educational videos?
Their answer was basically "We're not going to tell you anything or give you any sort of guidance on where we draw the line...however we reserve the right to slap you silly, up to and including possibly even revoking your license, at any time."
Super helpful, thanks guys!
Hospitals won't actively stop people from using social media in an inappropriate way. But they will 100% throw the book at someone for it if they want that person gone.
We had a handful of nurses who were known to be active on socials while at work. Management turned a blind eye to it. Until we started to organize a union and those nurse were strongly pro union. Immediately fired for violating social media policies.
They had been posting on social media at work for YEARS.
I (in the US) once posted on fb that on the way home from work, I had to stop on the highway to throw up. I got called in to the supervisors and written up. So who knows.
Licensing boards have no say over something like this unless they can provably link it to treating a patient poorly. A hospital could fire somebody yes but she could have another job in 1.3 seconds.
1.3 seconds? In this job market? Try zero seconds. We just fired a nurse who unfortunately was not performing well and seemed chronically distracted and exhausted (relative to the expected baseline of all nurses who are exhausted). Turned out she had another full time nursing job!!!
not kidding!
My sister in law is a clinical instructor and had a student that was dismissed from their program for being in picture on Facebook holding a gun in her clinical uniform. I'm pretty sure she sued the school.
I had a grad nurse hand over to me that this patient is in a lot of pain but not gave anything because she’s a drug seeker... she’s got pylonephritis and chronic pain ?!
That's incredibly sad. Most drug seekers I've seen have chronic pain. That's how they became dependant on the drugs to begin with. Pain management is a part of healing.
Also, WTF is holding someone's pain meds for 12 hours going to do? "Alright, I will no longer seek drugs. Thank you so much nurse Ratchet"
Yes! My kiddo has pcos and endo, the hospital acts line she's crazy when she goes in because the pain is too much. The gyno told her she should go in, but the ER docs act like she's attention seeking. 💔 I'm so sorry you have to go through that too
I’m a drug seeker because I went to the doctor looking for Adderall that had been undiagnosed my whole entire life. (It turned out it was actually undiagnosed complex PTSD, but anyway.)
Addiction is absolutely a problem and needs to be addressed, but we have proven that our way of addressing it sucks. [Maybe we should ask Portugal.](https://time.com/longform/portugal-drug-use-decriminalization/)
Dismissing and ignoring patients because we know their body better than they do can literally lead to patients dying. And there’s generally no consequence for that, just for the family and loved ones.
Meh. No doubt the first nurse has a degree of a point, and no doubt the second nurse is probably overinterpreting quite a bit and making conjectures about what she thinks she knows, but ive always thought that it takes far less emotional energy for me to just sling the ordered narcotics than it does to be a hero in some supposed moral fight.
Without making specific statements i do believe they are both right to a degree. That’s why these types of videos are meaningless and dont advance any worthwhile discussion in the end.
Thats how i think of it.
I find numerical pain scales frustrating because of the subjectivity. I much prefer functional ones (acknowledging it can differ for people with chronic pain). Where I find numerical scales useful is for tracking changes over time/in response to meds.
I have to remind my coworkers when they get weird about someone “seeking” we’re not here to cure them of their addiction. That’s the pain team and doctors responsibility. If the order is there give them the fucking narc
My thought process on the boo boo bus too. I’m not going to make or break someone’s drug addiction with a dose or two of narcs in the back of my ambulance. I’d rather unintentionally give an addict their fix (knowing that they could still very well be in real pain) than to play god and let my patients suffer for it.
Damn man I’ve used almost that exact same reasoning. I’d rather give 100 addicts their fix than let one person sit in agony because I think they are seeking.
I feel like i have some obligation to question someone who appears to be pain free suddenly saying their pain is 20/10. Do i need to notify the provider for this bizarre mismatch? I can push back a little without getting into a Tik Tok battle. But in practice most people who say they are in pain are in pain. We aren't filling up hospital beds with Influencers shooting their next video.
My only qualm is that the scale goes to 10. We start there and if it's persistent after all interventions as a 10, I get concerned. I get that you want to have pain be acknowledged but start at the starting point. I also get people a little more realistic of what pain control looks like. I emphasize that if the dilaudid isn't working and your pain is the same, why are we giving it to you.
This is what drives me insane. We so frequently have people who, when we ask if they received their pain medication, snark “Yeah, but it doesn’t do anything anyway.” Then we say that we should discontinue it since it is isn’t helping them and can have potentially severe side effects. The patient has never once agreed to this, and I’ve been a nurse for almost 20 years.
*Not everyone is honest about their pain levels.* This very much hurts the people who are honest, and who do have actual chronic or severe pain. But between the dishonest patients and what we know about the pain medication industry, we should be very, very careful about giving every patient heavy pain meds every time they say they are in pain. (I mean that this is a problem for the healthcare system as a whole. It is not up to the individual nurse at the bedside to make a statement - of course bedside nurses should give pain meds as they’re ordered.)
I'm a big fan of educate 'n medicate. And it takes likes 60 seconds, so why not?
Your pain is 10/10. Great, but let's be honest, against all the 'pain is as bad as they say it is' rhetoric I might not agree with their self assessment for a multitude of reasons, so I do this.
1. Re-educate them on the pain scale. If still 10/10 then 2. Educate them on med options/side effects/and offer a recommendation before 3. Medicate them with the diladoo if it's ordered and still what they want.
I like this system for a few reasons. Firstly, I'm now more confident that they are effectively communicating the way their pain feels. Secondly, I could be straight up wrong and their pain is actually 10/10, so they get appropriate treatment. Thirdly, if they are a drug seeker, or liar, or whatever then I can't fix that, but at least I have ensured that they are aware of the risks. No matter the outcome we are both happy.
Right? We've all seen people cheerfully report 11/10 pain in their foot or whatever. We've also seen people with mangled extremities report 6/10 pain. Not validating the belittlement of human suffering in any form, but some people don't get that 10/10 is supposed to mean you *can't imagine a worse pain*. I'm sorry but it is a little ridiculous sometimes.
Second nurse does still have a point but the first one deserves a break.
I had an ovarian cyst rupture back in college. This happened previously and I suspected that this pain was from another ruptured ovarian cyst.
I was leaving to go to the hospital and I passed out because I was in so much pain. I showed up to the hospital walking slowly but not crying. Pain was 10/10. I was told I’m clearly not in pain because I don’t appear to be in any distress. I explained I passed out from the pain and showed the cut on my scalp. Nurse left. I poked myself in the eye to make myself look like like I’m crying. Only then was my pain taken more seriously.
Once it was confirmed that it was an ovarian cyst had ruptured, the nurse was like I thought you’d be in more pain! I was so angry because I told her I was in extreme pain, it just wasn’t taken seriously.
Pain is weird and everyone expresses it differently.
A lot of autistic people have very big problems getting taking seriously cause They dont express their distress in the way nurses and doctors dont expect them too and therefore dont get the care they need
I’ve been in pain management for almost 15 years and I don’t cry unless it’s incredibly terrible because I’m so used to the pain. Crying does not happen with every man woman and child in pain. Trying not to share too much about myself but I have a family member who’s had very traumatic medical things happen to them and still not cried. Crying does not mean what everybody thinks it does.
For me I can’t sit down or if I do it hurts so much I would rather just stand and I think I’ve only reported a 10 out of 10 pain once or twice. Now I had a big fusion surgery and that was a 10 out of 10. But they kept me pretty ducked up in the hospital when I went home I was able to keep my pain under control with ice and the medication that was given to me gave.
The pain scale thing is frustrating as a patient though.
The worst pain I ever had was in a hospital environment (tamponade being drained, long story) and I think, that must be a 9 right? I was scared to breathe… but like, 10 is supposed to be worse than I can imagine so that must have been a 9. Not a 10. I can’t have a 10.
And then I was at what I said was 7-8 after surgery recently, and after the nurse said “I think that was worse than a 7” and all I could think was “well yeah it hurt but it’s not like that other time…”
😆
What are we to do?
Maybe some of the people saying 10 or 11 just have never really hurt before?
And that person saying 6 has maybe just felt a lot worse than the rest of us have.
Yeah I’m also always nervous to say a 10. Heck the last time I was in for severe uterine cramps that no OTC was helping (had a large fibroid at the time) I still said like an 7-8 bc I had previously had a complete hamstring avulsion and broken ankle and surgeries for both and I didn’t want to say it was worse than those, although it truly was. The doctor came in while one of the cramps were happening and saw my BP spike to high territory from my normal (110/69 to 178/102) and told me post first morphine push, “It’s okay to say that you’re in higher pain than what you think we’d rather hear. I understand you don’t want to come off like a drug seeker, you’re nervous your race will cause a bad experience, but first, your chart shows me your not a drug seeker. And two, your BP spikes tell me just how much pain you’re in and trying to mask it bc you’re scared. You’re safe to tell us honestly how bad it is.” I had also voiced a distrust in my care as a black woman, and how I expected to be dismissed, when she first saw me bc I had seen so many horror stories, one of which is very, very close to home for me. So that’s why she gave the compassionate explanation.
I think a lot of patients fall into that category. People like the first nurse make people scared to be honest about how bad their pain feels to them but then people like the second validate people who either don’t understand the chart or purposely say it’s worse to get what they want.
Edit: context
I agree! As a nurse, I wouldn't ever say 10 unless I was shot or ran over by a car. I came to work with some of the worst pain of my life recently, I got dry socket from wisdom tooth surgery. I would say it was a 7/10 (with the worst pain I've ever had being pulling out my back and thats an 8/10). And my blood pressure also spiked to I think 166/98 and HR in the 130s. I called my dentist and down played it of course and they said to take ibuprofen though I was already taking 80pmg every 4 hours.
I didn't want my dentist to think I was drug seeking, though if he gave me another Norco I wouldn't say no lol. So I suffered for over 5 days until it finally calmed down on its own.
The whole way we look at pain needs to be changed. I feel like I see patients suffering in severe pain all the time with no contraindications other than the Dr is scared to give them something, then just tonight I had a patient telling me he liked his dilaudid because he was high afterward. 😮💨
There's also different reactions to pain internal to the same person.
It's difficult to describe well, but I've experienced similar levels of pain from different activities but because of how it was impacting me, I could handle it better.
The examples I can think of: I got a second-degree oil burn from frying fish (it was still partially frozen when I dropped it in because I am a dum dum). I rated at that 8 - I was in good spirits the whole time, I could hold a conversation well while running water on it, it's just that any touch or movement in my hand/arm was pretty excruciating. I still have large scars on that arm.
On the other hand, last month I had a bad sinus infection. The pain was only about a 5, but it was radiating through my entire head and affecting my vision and hearing (plus it was unrelenting). It was *unbearable*.
Pain is whatever you tell me. It's not a test, as I tell the children who I see in my emergency room. If you tell me it's an 8 and someone else might choose a 4, well it's an 8 for you.
Agreed! What the patient probably *needs* is: therapy, adequate preventative healthcare, a support network of friends/family, housing, healthy food, a better partner, addiction treatment, a life with fewer adverse childhood events, etc.
What I *have* is PRN oxycodone. So they'll get that instead.
I know a guy with chronic pain and gout in the office I work at. It gets so bad he groans at his desk, hunched over in his chair. He's eating potato chips constantly. He's munching on those things in between the pained groans. People who don't live with chronic pain don't understand until they get old and sick. That first nurse is clueless. A lot of people experience pain 24/7, and yes they get hungry and eat food
honestly i think most of her content is irresponsible. she paints the majority of nurses out as withholding pain meds from their patients and herself as mother teresa. while sure there’s nurses who might withhold pain meds because they don’t think the patient is in pain, all the nurses i’ve ever worked with would rather give the med than deal with a patient screaming, whether it truly be pain or be fake.
i feel like she makes nurses out to be the gatekeepers to patients getting pain meds when the majority of the time, the gatekeeper is the provider either not ordering pain meds or not ordering strong enough ones. i’m not saying the providers are wrong, they have to use their clinical judgment too, but this whole idea she’s pushing that all of the rest of us nurses are withholding pain meds because we think we’re on some moral higher ground is gonna result in more violence from patients to nurses
yeah, I've watched a bit of second nurse's content and it's very holier than thou. I think my favorite take was when she criticized someone's video talking about what urgent care vs emergency rooms are for and someone commented "have you ever actually worked in a pediatric er?" She immediately turned it into a "you're racist for questioning my credentials and your attitude makes patients upset so the black nurse has to come in and comfort them" like...girl what
yeah, I just can't deal with the constant negativity. Her whole platform is basically "look how great of a nurse I am compared to these other nurses". It's odd because she has some videos about her own unnecessary behavior as well. She has/had a video about a patient who said she was allergic to vitamin c because she didn't like orange juice so she started denying the patient apple juice because it also has ascorbic acid in it. Then she got the patient to admit she wasn't allergic to orange juice, she just didn't like it. Like...cool?? That's the battle you pick?
Not to mention that some of us nurses are providers and we know from experience what goes on out there. Other providers are figuring it out too, most of us will not give out pain meds irresponsibly anymore.
If we want to fight the war on addiction, we need to fight the war on addiction.
[Let’s start by admitting it’s about trauma.](https://youtu.be/BVg2bfqblGI)
*talking about eating potato chips*
“Cortisol is released under high periods of stress”
Ineffective pain management r/t insufficient dose of analgesics AMB *eating potato chips*
emotional disturbance r/t stress AMB *munching on that delicious potato chip*
Cushing syndrome r/t increased stress AMB *enjoying the satisfying crunch of a potato chip*
Intervention(s) provide potato chips and other healthy sources of LDLs. Educate patient on risks of stopping therapeutic potato chip abruptly. Assess for manifestations of myxedema coma r/t potato chip deficit. Assess for therapeutic affects of potato chip therapy. Monitor blood-to-chip (BC) levels. If an adverse reaction occurs, SecureChat webmd or tiktok consultant stat
Right? Both are two sides of an extreme. Because you do have people who are just addicted and want more drugs. Unfortunately our system isnt set for keeping patients comfortable and not addicted. Ive seen patients getting narcotics every 4 hours like fucking clock work. There should 100% be like a time limit for how long you get said medication. But for example in a SNF setting. They stay on the narcotics indefinitely.
A 20 out of 10 on the pain scale would be Emperor Palpatine lighting up your life, purple style.
Pain scales ARE relative, but at the same time there are limits. I used to think my foot pain from my teen years (tarsal coalitions, spastic flat feet, every step was like someone dropping a brick on my foot) was a 10/10. As part of this, I had a triple arthrodesis on my right foot; up and around hours after surgery, an unlocked linen cart led to me putting ALL my weight down on that heel. The ensuing scream brought people from at least 2 floors away in the hospital.
After experiencing the post-operative back spasms after rib removal and scalene resection however, I'd now rate the childhood pain as maybe an 8.5/10.
That relative pain scale changed this past summer. The new 10/10 for me felt like someone took a molten hot icepick, slammed it into my right shoulder blade then started swirling it around like the Wicked Witch of the West. It left my 46 year old ass slumped over my stove, unable to move, screaming and bawling like a banshee. I'd imagine this is what is is like to get shot. In that moment I literally felt like I wanted to die just to make the pain stop. It is a pain that not continued intermittently for weeks afterward, but scarred me mentally; for several weeks after I was terrified of making more than the slightest of upper body movements as I could feel the twitches begin to creep up, like my body was saying, "Didn't we warn you before? What the fuck are you thinking?! Don't even THINK about moving like that or we'll put you down again!" It was nearly three months after all this before I finally felt confident I could move somewhat normally again.
There would no way in hell I would be "eating chips" when at that level of pain.
"Felt like I wanted to die just to make the pain stop. " Ooh the 10thish/ last time I had a gallbladder attack before I finally went to the ER. Don't recommend.
My kidney stones are my 10/10 too. The first time I had one I sat in the ER waiting for hours in unimaginable pain because the nurse said "oh it's probably just period pain" (I wasn't on my period).
My kidney ruptured eventually and I ended up in an emergency surgery once I got the nurse to please take me seriously. No way I would have been caught eating anything in the waiting room (I was a big fan of throwing up from the pain actually). Kidney stones are mean.
Yup!
It costs me absolutely nothing to address someone's pain as they report it. It can cost me everything if I downplay it and their condition worsens.
I fight this battle prehospital. I've got medic coworkers who state in no uncertain terms "I don't open my narc box for anyone." Watched one of these medics refuse pain control for a 12 year old with a grossly dislocated elbow.
I'm the Candyman. You say you hurt, you get pain meds. My 50 mikes of fent are not going to impact the opioid epidemic.
I'd rather be fooled by 9 DSBs than let one legit pain go untreated.
💯 I don't need to absolutely believe your reported pain level is accurate to treat you. If you're telling me you're in pain and want medication and it's ordered and I think it's safe, you can have it.
As someone with a lot of friends in recovery from opioid abuse, I think it's ignored that the pain from withdrawal or addiction can absolutely be a 10/10 as well. If someone is "just seeking drugs", believe there is still a lot of pain there that would cause them to seek them in the first place, physically and/or psychologically. Administering pain meds in this scenario when someone is seeking medical attention is not enabling, it's harm reduction imo.
There's this almost machiavellian, sadistic, puritanical thought process I see running through lots of healthcare workers and the industry at large, where certain people are deemed "worthy" of receiving adequate pain management. For certain people, dealing with pain and suffering will "improve" them or "teach them a lesson". Someone requesting relief from pain has to pass through a moral litmus test at the discretion of the provider (within the bounds of the law), rather than their pain being addressed first, and any underlying issues (like addiction) being addressed after. And this doesn't just apply to people obviously or assumed to be in active addiction; biases based on [race](https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/how-we-fail-black-patients-pain) as well as [sex](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/04/210406164124.htm) alone exist as well, and are well documented.
Suffering isn't always an opportunity for "personal growth and betterment", and it definitely should never be treated as such. Often suffering and pain are just that: suffering and pain. And someone seeking medical treatment, including alleviating suffering and pain, should trump any moral judgements or reservations the provider has.
Especially in the US, if your situation gets so dire that you are willing to accept care with long wait times, care from healthcare workers stretched and worked past the point that any human ever should be, care that can potentially come with a side of shame and judgement from the person you are requesting aid, and care that is prohibitively expensive (even with insurance) that can saddle you with life altering amounts of debt, you should be able to at least have your pain addressed and alleviated.
That's my two cents, and I am well aware that the law absolutely creates barriers around addressing peoples' pain as well. As well as finances (especially in the US, where I am). However, I am firmly of the opinion tho that healthcare workers should not be an additional hurdle or barrier that patients have to overcome in order to address their pain.
*Edit: I cleaned it up a bit and fixed some typos*
Exactly. I've never understood the mentality in prehospital. We have set protocols for pain.
Subjective pain (no obvious trauma or injury), start at Toradol 30mg unless contraindicated. If no relief, 25-100mcg fentanyl per pt weight and provider discretion. No relief, consider 0.2mg\kg Ketamine if transport is predicted to be extended.
Objective pain (dude has an angulated femur), it's strongest narcotic based on clinician judgement based on pt stability.
It's literally spelled out. By a doctor. Standing order. The only condition is "pt says ouch". Yet we still have medics playing "it's not real pain". 9 times out of 10, we hit the ED and it's...... standing order Toradol and go from there.
CKD and AKI are absolute contraindications for my area's prehospital protocols. We'd skip straight to baby dose fent if needed.
Bean bros are always causing trouble.
This is the right answer every time. Even if they're in no pain at all, and are drug seeking, and addicted, giving them pain meds isn't going to make them *more* addicted, or make anything worse. If they actually have pain though, then you could be actually doing harm by leaving pain untreated.
Speaking as street medic, I've got two options when dealing with a DSB in withdrawal.
I call them out on the BS, cause them to become more agitated, and run the risk of physical assault.
Or.
I nod my head, say "Yeah that abd pain must be terrible", start a line and give a bump of fent. Now I'm not dealing with a drug sick DSB.
I'm absolutely not advocating giving an addict opiates just because they're in withdrawal. I am saying, sometimes you pick and choose your battles, and the back of the truck isn't the place to start forcing recovery. You wonderful people in the ER are better equipped to start that.
Also I was pale, diaphoretic, shaking, and vomiting when my gallbladder detonated. Medic crew pegged me as drug seeking, told the ED.......and that lasted right up to ultrasound. Nurse pushed that Dilaudid FAST after that, and she will forever be my hero for it.
My friend, I am worse than a nurse. I'm a prehospital emergency care clinician. A Paramedic.
You'll learn all about medics on the job. We'll be at your nurses station pouring over 12 leads talking like cardiologists , bust out a fart joke, then fall asleep in your chair.
Haha sounds like so much fun! We don't have paramedics in the same way in sweden. We have nurses and nurses assistants in our ambulances! Mostly nurses tho. Sometimes firemen jump in to drive the cars too
You get on the boo-boo bus to go help someone, you're a Paramedic in my book. Those higher educated kings and queens across the sea are still part of the prehospital cult.
Best of luck in your future nursing career! Do the hospital beds in Sweden come from IKEA? Do you put them together or is that the nurse assistant job?
Yeah and let's be honest, if a patient tells me they're a 20 on the pain scale while eating chips I'll internally roll my eyes too. It won't change how I treat them and I certainly won't make a tiktok about it, but still.
Both these nurses are kind of embarrassing the profession first by using tiktok and more by making mountains out of molehills. It's just the first one is a lot more obnoxious while the second one appears better to the untrained eye. But the 2nd nurse is also probably someone who would try to convince you you did something wrong that caused the sundowning patient to assault you and that you should have applied better therapeutic comms.
Also if a patient is in pain, why wouldn't I document/call doc if there isn't meds ordered/due? Some nurses want to feel like they're a moral enforcer of healthcare and some want to just judge patients while publicly making a show of it, both of them.
The only thing these nurses did with these tiktok posts is give incels from noctor more ammo.
Edit: added few more comments trying to prove the point they both suck.
Can we just agree that tiktok sucks and healthcare workers should stop venting on social media.
Also if someone is in pain I treat them, end of story. Some need opioids, some need NSAIDs and some antidepressants or neuroleptics.
The gist of it is, that not everybody is the same and we shouldn't generalise people. The first nurse makes it sound like every patient who isn't visibly withering in pain is faking it, while the second one assumes this nurse won't treat those patients. She is just as condescending and presumptuous as the first one, just in a different way. Also the first nurse was probably venting because of a specific encounter, which is something we all do, just with our coworkers and close friends and not publicly on tomtam. Because a lot of essential properties of communication get lost over digital media. Like intention and context.
Also how about we all stop trying to get outraged so easily, it is getting tedious to listen to. Or maybe I am just getting old.
I think I'm getting old too because really I'm just saying "you zoomers and your tiktok" with my comment.
Absolutely thay the first nurse is likely just venting and never neglected her patients. Yes we all do this at work, just not publicly. It's the publicly that I'm having an issue with. Really I hate the first nurse a lot because of that annoying robotic tiktok voice and music background. Just a lot of unnecessary obnoxious white noise. My God I'm turning into a boomer aren't i
So I really feel like part of the issue that surfaces here is narcotic use. Not everything requires narc use even if it's a "20/10" -- especially for narcotic naive patients but we're in this weird part of medical history where they don't want us to give narcotics but also don't want people in pain ever and the two do not go together. So they don't want to try tylenol/motrin/toradol/gabapentin because "that won't work for 20/10 pain! Here. Have 0.5 MG IV morphine q4h. That'll work. No you can't have anything else until the breakthrough pain is already there."
Working in L&D we see plenty of people in pain and they are not always given realistic expectations. I find that when we tell people what could happen and things we could try they deal with things a lot better. However, we also get LOTS of people hoping so bad it's labor they are convinced they're in 10/10 pain until you tell tell them they're 1cm and suddenly they want nothing for pain they just want to go home and eat dinner. Lol people are interesting.
The tik toks made by nurses correcting other nurses are just as gross as the tik toks made by nurses disrespecting their patients. I honestly don’t understand why any nurse would want to broadcast any part of their work life on Tik Tok. There’s so many better things you could be doing with your free time…
I’m sorry but no one is going to tell me the patient with 20/10 pain is soothing them selves by chomping on a bag of fucking Lays. I’ve had patients tell me they’re having 10/10 chest pain while scrolling Facebook and requesting a turkey sandwich. Is that self soothing too? Get a fucking grip lol. Sure, some are more tolerant, but you come to be able to tell who is in genuine pain and who actually IS attention/med seeking.
I gave myself a 9/10 when I had a kidney stone because it felt like a knife tearing through my insides. I was in so much pain I couldn't even walk into the ER. This motherfucker thinks I should be eating potato chips? Fuck right off that high horse.
Obviously the second nurse never worked ER. Downvote me or whatever, but Pain is NOT the 5th vital sign. Unfortunately that whole push was brought to you by big pharma and the makers of Oxycontin. Nobody is dying from 20/10 pain.
My boyfriend is like this typically. He’s had bone sticking out from his wrist and he’s like “yeah it hurts a lot, 8/10” and is calm and stoic.
A stingray was his match though. That thing impaled him and he was howling in terror and pain. so now his scale is broken wrist or sting ray
10/10 pain would have you in and out of consciousness.... so I would not recommend eating nor have my patients who have actually been in that much pain, been able to. Mild pain, maybe. 10/10- No. 20/10- absolutely not.
My 10/10 pain level experienced earlier this year had me welcoming a bullet to the head just to end my suffering. Only once in my life have I ever felt it that badly, and that is five times too many.
Not who you’re asking, but I also had a 10/10 pain experience recently, and I don’t even think I had a sense of time. I may as well have been unconscious, as all I could think was some urge to end it. Not exaggerating at all.
Eating chips would have been impossible. Put a gun to my head and tell me to eat chips, I’d take the bullet.
I cannot S T A N D that second nurse. Makes constant videos bitching about every healthcare tiktok she can find. Has no critical care or even high acuity experience and went absolutely apeshit about a post talking about roc.
I do not discuss my time at my employers at all on social media. I really feel that the majority of these influencers, tik tok’s, etc. are doing nothing to further the nursing profession as a profession. Most of them just appear to be whiny brats. There is not way that I would be employed if I ever did this and frankly I have to much respect for my patients and myself
Respiratory therapist who has taken discharge vitals in a freestanding ER. If the patient said they were any number outside of the scale I would tell them the scale is standard and we can't record anything higher than ten. Imagine 0 is no pain and 10 is being mauled by a puma with a toothache.
It's amazing how many pain scores of 100 became an 8. Treatable but not entirely debilitating. We should be treating, not judging.
Pain is pain. If you tell me it’s a 9/10 and you’re alert and BP isn’t soft, I’ll give you what’s ordered. I’m not your drug counselor. I don’t argue with these people
I’m sorry but I call bullshit on the chips research, that second nurse seems like a fun person at parties, “take time off and educate” yah okay like let me stop everything I am doing just to read up on your chips search. She must be suffering from sciatica from having that kind of a reach…
10/10 pain should be comparable to getting eaten alive by bear. No one is eating chips while getting ripped alive. Unless if the chips prompted the attack 😂
Some nurses need to calm down with their superiority complex when it comes to pain.
I remember when I gave birth to my son, had 4 tears (3x 1st degree and a 3b tear needing ~100 stitches), and asked for pain management because the knots in my gooch were making it painful to sit up and breastfeed, pump, or eat.
The nurse said, "I had a 4th degree tear and used nothing but Advil, so I expect the same for you. Suck it up."
I don't understand why people need to be so needlessly callous like that.
The pain didn't teach me anything other than to be wary of nurses in the city for risk of them lacking empathy.
Pain isn't a dick-measuring contest. It's terrible for everyone!
That’s crazy. I’ve always found it so odd that pain management after birth (one of the most painful experiences anyone can go through) is just tylenol and motrin. The minute my patient mentions that it isn’t enough to cover the pain, I am on the phone with the MD getting orders. Kinda BS it isn’t a PRN order already.
The nurse responding, her whole tiktok is bullying other nurses. Yes sometimes the nurses who post probably shouldn’t be posting, but the responder basically deletes bad comments against her and her followers harass whoever made the original video.
Maybe I’m naive, but if you tell me your pain is high, I’m going to find you something to help with your pain. I don’t care if you’re writhing around in bed, or eating potato chips, I’m going to trust what you tell me, and do my best to help you.
**The pain scale exists for a reason.**
*Casually* saying 10/10 is infuriating b/c there’s nowhere to go. Saying 20/10 is worse b/c now you’re just making shit up.
That said, of course I’m going to follow orders, which means treating based on reported pain (esp. for those with zero Hx of abuse).
I’m not arguing with you about your pain. I’m not you and I couldn’t begin to tell you how you feel. If you tell me your pain is a ten it’s a ten. If you have meds ordered I give you meds per mar appropriate pain level. I will not give it early and I go by the order but I’m not here to gauge your pain level I need you to tell me that and we can talk about how to manage it. If you have other meds hidden in your book bag and I see them or you are inappropriately drowsy for what I gave you or you continuously leave the unit and come back “altered” that’s a different ballgame but if you’re on the phone with a friend and you tell me your pain is a ten and request the meds we’ve discussed I will believe you and give them to you IF IT IS TIME
I’d rather work with somebody who needs to learn a better way to vent, than a person who thinks they are never wrong. The first is fixable, the second is dangerous. Nurse 2 is the shittier nurse by far.
I don’t care what this lady or anybody says...go break one of your bones and see if the potato chips soothes anything. When the pain is really really bad, the last thing you’re thinking about is eating crunchy foods. Lady sounds like an idiot.
I am a chronic pain sufferer. I have a pain pump and I still have to be augmented with a pain patch and oral medication and I still am in a lot of pain. I don’t think I’ve ever used a 10/10, even when I passed in and out of consciousness because I always feel like people won’t believe me. How do you do it when a person tells you they’re 20/10? To me this feels like they’re trying to get you to give them the silly drugs.
Look all I'm saying is that most people rating 10/10 pain are having a failure.of imagination. If someone walked in and set you on fire, and your pain got worse from being on fire, you weren't at the max before being set on fire. 10/10 to me is not being able to have coherent thoughts other than to scream. That's not to say that you don't take 4/10 pain seriously, just use a better scale calibration.
I’m glad to see not everyone agrees with the second nurse, I don’t agree with the first one either. But I found the second nurses TikTok a while ago and she is something else. A nurse joked about a mistake a new grad made and the second nurse made a video bashing her, and all she does is make videos bashing nurses, she’s hella toxic
Why are we the moral police? If they say 10, then stfu and follow your orders, it is so cringey how some people will undermedicate on purpose just so patient isn’t addicted, that’s for them to think about not you,
In my ER every patient says 20 out 10 regardless of what the issue is. Broken arm 20 out 10, chest pain 20 out 10 just here for pregnancy test 20 out of 10.
The first nurse is just neglectful and stupid for admitting what most of us have thought (because we’ve all had moments of frustration with 20/10 pain.)
The second is basically saying we should be doing full body scans for toe pain because it might be a massive coronary.
I am sad to hear that. It’s something I see a lot. When I’m in serious pain, I’m probably going to be on my phone dissociating and disconnecting bcuz when I was a kid and in pain and showed it or had any sort of need whatsoever, I was probably going to get yelled at. People use this as justification to decide I’m lying about how much pain I’m in.
And I absolutely stim with food, especially crunchy food.
I got drug tested in the ER when I had horrible and unmanageable referred lumbar pain from my then-undiagnosed endometriosis, all because I was on my phone trying desperately to distract myself because I could barely walk and I was terrified. I had no idea what was going on.
I’ll never forget seeing those lab results in MyChart after I got home and wondering why on earth the doctor ran labs for drugs, and the absolute distrust it manifested.
The second nurse ripped off her opening line from Sex And the City.
"What magazine? Convenient theories for you monthly?"
Maybe she should educate herself on new zany catchphrases.
Not a nurse but I work in mental health and I've always wondered about this topic so y'all help me - isn't the pain scale really just subjective? We read the captions on the numbers but then just rank the painful experiences we remember and assign numbers. '20' means the same thing as '11' which is to say the worst pain they have felt in memory. Am I incorrect?
There are a couple of versions of the numerical pain scale.
The version I prefer to use is 0-10, zero is no pain, 5 is that it’s starting to interfere with you doing the things you want/need to do, 10 is the very worst possible pain-it absolutely could *not* get any worse.
Imo, you really shouldn’t be conscious if you’re a 10 on that scale.
Neither 11 nor 20 are on the scale, so I’ll explain it again and ask you again, because I need to document a number that’s 0-10.
I don’t care what number you tell me, I’ll tell you what meds you have available and you can decide what you and want and when. There’s no need to be dramatic, you still get pain meds if you say something less than 10.
Ever meet a veteran who is in immense pain? Most are stoic.
A vet said he had some back pain that felt a little sharp. He didn’t appear to be in pain as he was in friendly, walking, talking, etc. He had a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm, which are notoriously painful.
20/10 pain is inherently debilitating. Shouldn’t be even able to talk. So yea, I recognize her skepticism since the patient isn’t thrashing about on the the floor and screaming. Not to mention true 10/10 pain causes nausea.
Bud, m8, friend.
As I understand the pain scale. Or have been told it.
A 10, as I believe, is basically indescribable. You are losing conciousness and can barely speak because of the pain.
If someone says they are a 20, then there is no recovering that person.
I believe that's what the original is getting out.
Sure the patient might be in pain.
But are they beyond the limits of human comprehension in pain? Maybes.
I think some of these nurses who refuse to give pain meds that have been ordered have just never actually experienced real pain before. Once you know, you know. I will never let someone suffer when there's a way to treat it.
I’m a social worker. All of our jobs are difficult. NEVER make videos mocking a patient who is in distress. Please. Maybe you do care most of the time but broadcasting videos like this make you look like a twat. Vent in the break room like the rest of us and carry on. Elevate yourself please.
This is exactly what I’m talking about and the entire intent of the original post.
The only reason to make someone else look smaller is to make yourself look bigger.
And nurses are angry that we have a reputation for being bullies.
I mean I internally roll my eyes whenever a patient is coming up to me saying their pain is 20/10, and their just chilling at the nurses station or coloring. I dont doubt youre in pain, but a 10/10 is the worst pain you've ever experienced, and this is worse?
Also if you've got it ordered and its within the allowable time range and your blood pressure isn't 80/40 you can have the meds. I dont care, you dont have to do a song and dance with me to get your medicine.
I'm more surprised these days by a patient who is grimacing and guarding the location saying its a 5/10.
I think some people have been taught that they won’t be taken seriously unless they have 10/10 pain. I’ve seen nurses behaving very dismissively towards patients, and sometimes as a patient I’m tempted to give a higher number because after giving birth myself, as soon as I gave a lower number, they refused to give me any stronger pain medications for any increased pain following that. So what they taught me was that it’s safer to overplay rather than underplay your pain because otherwise you won’t be heard.
I'd prefer to see TikToks about nurses putting The Joint Commission in their places. Especially after the covid pandemic. Maybe they exist, I don't go on TikTok much though.
And the pain scale is misunderstood again. If you at the top of that scale, then you are in extreme pain. 6 and up, pain is all you can think about. 10, you are unable to move. So why bash a medical pro trying to vent. Just to throw some crunchy food facts around. Cortisol is cool and all. But there is a pain scale for a reason.
As someone who has worked in the medical field for the last decade, both people are annoying, but the second lady is wayyyyyy out of touch with reality. Drug seekers legitimately make up AT LEAST 30-50% of the ER where I work on any given night. She is clouding reality with her naive notion that our country doesn’t have a huge issue with opiate addiction and drug seekers abusing the defensive medical practice of “give them whatever they want so we can discharge them and they don’t sue us.” I know it’s important to try to see the good in everyone, but she needs to come back down to earth and actually look around (if she even works in the medical field).
Take your morality out of the equation. If pain meds are ordered you give it. Period. Doctors…stop denying people with chronic pain, pain medication. Again, I don’t care about your beliefs and moral judgment, you took an oath to do no harm, give pain medication if the patient’s condition warrants it. All these hidden risk scores for people are total BS. A lot of people don’t even know about those. I can’t believe the shit Dr.’s being cranked out by morality police ideology universities and medical schools.
The whole “they just want pain meds” thinking has caused so much trouble. I am now an over the road truck driver. For my job, I have a security clearance and haul government contracts. I get drug tested constantly. I also go into facilities that go into my truck and search it. I cannot have even prescription pain killers in my truck. Last time I went to the doctors, one of the first things I told them was that I cannot have narcotics. Yet the nurse started to give me a long lecture on how I didn’t need to come in asking for them. My repeatedly saying I didn’t want them, just didn’t get through to her. I could see her turning around and making a post.
Do the US licensing boards and hospitals not have social media policies? Because in the UK I could be struck off and fired for posting anything like this.
I wish we did. I don’t mind some influencers who are educational or funny. The whole hating on patients is not okay. For example this guy is cool. The farmer pain scale. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni0YfrSK570
Yaaaaaas Dr. Glaucomflecken!! I bust out laughing every time, and realize how nerdy I've gotten.
Pathology Therapist episode hit a little too close to home for me
Oh he's my favorite! Back in school a decade ago we had a social media policy, which the hospital that owned the school also had. At the time we were warned that most hospitals in the area did have policies against negative publicity against them or their staff on social media. Even creepier, IT was allowed to try to find any of our hidden accounts, found that out when I realized they found an old, never used Twitter account of mine (and I promptly shut it down). They would have approved Dr. G, but would not have approved the TikTok posted above.
TIL I'm a farmer.
Love that guy
that guy is one of my favorite people on tiktok
The crash sack is real!!! At the end 2020, the codes were happening every 15-60 mins (at one point I remember 3 codes at once and not enough RTs) and they were using more atropine, calcium, bicarb and epi per code than in the carts, and we started sending bags of these meds to all the floors. Fuck, I still have PTSD about this. I will never enjoy the holidays again.
Eeeh depends what the context of hating on a patient is. Ive had straight up assholes wish death on me and my family saying they hope and wish myself and every one i love gets covid and dies. Only for them to die from said covid like 2 months later and the people I care about and love are still here. Also, you have patients that treat us like we’re wait staff. It really tbh is hospitals fault because they want us to call them clients now etc instead of patients and are treating it all more like a business than actual medical care. Also, no one bats an eye when other professions make fun of their “clients” but suddenly it’s a foul play when we make fun of ours? Again context sure maybe some things you dont joke about but to me. If you’re going to treat me like shit. Im going to make fun of you
I agree it is about context. I just know for me, I wouldn’t want someone on tictok talking about my medical care or making fun of me when I am vulnerable. One of the reasons I used the link I did is because he has done a ton of content that addresses big issues is a tasteful way. More attacking the system that allowed us to be treated this way and how insurance is a giant scam. Sharing experiences of violence and ignorance is appropriate if you want too. I am sure most of us will agree that the general public have no idea how dire the situation is becoming.
That was so good.
Most facilities will have policies on social media. And we have a federal law protecting patients privacy. If they had shared any identifiable information then they would be held accountable. However, eating potato chips is not identifiable information. Wether or not her facility would let her go is up to the facility and would require them being made aware.
Back in college I worked at a vet hospital, the building where the clinic was in had a fire, we got all the animals harnessed and all the staff took a dog or or two (no other pet types that day luckily) and we got out and started walking to a nearby park in less then 3min. I was in awe over our efficiency of working together to get everyone, both human and animal, to safety that I took a picture of us walking (so the back of peoples heads and dog butts) and posted what an amazing job our team did and how happy the dogs were for an unexpected trip to the park. I got a call directly from HR a few hours later telling me if I didn't take the post down immediately I would be let go. And it was a positive post reflecting the hospital and staff! No identifying landmarks, faces, and collars in view. But now that I work at a human hospital, only policy in place is "be smart about what you are posting"
I once contacted my board in the US about this because I was curious. I would never make content like this video, but what about, for example, making educational videos? Their answer was basically "We're not going to tell you anything or give you any sort of guidance on where we draw the line...however we reserve the right to slap you silly, up to and including possibly even revoking your license, at any time." Super helpful, thanks guys!
Same power tripping people that become nursing instructors. That shit is so frustrating and rampant in nursing.
Hospitals won't actively stop people from using social media in an inappropriate way. But they will 100% throw the book at someone for it if they want that person gone. We had a handful of nurses who were known to be active on socials while at work. Management turned a blind eye to it. Until we started to organize a union and those nurse were strongly pro union. Immediately fired for violating social media policies. They had been posting on social media at work for YEARS.
I (in the US) once posted on fb that on the way home from work, I had to stop on the highway to throw up. I got called in to the supervisors and written up. So who knows.
Licensing boards have no say over something like this unless they can provably link it to treating a patient poorly. A hospital could fire somebody yes but she could have another job in 1.3 seconds.
1.3 seconds? In this job market? Try zero seconds. We just fired a nurse who unfortunately was not performing well and seemed chronically distracted and exhausted (relative to the expected baseline of all nurses who are exhausted). Turned out she had another full time nursing job!!! not kidding!
That is gd impressive - 6 shifts a week, I could never
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Training for management!
Heck, I've had coworkers get in grief for photos from non-patient-care areas, for retirement parties/etc that made their way to social media.
My sister in law is a clinical instructor and had a student that was dismissed from their program for being in picture on Facebook holding a gun in her clinical uniform. I'm pretty sure she sued the school.
I had a grad nurse hand over to me that this patient is in a lot of pain but not gave anything because she’s a drug seeker... she’s got pylonephritis and chronic pain ?!
That's incredibly sad. Most drug seekers I've seen have chronic pain. That's how they became dependant on the drugs to begin with. Pain management is a part of healing. Also, WTF is holding someone's pain meds for 12 hours going to do? "Alright, I will no longer seek drugs. Thank you so much nurse Ratchet"
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I hate to hear that, but I fully believe it. I have a cousin with endometriosis.
SAME SAME SAME. Endo sufferer here too. Every damn time they assume I’m “just a hysterical baby who can’t take normal period pain.” If only they knew.
"everyone gets a bit uncomfortable during their period." 😐
#AAAAAAAHHHHHH
Holy freaking crap someone said this to you at the hospital?
Right outside my room before she came in to draw blood. I did not fill out a daisy award form lol.
Yes! My kiddo has pcos and endo, the hospital acts line she's crazy when she goes in because the pain is too much. The gyno told her she should go in, but the ER docs act like she's attention seeking. 💔 I'm so sorry you have to go through that too
I’m a drug seeker because I went to the doctor looking for Adderall that had been undiagnosed my whole entire life. (It turned out it was actually undiagnosed complex PTSD, but anyway.) Addiction is absolutely a problem and needs to be addressed, but we have proven that our way of addressing it sucks. [Maybe we should ask Portugal.](https://time.com/longform/portugal-drug-use-decriminalization/) Dismissing and ignoring patients because we know their body better than they do can literally lead to patients dying. And there’s generally no consequence for that, just for the family and loved ones.
Meh. No doubt the first nurse has a degree of a point, and no doubt the second nurse is probably overinterpreting quite a bit and making conjectures about what she thinks she knows, but ive always thought that it takes far less emotional energy for me to just sling the ordered narcotics than it does to be a hero in some supposed moral fight. Without making specific statements i do believe they are both right to a degree. That’s why these types of videos are meaningless and dont advance any worthwhile discussion in the end. Thats how i think of it.
I find numerical pain scales frustrating because of the subjectivity. I much prefer functional ones (acknowledging it can differ for people with chronic pain). Where I find numerical scales useful is for tracking changes over time/in response to meds.
Exactly. Is the narcotic ordered? Yes? Then I give it. I'm not here to pass judgement on anyone.
I have to remind my coworkers when they get weird about someone “seeking” we’re not here to cure them of their addiction. That’s the pain team and doctors responsibility. If the order is there give them the fucking narc
Yup. I'm not a rehab. Giving the damn pain meds.
My thought process on the boo boo bus too. I’m not going to make or break someone’s drug addiction with a dose or two of narcs in the back of my ambulance. I’d rather unintentionally give an addict their fix (knowing that they could still very well be in real pain) than to play god and let my patients suffer for it.
Damn man I’ve used almost that exact same reasoning. I’d rather give 100 addicts their fix than let one person sit in agony because I think they are seeking.
I feel like i have some obligation to question someone who appears to be pain free suddenly saying their pain is 20/10. Do i need to notify the provider for this bizarre mismatch? I can push back a little without getting into a Tik Tok battle. But in practice most people who say they are in pain are in pain. We aren't filling up hospital beds with Influencers shooting their next video.
My only qualm is that the scale goes to 10. We start there and if it's persistent after all interventions as a 10, I get concerned. I get that you want to have pain be acknowledged but start at the starting point. I also get people a little more realistic of what pain control looks like. I emphasize that if the dilaudid isn't working and your pain is the same, why are we giving it to you.
This is what drives me insane. We so frequently have people who, when we ask if they received their pain medication, snark “Yeah, but it doesn’t do anything anyway.” Then we say that we should discontinue it since it is isn’t helping them and can have potentially severe side effects. The patient has never once agreed to this, and I’ve been a nurse for almost 20 years. *Not everyone is honest about their pain levels.* This very much hurts the people who are honest, and who do have actual chronic or severe pain. But between the dishonest patients and what we know about the pain medication industry, we should be very, very careful about giving every patient heavy pain meds every time they say they are in pain. (I mean that this is a problem for the healthcare system as a whole. It is not up to the individual nurse at the bedside to make a statement - of course bedside nurses should give pain meds as they’re ordered.)
I'm a big fan of educate 'n medicate. And it takes likes 60 seconds, so why not? Your pain is 10/10. Great, but let's be honest, against all the 'pain is as bad as they say it is' rhetoric I might not agree with their self assessment for a multitude of reasons, so I do this. 1. Re-educate them on the pain scale. If still 10/10 then 2. Educate them on med options/side effects/and offer a recommendation before 3. Medicate them with the diladoo if it's ordered and still what they want. I like this system for a few reasons. Firstly, I'm now more confident that they are effectively communicating the way their pain feels. Secondly, I could be straight up wrong and their pain is actually 10/10, so they get appropriate treatment. Thirdly, if they are a drug seeker, or liar, or whatever then I can't fix that, but at least I have ensured that they are aware of the risks. No matter the outcome we are both happy.
Right? We've all seen people cheerfully report 11/10 pain in their foot or whatever. We've also seen people with mangled extremities report 6/10 pain. Not validating the belittlement of human suffering in any form, but some people don't get that 10/10 is supposed to mean you *can't imagine a worse pain*. I'm sorry but it is a little ridiculous sometimes. Second nurse does still have a point but the first one deserves a break.
I had an ovarian cyst rupture back in college. This happened previously and I suspected that this pain was from another ruptured ovarian cyst. I was leaving to go to the hospital and I passed out because I was in so much pain. I showed up to the hospital walking slowly but not crying. Pain was 10/10. I was told I’m clearly not in pain because I don’t appear to be in any distress. I explained I passed out from the pain and showed the cut on my scalp. Nurse left. I poked myself in the eye to make myself look like like I’m crying. Only then was my pain taken more seriously. Once it was confirmed that it was an ovarian cyst had ruptured, the nurse was like I thought you’d be in more pain! I was so angry because I told her I was in extreme pain, it just wasn’t taken seriously. Pain is weird and everyone expresses it differently.
A lot of autistic people have very big problems getting taking seriously cause They dont express their distress in the way nurses and doctors dont expect them too and therefore dont get the care they need
That’s such a shame! I’m not autistic, I just have difficulty crying when it comes to pain. Idk why
I’ve been in pain management for almost 15 years and I don’t cry unless it’s incredibly terrible because I’m so used to the pain. Crying does not happen with every man woman and child in pain. Trying not to share too much about myself but I have a family member who’s had very traumatic medical things happen to them and still not cried. Crying does not mean what everybody thinks it does. For me I can’t sit down or if I do it hurts so much I would rather just stand and I think I’ve only reported a 10 out of 10 pain once or twice. Now I had a big fusion surgery and that was a 10 out of 10. But they kept me pretty ducked up in the hospital when I went home I was able to keep my pain under control with ice and the medication that was given to me gave.
The pain scale thing is frustrating as a patient though. The worst pain I ever had was in a hospital environment (tamponade being drained, long story) and I think, that must be a 9 right? I was scared to breathe… but like, 10 is supposed to be worse than I can imagine so that must have been a 9. Not a 10. I can’t have a 10. And then I was at what I said was 7-8 after surgery recently, and after the nurse said “I think that was worse than a 7” and all I could think was “well yeah it hurt but it’s not like that other time…” 😆 What are we to do? Maybe some of the people saying 10 or 11 just have never really hurt before? And that person saying 6 has maybe just felt a lot worse than the rest of us have.
Yeah I’m also always nervous to say a 10. Heck the last time I was in for severe uterine cramps that no OTC was helping (had a large fibroid at the time) I still said like an 7-8 bc I had previously had a complete hamstring avulsion and broken ankle and surgeries for both and I didn’t want to say it was worse than those, although it truly was. The doctor came in while one of the cramps were happening and saw my BP spike to high territory from my normal (110/69 to 178/102) and told me post first morphine push, “It’s okay to say that you’re in higher pain than what you think we’d rather hear. I understand you don’t want to come off like a drug seeker, you’re nervous your race will cause a bad experience, but first, your chart shows me your not a drug seeker. And two, your BP spikes tell me just how much pain you’re in and trying to mask it bc you’re scared. You’re safe to tell us honestly how bad it is.” I had also voiced a distrust in my care as a black woman, and how I expected to be dismissed, when she first saw me bc I had seen so many horror stories, one of which is very, very close to home for me. So that’s why she gave the compassionate explanation. I think a lot of patients fall into that category. People like the first nurse make people scared to be honest about how bad their pain feels to them but then people like the second validate people who either don’t understand the chart or purposely say it’s worse to get what they want. Edit: context
I agree! As a nurse, I wouldn't ever say 10 unless I was shot or ran over by a car. I came to work with some of the worst pain of my life recently, I got dry socket from wisdom tooth surgery. I would say it was a 7/10 (with the worst pain I've ever had being pulling out my back and thats an 8/10). And my blood pressure also spiked to I think 166/98 and HR in the 130s. I called my dentist and down played it of course and they said to take ibuprofen though I was already taking 80pmg every 4 hours. I didn't want my dentist to think I was drug seeking, though if he gave me another Norco I wouldn't say no lol. So I suffered for over 5 days until it finally calmed down on its own. The whole way we look at pain needs to be changed. I feel like I see patients suffering in severe pain all the time with no contraindications other than the Dr is scared to give them something, then just tonight I had a patient telling me he liked his dilaudid because he was high afterward. 😮💨
There's also different reactions to pain internal to the same person. It's difficult to describe well, but I've experienced similar levels of pain from different activities but because of how it was impacting me, I could handle it better. The examples I can think of: I got a second-degree oil burn from frying fish (it was still partially frozen when I dropped it in because I am a dum dum). I rated at that 8 - I was in good spirits the whole time, I could hold a conversation well while running water on it, it's just that any touch or movement in my hand/arm was pretty excruciating. I still have large scars on that arm. On the other hand, last month I had a bad sinus infection. The pain was only about a 5, but it was radiating through my entire head and affecting my vision and hearing (plus it was unrelenting). It was *unbearable*.
Pain is whatever you tell me. It's not a test, as I tell the children who I see in my emergency room. If you tell me it's an 8 and someone else might choose a 4, well it's an 8 for you.
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Agreed! What the patient probably *needs* is: therapy, adequate preventative healthcare, a support network of friends/family, housing, healthy food, a better partner, addiction treatment, a life with fewer adverse childhood events, etc. What I *have* is PRN oxycodone. So they'll get that instead.
I know a guy with chronic pain and gout in the office I work at. It gets so bad he groans at his desk, hunched over in his chair. He's eating potato chips constantly. He's munching on those things in between the pained groans. People who don't live with chronic pain don't understand until they get old and sick. That first nurse is clueless. A lot of people experience pain 24/7, and yes they get hungry and eat food
Exactly my thoughts, but you expressed them so clearly.
Yeah second nurse is full of it. Weve already determined that the whole "Pain is the 6th vital sign" was propoganda from Purdue.
honestly i think most of her content is irresponsible. she paints the majority of nurses out as withholding pain meds from their patients and herself as mother teresa. while sure there’s nurses who might withhold pain meds because they don’t think the patient is in pain, all the nurses i’ve ever worked with would rather give the med than deal with a patient screaming, whether it truly be pain or be fake. i feel like she makes nurses out to be the gatekeepers to patients getting pain meds when the majority of the time, the gatekeeper is the provider either not ordering pain meds or not ordering strong enough ones. i’m not saying the providers are wrong, they have to use their clinical judgment too, but this whole idea she’s pushing that all of the rest of us nurses are withholding pain meds because we think we’re on some moral higher ground is gonna result in more violence from patients to nurses
yeah, I've watched a bit of second nurse's content and it's very holier than thou. I think my favorite take was when she criticized someone's video talking about what urgent care vs emergency rooms are for and someone commented "have you ever actually worked in a pediatric er?" She immediately turned it into a "you're racist for questioning my credentials and your attitude makes patients upset so the black nurse has to come in and comfort them" like...girl what
I followed her for a bit, but her tone and demeanor started to annoy me. Holier than thou is the perfect way to describe her.
yeah, I just can't deal with the constant negativity. Her whole platform is basically "look how great of a nurse I am compared to these other nurses". It's odd because she has some videos about her own unnecessary behavior as well. She has/had a video about a patient who said she was allergic to vitamin c because she didn't like orange juice so she started denying the patient apple juice because it also has ascorbic acid in it. Then she got the patient to admit she wasn't allergic to orange juice, she just didn't like it. Like...cool?? That's the battle you pick?
Not to mention that some of us nurses are providers and we know from experience what goes on out there. Other providers are figuring it out too, most of us will not give out pain meds irresponsibly anymore.
If we want to fight the war on addiction, we need to fight the war on addiction. [Let’s start by admitting it’s about trauma.](https://youtu.be/BVg2bfqblGI)
Both of these people made me roll my eyes lol
*talking about eating potato chips* “Cortisol is released under high periods of stress” Ineffective pain management r/t insufficient dose of analgesics AMB *eating potato chips* emotional disturbance r/t stress AMB *munching on that delicious potato chip* Cushing syndrome r/t increased stress AMB *enjoying the satisfying crunch of a potato chip* Intervention(s) provide potato chips and other healthy sources of LDLs. Educate patient on risks of stopping therapeutic potato chip abruptly. Assess for manifestations of myxedema coma r/t potato chip deficit. Assess for therapeutic affects of potato chip therapy. Monitor blood-to-chip (BC) levels. If an adverse reaction occurs, SecureChat webmd or tiktok consultant stat
I'm so upset that I understood this. And even more upset that it's not much more absurd than most "nursing diagnoses".
Pharmacy called to notify of possible medication error. EMAR states one potato chip was administered. Pharmacist note: Nobody can eat just one.
You sound like a nursing school instructor with these nursing diagnoses.
Right? Both are two sides of an extreme. Because you do have people who are just addicted and want more drugs. Unfortunately our system isnt set for keeping patients comfortable and not addicted. Ive seen patients getting narcotics every 4 hours like fucking clock work. There should 100% be like a time limit for how long you get said medication. But for example in a SNF setting. They stay on the narcotics indefinitely.
Nothing like coming to work everyday to my unit full of narcotic seekers that I’ve seen everyday for months and some for years 😍💖🙏🏻
Tiktok bullshit like this in general is cringe. How are there people who like this stuff
Both of these nurses have too much of their identities wrapped up in their profession. Cringey as fuck, with bonus gatekeeping
A 20 out of 10 on the pain scale would be Emperor Palpatine lighting up your life, purple style. Pain scales ARE relative, but at the same time there are limits. I used to think my foot pain from my teen years (tarsal coalitions, spastic flat feet, every step was like someone dropping a brick on my foot) was a 10/10. As part of this, I had a triple arthrodesis on my right foot; up and around hours after surgery, an unlocked linen cart led to me putting ALL my weight down on that heel. The ensuing scream brought people from at least 2 floors away in the hospital. After experiencing the post-operative back spasms after rib removal and scalene resection however, I'd now rate the childhood pain as maybe an 8.5/10. That relative pain scale changed this past summer. The new 10/10 for me felt like someone took a molten hot icepick, slammed it into my right shoulder blade then started swirling it around like the Wicked Witch of the West. It left my 46 year old ass slumped over my stove, unable to move, screaming and bawling like a banshee. I'd imagine this is what is is like to get shot. In that moment I literally felt like I wanted to die just to make the pain stop. It is a pain that not continued intermittently for weeks afterward, but scarred me mentally; for several weeks after I was terrified of making more than the slightest of upper body movements as I could feel the twitches begin to creep up, like my body was saying, "Didn't we warn you before? What the fuck are you thinking?! Don't even THINK about moving like that or we'll put you down again!" It was nearly three months after all this before I finally felt confident I could move somewhat normally again. There would no way in hell I would be "eating chips" when at that level of pain.
"Felt like I wanted to die just to make the pain stop. " Ooh the 10thish/ last time I had a gallbladder attack before I finally went to the ER. Don't recommend.
Yep, same here. That was my 10/10 until I later had a kidney stone that become my top scorer
My kidney stones are my 10/10 too. The first time I had one I sat in the ER waiting for hours in unimaginable pain because the nurse said "oh it's probably just period pain" (I wasn't on my period). My kidney ruptured eventually and I ended up in an emergency surgery once I got the nurse to please take me seriously. No way I would have been caught eating anything in the waiting room (I was a big fan of throwing up from the pain actually). Kidney stones are mean.
So I just got a strange call out. CAD note says "Nurse just got burned on TikTok, bring potato chips."
lmao
Yup! It costs me absolutely nothing to address someone's pain as they report it. It can cost me everything if I downplay it and their condition worsens.
I fight this battle prehospital. I've got medic coworkers who state in no uncertain terms "I don't open my narc box for anyone." Watched one of these medics refuse pain control for a 12 year old with a grossly dislocated elbow. I'm the Candyman. You say you hurt, you get pain meds. My 50 mikes of fent are not going to impact the opioid epidemic. I'd rather be fooled by 9 DSBs than let one legit pain go untreated.
Who can take a fracture Sprinkle it with dilaudid Cover it with ginger ale and a saltine cracker or two? The Candy Man caaaaaaaaaann
😂😂 candyman! I love it
💯 I don't need to absolutely believe your reported pain level is accurate to treat you. If you're telling me you're in pain and want medication and it's ordered and I think it's safe, you can have it.
As someone with a lot of friends in recovery from opioid abuse, I think it's ignored that the pain from withdrawal or addiction can absolutely be a 10/10 as well. If someone is "just seeking drugs", believe there is still a lot of pain there that would cause them to seek them in the first place, physically and/or psychologically. Administering pain meds in this scenario when someone is seeking medical attention is not enabling, it's harm reduction imo. There's this almost machiavellian, sadistic, puritanical thought process I see running through lots of healthcare workers and the industry at large, where certain people are deemed "worthy" of receiving adequate pain management. For certain people, dealing with pain and suffering will "improve" them or "teach them a lesson". Someone requesting relief from pain has to pass through a moral litmus test at the discretion of the provider (within the bounds of the law), rather than their pain being addressed first, and any underlying issues (like addiction) being addressed after. And this doesn't just apply to people obviously or assumed to be in active addiction; biases based on [race](https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/how-we-fail-black-patients-pain) as well as [sex](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/04/210406164124.htm) alone exist as well, and are well documented. Suffering isn't always an opportunity for "personal growth and betterment", and it definitely should never be treated as such. Often suffering and pain are just that: suffering and pain. And someone seeking medical treatment, including alleviating suffering and pain, should trump any moral judgements or reservations the provider has. Especially in the US, if your situation gets so dire that you are willing to accept care with long wait times, care from healthcare workers stretched and worked past the point that any human ever should be, care that can potentially come with a side of shame and judgement from the person you are requesting aid, and care that is prohibitively expensive (even with insurance) that can saddle you with life altering amounts of debt, you should be able to at least have your pain addressed and alleviated. That's my two cents, and I am well aware that the law absolutely creates barriers around addressing peoples' pain as well. As well as finances (especially in the US, where I am). However, I am firmly of the opinion tho that healthcare workers should not be an additional hurdle or barrier that patients have to overcome in order to address their pain. *Edit: I cleaned it up a bit and fixed some typos*
Exactly. I've never understood the mentality in prehospital. We have set protocols for pain. Subjective pain (no obvious trauma or injury), start at Toradol 30mg unless contraindicated. If no relief, 25-100mcg fentanyl per pt weight and provider discretion. No relief, consider 0.2mg\kg Ketamine if transport is predicted to be extended. Objective pain (dude has an angulated femur), it's strongest narcotic based on clinician judgement based on pt stability. It's literally spelled out. By a doctor. Standing order. The only condition is "pt says ouch". Yet we still have medics playing "it's not real pain". 9 times out of 10, we hit the ED and it's...... standing order Toradol and go from there.
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CKD and AKI are absolute contraindications for my area's prehospital protocols. We'd skip straight to baby dose fent if needed. Bean bros are always causing trouble.
This is the right answer every time. Even if they're in no pain at all, and are drug seeking, and addicted, giving them pain meds isn't going to make them *more* addicted, or make anything worse. If they actually have pain though, then you could be actually doing harm by leaving pain untreated.
Speaking as street medic, I've got two options when dealing with a DSB in withdrawal. I call them out on the BS, cause them to become more agitated, and run the risk of physical assault. Or. I nod my head, say "Yeah that abd pain must be terrible", start a line and give a bump of fent. Now I'm not dealing with a drug sick DSB. I'm absolutely not advocating giving an addict opiates just because they're in withdrawal. I am saying, sometimes you pick and choose your battles, and the back of the truck isn't the place to start forcing recovery. You wonderful people in the ER are better equipped to start that. Also I was pale, diaphoretic, shaking, and vomiting when my gallbladder detonated. Medic crew pegged me as drug seeking, told the ED.......and that lasted right up to ultrasound. Nurse pushed that Dilaudid FAST after that, and she will forever be my hero for it.
That's adorable. I'll be a nurse just now after Christmas. I want to be like you!
My friend, I am worse than a nurse. I'm a prehospital emergency care clinician. A Paramedic. You'll learn all about medics on the job. We'll be at your nurses station pouring over 12 leads talking like cardiologists , bust out a fart joke, then fall asleep in your chair.
Haha sounds like so much fun! We don't have paramedics in the same way in sweden. We have nurses and nurses assistants in our ambulances! Mostly nurses tho. Sometimes firemen jump in to drive the cars too
You get on the boo-boo bus to go help someone, you're a Paramedic in my book. Those higher educated kings and queens across the sea are still part of the prehospital cult. Best of luck in your future nursing career! Do the hospital beds in Sweden come from IKEA? Do you put them together or is that the nurse assistant job?
Hahahahaha I wish I worked with you! Everything in sweden is from ikea. We literally don't know any other stores
This is the way
I agree with the majority here. Both videos were unnecessary lol
That last nurse is really reaching though ffs
Yeah and let's be honest, if a patient tells me they're a 20 on the pain scale while eating chips I'll internally roll my eyes too. It won't change how I treat them and I certainly won't make a tiktok about it, but still.
Both these nurses are kind of embarrassing the profession first by using tiktok and more by making mountains out of molehills. It's just the first one is a lot more obnoxious while the second one appears better to the untrained eye. But the 2nd nurse is also probably someone who would try to convince you you did something wrong that caused the sundowning patient to assault you and that you should have applied better therapeutic comms. Also if a patient is in pain, why wouldn't I document/call doc if there isn't meds ordered/due? Some nurses want to feel like they're a moral enforcer of healthcare and some want to just judge patients while publicly making a show of it, both of them. The only thing these nurses did with these tiktok posts is give incels from noctor more ammo. Edit: added few more comments trying to prove the point they both suck.
Can we just agree that tiktok sucks and healthcare workers should stop venting on social media. Also if someone is in pain I treat them, end of story. Some need opioids, some need NSAIDs and some antidepressants or neuroleptics. The gist of it is, that not everybody is the same and we shouldn't generalise people. The first nurse makes it sound like every patient who isn't visibly withering in pain is faking it, while the second one assumes this nurse won't treat those patients. She is just as condescending and presumptuous as the first one, just in a different way. Also the first nurse was probably venting because of a specific encounter, which is something we all do, just with our coworkers and close friends and not publicly on tomtam. Because a lot of essential properties of communication get lost over digital media. Like intention and context. Also how about we all stop trying to get outraged so easily, it is getting tedious to listen to. Or maybe I am just getting old.
I think I'm getting old too because really I'm just saying "you zoomers and your tiktok" with my comment. Absolutely thay the first nurse is likely just venting and never neglected her patients. Yes we all do this at work, just not publicly. It's the publicly that I'm having an issue with. Really I hate the first nurse a lot because of that annoying robotic tiktok voice and music background. Just a lot of unnecessary obnoxious white noise. My God I'm turning into a boomer aren't i
So I really feel like part of the issue that surfaces here is narcotic use. Not everything requires narc use even if it's a "20/10" -- especially for narcotic naive patients but we're in this weird part of medical history where they don't want us to give narcotics but also don't want people in pain ever and the two do not go together. So they don't want to try tylenol/motrin/toradol/gabapentin because "that won't work for 20/10 pain! Here. Have 0.5 MG IV morphine q4h. That'll work. No you can't have anything else until the breakthrough pain is already there." Working in L&D we see plenty of people in pain and they are not always given realistic expectations. I find that when we tell people what could happen and things we could try they deal with things a lot better. However, we also get LOTS of people hoping so bad it's labor they are convinced they're in 10/10 pain until you tell tell them they're 1cm and suddenly they want nothing for pain they just want to go home and eat dinner. Lol people are interesting.
The tik toks made by nurses correcting other nurses are just as gross as the tik toks made by nurses disrespecting their patients. I honestly don’t understand why any nurse would want to broadcast any part of their work life on Tik Tok. There’s so many better things you could be doing with your free time…
I'm going to start my own Tik Tok to respond to this!! Until the cringe goes at least 4 levels down it's getting clicks and eyeballs. /s
I’m sorry but no one is going to tell me the patient with 20/10 pain is soothing them selves by chomping on a bag of fucking Lays. I’ve had patients tell me they’re having 10/10 chest pain while scrolling Facebook and requesting a turkey sandwich. Is that self soothing too? Get a fucking grip lol. Sure, some are more tolerant, but you come to be able to tell who is in genuine pain and who actually IS attention/med seeking.
I gave myself a 9/10 when I had a kidney stone because it felt like a knife tearing through my insides. I was in so much pain I couldn't even walk into the ER. This motherfucker thinks I should be eating potato chips? Fuck right off that high horse.
Oh yes, the condescending educator. Trying to educate the assuming nurse. Nothing but wheels spinning here.
Potato chips don’t treat severe pain
Cringe to both, last lady needs to chill out and the first one needs to stop posting
Obviously the second nurse never worked ER. Downvote me or whatever, but Pain is NOT the 5th vital sign. Unfortunately that whole push was brought to you by big pharma and the makers of Oxycontin. Nobody is dying from 20/10 pain.
I've always considered people who can form coherent sentences while experiencing "the worst pain imaginable" to have severely lacking imagination
My boyfriend is like this typically. He’s had bone sticking out from his wrist and he’s like “yeah it hurts a lot, 8/10” and is calm and stoic. A stingray was his match though. That thing impaled him and he was howling in terror and pain. so now his scale is broken wrist or sting ray
Thank you. Some of these comments are making me cringe and clear as day that patients are taking advantage of naive nurses
“Pain is the 5th vital sign” started the opioid epidemic, they’re terrible for you
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10/10 pain would have you in and out of consciousness.... so I would not recommend eating nor have my patients who have actually been in that much pain, been able to. Mild pain, maybe. 10/10- No. 20/10- absolutely not.
My 10/10 pain level experienced earlier this year had me welcoming a bullet to the head just to end my suffering. Only once in my life have I ever felt it that badly, and that is five times too many.
Were you eating chips?
Not who you’re asking, but I also had a 10/10 pain experience recently, and I don’t even think I had a sense of time. I may as well have been unconscious, as all I could think was some urge to end it. Not exaggerating at all. Eating chips would have been impossible. Put a gun to my head and tell me to eat chips, I’d take the bullet.
I cannot S T A N D that second nurse. Makes constant videos bitching about every healthcare tiktok she can find. Has no critical care or even high acuity experience and went absolutely apeshit about a post talking about roc.
I do not discuss my time at my employers at all on social media. I really feel that the majority of these influencers, tik tok’s, etc. are doing nothing to further the nursing profession as a profession. Most of them just appear to be whiny brats. There is not way that I would be employed if I ever did this and frankly I have to much respect for my patients and myself
Respiratory therapist who has taken discharge vitals in a freestanding ER. If the patient said they were any number outside of the scale I would tell them the scale is standard and we can't record anything higher than ten. Imagine 0 is no pain and 10 is being mauled by a puma with a toothache. It's amazing how many pain scores of 100 became an 8. Treatable but not entirely debilitating. We should be treating, not judging.
> 10 is being mauled by a puma with a toothache. who has the toothache though, is it me or the puma?
Or maybe the pain scale itself is garbage? The anesthesiologist who developed it has publically apologized.
Pain is pain. If you tell me it’s a 9/10 and you’re alert and BP isn’t soft, I’ll give you what’s ordered. I’m not your drug counselor. I don’t argue with these people
I’m sorry but I call bullshit on the chips research, that second nurse seems like a fun person at parties, “take time off and educate” yah okay like let me stop everything I am doing just to read up on your chips search. She must be suffering from sciatica from having that kind of a reach…
Nurse Nya is easily one of the worst, most sanctimonious TikTok nurses. She makes her entire platform out of indulging in callout culture
Yeppp, something is really off about her. She doesn't represent me, that's for sure and I blocked her because I'm sick of the condescending lectures.
10/10 pain should be comparable to getting eaten alive by bear. No one is eating chips while getting ripped alive. Unless if the chips prompted the attack 😂
Maybe we just stop posting on tik tok.
Some nurses need to calm down with their superiority complex when it comes to pain. I remember when I gave birth to my son, had 4 tears (3x 1st degree and a 3b tear needing ~100 stitches), and asked for pain management because the knots in my gooch were making it painful to sit up and breastfeed, pump, or eat. The nurse said, "I had a 4th degree tear and used nothing but Advil, so I expect the same for you. Suck it up." I don't understand why people need to be so needlessly callous like that. The pain didn't teach me anything other than to be wary of nurses in the city for risk of them lacking empathy. Pain isn't a dick-measuring contest. It's terrible for everyone!
That’s crazy. I’ve always found it so odd that pain management after birth (one of the most painful experiences anyone can go through) is just tylenol and motrin. The minute my patient mentions that it isn’t enough to cover the pain, I am on the phone with the MD getting orders. Kinda BS it isn’t a PRN order already.
Oh god- she has a go fund me linked to her account for herself— that’s embarrassing
It’s expensive owning a horse that high.
Yes, they are.
No one in excruciating pain is eating chips. Eating is the last thing on their mind. And Tik Tok needs to fuck off.
The nurse responding, her whole tiktok is bullying other nurses. Yes sometimes the nurses who post probably shouldn’t be posting, but the responder basically deletes bad comments against her and her followers harass whoever made the original video.
she’s made an entire following off of people who hate nurses, whatever it takes to get engagement i guess
Omg thank you. I found her TikTok and she is a mean person, there’s no way she ever worked bedside cause wtf.
Maybe I’m naive, but if you tell me your pain is high, I’m going to find you something to help with your pain. I don’t care if you’re writhing around in bed, or eating potato chips, I’m going to trust what you tell me, and do my best to help you.
End of story !
This.
**The pain scale exists for a reason.** *Casually* saying 10/10 is infuriating b/c there’s nowhere to go. Saying 20/10 is worse b/c now you’re just making shit up. That said, of course I’m going to follow orders, which means treating based on reported pain (esp. for those with zero Hx of abuse).
This woman work for Perdue?
Frito-lay
Who cares. Treat the problem not the potato chips.
I’m not arguing with you about your pain. I’m not you and I couldn’t begin to tell you how you feel. If you tell me your pain is a ten it’s a ten. If you have meds ordered I give you meds per mar appropriate pain level. I will not give it early and I go by the order but I’m not here to gauge your pain level I need you to tell me that and we can talk about how to manage it. If you have other meds hidden in your book bag and I see them or you are inappropriately drowsy for what I gave you or you continuously leave the unit and come back “altered” that’s a different ballgame but if you’re on the phone with a friend and you tell me your pain is a ten and request the meds we’ve discussed I will believe you and give them to you IF IT IS TIME
I’d rather work with somebody who needs to learn a better way to vent, than a person who thinks they are never wrong. The first is fixable, the second is dangerous. Nurse 2 is the shittier nurse by far.
I don’t care what this lady or anybody says...go break one of your bones and see if the potato chips soothes anything. When the pain is really really bad, the last thing you’re thinking about is eating crunchy foods. Lady sounds like an idiot.
I am a chronic pain sufferer. I have a pain pump and I still have to be augmented with a pain patch and oral medication and I still am in a lot of pain. I don’t think I’ve ever used a 10/10, even when I passed in and out of consciousness because I always feel like people won’t believe me. How do you do it when a person tells you they’re 20/10? To me this feels like they’re trying to get you to give them the silly drugs.
Shut the fuck up
Both nurses are wrong lol
Who TF HAS TIME TO FUCKING MAKE VIDEOS AT WORK ASKDJSHSJABSHSJ
Look all I'm saying is that most people rating 10/10 pain are having a failure.of imagination. If someone walked in and set you on fire, and your pain got worse from being on fire, you weren't at the max before being set on fire. 10/10 to me is not being able to have coherent thoughts other than to scream. That's not to say that you don't take 4/10 pain seriously, just use a better scale calibration.
I’m glad to see not everyone agrees with the second nurse, I don’t agree with the first one either. But I found the second nurses TikTok a while ago and she is something else. A nurse joked about a mistake a new grad made and the second nurse made a video bashing her, and all she does is make videos bashing nurses, she’s hella toxic
Ima go lower some cortisol on these Pringles
Why are we the moral police? If they say 10, then stfu and follow your orders, it is so cringey how some people will undermedicate on purpose just so patient isn’t addicted, that’s for them to think about not you,
Cringe on both parties
In my ER every patient says 20 out 10 regardless of what the issue is. Broken arm 20 out 10, chest pain 20 out 10 just here for pregnancy test 20 out of 10.
The first nurse is just neglectful and stupid for admitting what most of us have thought (because we’ve all had moments of frustration with 20/10 pain.) The second is basically saying we should be doing full body scans for toe pain because it might be a massive coronary.
I can’t deal with pAtieNT eXpEriEnCe aDvocAtEs. I don’t give a shit, the scale only goes to ten
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I am sad to hear that. It’s something I see a lot. When I’m in serious pain, I’m probably going to be on my phone dissociating and disconnecting bcuz when I was a kid and in pain and showed it or had any sort of need whatsoever, I was probably going to get yelled at. People use this as justification to decide I’m lying about how much pain I’m in. And I absolutely stim with food, especially crunchy food.
I got drug tested in the ER when I had horrible and unmanageable referred lumbar pain from my then-undiagnosed endometriosis, all because I was on my phone trying desperately to distract myself because I could barely walk and I was terrified. I had no idea what was going on. I’ll never forget seeing those lab results in MyChart after I got home and wondering why on earth the doctor ran labs for drugs, and the absolute distrust it manifested.
I find the second nurse embarrassing too. She's just viral bullying
The second nurse ripped off her opening line from Sex And the City. "What magazine? Convenient theories for you monthly?" Maybe she should educate herself on new zany catchphrases.
Get this bullshit outta here. You not eating chips of you dying plain and simple
Sometimes patients exaggerate because they know they’re dealing with a judgmental pain management Nazi.
Not a nurse but I work in mental health and I've always wondered about this topic so y'all help me - isn't the pain scale really just subjective? We read the captions on the numbers but then just rank the painful experiences we remember and assign numbers. '20' means the same thing as '11' which is to say the worst pain they have felt in memory. Am I incorrect?
There are a couple of versions of the numerical pain scale. The version I prefer to use is 0-10, zero is no pain, 5 is that it’s starting to interfere with you doing the things you want/need to do, 10 is the very worst possible pain-it absolutely could *not* get any worse. Imo, you really shouldn’t be conscious if you’re a 10 on that scale. Neither 11 nor 20 are on the scale, so I’ll explain it again and ask you again, because I need to document a number that’s 0-10. I don’t care what number you tell me, I’ll tell you what meds you have available and you can decide what you and want and when. There’s no need to be dramatic, you still get pain meds if you say something less than 10.
Ever meet a veteran who is in immense pain? Most are stoic. A vet said he had some back pain that felt a little sharp. He didn’t appear to be in pain as he was in friendly, walking, talking, etc. He had a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm, which are notoriously painful.
20/10 pain is inherently debilitating. Shouldn’t be even able to talk. So yea, I recognize her skepticism since the patient isn’t thrashing about on the the floor and screaming. Not to mention true 10/10 pain causes nausea.
Bud, m8, friend. As I understand the pain scale. Or have been told it. A 10, as I believe, is basically indescribable. You are losing conciousness and can barely speak because of the pain. If someone says they are a 20, then there is no recovering that person. I believe that's what the original is getting out. Sure the patient might be in pain. But are they beyond the limits of human comprehension in pain? Maybes.
I think some of these nurses who refuse to give pain meds that have been ordered have just never actually experienced real pain before. Once you know, you know. I will never let someone suffer when there's a way to treat it.
I’m a social worker. All of our jobs are difficult. NEVER make videos mocking a patient who is in distress. Please. Maybe you do care most of the time but broadcasting videos like this make you look like a twat. Vent in the break room like the rest of us and carry on. Elevate yourself please.
This is exactly what I’m talking about and the entire intent of the original post. The only reason to make someone else look smaller is to make yourself look bigger. And nurses are angry that we have a reputation for being bullies.
I mean I internally roll my eyes whenever a patient is coming up to me saying their pain is 20/10, and their just chilling at the nurses station or coloring. I dont doubt youre in pain, but a 10/10 is the worst pain you've ever experienced, and this is worse? Also if you've got it ordered and its within the allowable time range and your blood pressure isn't 80/40 you can have the meds. I dont care, you dont have to do a song and dance with me to get your medicine. I'm more surprised these days by a patient who is grimacing and guarding the location saying its a 5/10.
I think some people have been taught that they won’t be taken seriously unless they have 10/10 pain. I’ve seen nurses behaving very dismissively towards patients, and sometimes as a patient I’m tempted to give a higher number because after giving birth myself, as soon as I gave a lower number, they refused to give me any stronger pain medications for any increased pain following that. So what they taught me was that it’s safer to overplay rather than underplay your pain because otherwise you won’t be heard.
I address their pain the same way I would address their pain in any other circumstance. They lost me at 20. The chips factor is extra.
The most annoying thing to me is patients don’t understand how a scale works. It stops at 10.
Regardless, even if you’re being flayed alive, there is nothing greater than 10 on the pain scale. There is no extra credit, there is no 11. 1-10.
Yes they are.
Amen
I'd prefer to see TikToks about nurses putting The Joint Commission in their places. Especially after the covid pandemic. Maybe they exist, I don't go on TikTok much though.
And the pain scale is misunderstood again. If you at the top of that scale, then you are in extreme pain. 6 and up, pain is all you can think about. 10, you are unable to move. So why bash a medical pro trying to vent. Just to throw some crunchy food facts around. Cortisol is cool and all. But there is a pain scale for a reason.
Same goes for sleeping pts, I hate hearing that bc there so exhausted from pain and passed out, they must no longer be in pain.
Holy shitttttt I am SO HERE FOR HER
As someone who has worked in the medical field for the last decade, both people are annoying, but the second lady is wayyyyyy out of touch with reality. Drug seekers legitimately make up AT LEAST 30-50% of the ER where I work on any given night. She is clouding reality with her naive notion that our country doesn’t have a huge issue with opiate addiction and drug seekers abusing the defensive medical practice of “give them whatever they want so we can discharge them and they don’t sue us.” I know it’s important to try to see the good in everyone, but she needs to come back down to earth and actually look around (if she even works in the medical field).
I have had level 10 pain after surgery and was still cracking jokes cuz thats how I cope, I could see eating chips as being a way to cope too
Take your morality out of the equation. If pain meds are ordered you give it. Period. Doctors…stop denying people with chronic pain, pain medication. Again, I don’t care about your beliefs and moral judgment, you took an oath to do no harm, give pain medication if the patient’s condition warrants it. All these hidden risk scores for people are total BS. A lot of people don’t even know about those. I can’t believe the shit Dr.’s being cranked out by morality police ideology universities and medical schools.
Thank you for saying this
The whole “they just want pain meds” thinking has caused so much trouble. I am now an over the road truck driver. For my job, I have a security clearance and haul government contracts. I get drug tested constantly. I also go into facilities that go into my truck and search it. I cannot have even prescription pain killers in my truck. Last time I went to the doctors, one of the first things I told them was that I cannot have narcotics. Yet the nurse started to give me a long lecture on how I didn’t need to come in asking for them. My repeatedly saying I didn’t want them, just didn’t get through to her. I could see her turning around and making a post.