Hey everyone, it’s Medicine Mondays again. It’s not a real post today, more of just a short explanation for “Doctors are Bad Patients”.
Doctors are Bad Patients
My wife had a fall on our stairs yesterday. She turned to the grab the railing and then slipped and kind of rolled down 4 stairs.
Initially, she was a little shaken, but wasn’t in too much pain. However, after looking at her wrist, it was pretty noticeably swollen. While we were pretty sure it wasn’t broken, we iced it over night.
However, this morning the swelling had come down a bit, but there was still a pretty big bruise with some tenderness on palpation. She has also complained of some soreness in her shoulder and hip as well.
Now, first we need to realize that my wife never complains about anything and doesn’t like to see doctors. So it is my job as her significant other to protect her from herself.
So what did you do?
I made her call out of work and dragged her to the walk-in ortho clinic in town. They did a thorough physical examination and a few x-rays and nothing seemed to be broken. However, as you would expect, she needs to wear a brace for the next 2 weeks and to follow-up with them then.
Long story short, while we were pretty sure nothing was broken, it’s better to be safe than sorry. The worst case scenario is that you have a fracture (like a scaphoid fracture) that you don’t get taken care of. For those who don’t know, scaphoid fractures are notorious for not healing well and usually need to be placed in a cast and completely immobilized. If this doesn’t happen, then the fracture may not heal correctly (non-union) and either require surgical intervention and/or lead to early degenerative changes.
I’m generalizing of course, but in general, doctors are bad patients. We tend to overestimate our abilities outside our areas of expertise and then minimalize them so that we don’t have to see doctors.
This is a mistake, and part of the “You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know” that I’ve talked about before. The key is to be aware that you’re not a good patient and try your best to remove yourself from “being a doctor” and “do what a good patient” should do.
When you’re hurt, you’re the patient, not the doctor.
Don’t worry, I know a bad patient won’t follow-up with the ortho like they’re supposed to. However, I will make sure my wife follows up with hers.
TL;DR
Doctors are bad patients.
You don’t know what you don’t know.
When you’re hurt, you’re the patient, not the doctor.
-Sensei
Agree? Disagree? Questions, Comments and Suggestions are welcome.
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