For All Medical Personnel

Your best intentions maybe only making things worse.

These are my observations but I'm sure many will agree. And these are geared toward the care of children but I'm sure they apply to a lots of adults too.

Do you say "This isn't going to hurt" right before putting a needle in them? If you do STOP. It is a lie! And you know it! If you here a co-worker say that phrase please tell them to stop. Yes on occasion a needle stick may not hurt but that is what 1 in 1000? If you tell a child it doesn't hurt you have taught them to either not trust a nurse or not trust their own bodies. I'm not sure which is worse.

Have you ever said the phrase, "Oh it's not that bad." Excuse me? You don't know how this person feels. We all feel pain differently
and if the patient is scared it just makes everything worse. Compound that with a medical professional who doesn't seem to care (yes that phrase says you don't care) it's just an awful thing. This is far more important to those who can't communicate, especially children.

Please stop saying "All done" when you aren't. If you are dealing with a multi step process don't say "all done" until it is actually all done. Say something to the effect of "that is done" or "getting there." For a lot of people this may not be a big deal but it is HUGE for my child. "All done" means "all done." If you then go on to stick her with something else or put another probe on her she loses it. It will take a while for her to calm back down to a point where we can proceed. 

Do you smile? I know and understand that medical professionals are over worked and underpaid. That you work very long hours, are away from your family, take out MASSIVE student loans that take almost your entire life to pay back, and you deal with people at their worst all day long. But please, please, please take a moment to smile. It lets us as patients or family of patients know for that moment you are our doctor. You care about who we are and what we have to say. Even if you have 50 billion other things going through your head. For two minutes you are ours. That is what a smile says. 

Please do keep trying your best. I am very happy that we have had more good experiences than bad ones when it comes to doctors and nurses. So hopefully these observations can cut down on the bad experiences for others. As much as we all love doctors and nurses, sadly seeing them is usually not fun.