In the office setting, a family nurse practitioner often sees complicated patients. I have two types of patients on a daily basis. The first is the younger patient who is usually seen for sick visits such as sore throat, ear infection, cough, and urinary tract symptoms. The other type has many morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipids, and COPD, usually in a combination of them.
My last patient of the day had so many things wrong, I had to stop them and ask “what isn’t wrong with you?” Surprisingly enough, they weren’t offended but actually laughed. This type of patient usually has a higher risk of anxiety and depression related to “being sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
It is also a battle trying to obtain old records to see what testing has already been done or if there are any conditions that they forgot to tell me about. Sometimes they have been treated for a condition that they weren’t even aware of. Imagine that!
It’s been getting busier in the office and things are going great! One of my other employers as a floor nurse emailed me and told me about a job. I told them NO THANK YOU! I’m happy as a clam where I am!
Sounds like most of my patients! My clinic serves recipients of a state program for under insured, low income people. Many have mutiple chronic diseases and have been without meds for months..or years. We get forty minutes for a new patient visit. Sounds like a lot of time, but sometimes it takes twenty minutes just to print their scripts.
ReplyDeleteI do really enjoy it, however. Glad things are going well for you.
I usually take up to 45 minutes if I don't have too many new ones back to back even if they don't have too many conditions. They usually come back because I take the time initially.
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