The Numpty Nurse/Diabolical Doctor Award

[ukjohn]

I was discharged from the hospital diabetes clinic after attending there for 3 years. The Consultant said my own doctor could do my checks as they have a diabetic clinic. I've attended the surgery clinic every 6 months, just routine untillast visit, nurse checked my blood pressure and said thats high 180/90, I said OH..it was 120/70 earlier in the day, ok she said, we'll put down your reading on your record 😱 Then I asked her advice on increasing my insulin dose because my pre breakfast readings when I get up in the mornings were always up in the 8s. She said I can't advise you on insulin doses etc, I said you are the diabetic nurse are you not, she said yes but I only had 2 days training on diabetes which did not involve insulin..

John

 

[Northerner]

I was discharged from the hospital diabetes clinic after attending there for 3 years. The Consultant said my own doctor could do my checks as they have a diabetic clinic. I've attended the surgery clinic every 6 months, just routine untillast visit, nurse checked my blood pressure and said thats high 180/90, I said OH..it was 120/70 earlier in the day, ok she said, we'll put down your reading on your record 😱 Then I asked her advice on increasing my insulin dose because my pre breakfast readings when I get up in the mornings were always up in the 8s. She said I can't advise you on insulin doses etc, I said you are the diabetic nurse are you not, she said yes but I only had 2 days training on diabetes which did not involve insulin..

John

If you can be a diabetic nurse after two days training, we should all apply for the job! Scary stuff John. Mind you, the last consultant I saw gave the impression of knowing little about insulin!

 

[Twitchy]

WHAT THE ?!?! 😱😱 Was she SERIOUS?!! That is totally utterly mental?!

(sorry, can you tell I'm outraged?!) I'd demand to see a doctor & then demand to be referred right back to the diabetic clinic! Outrageous!!!!

(Sorry, riled!!)

 

[Twitchy]

If you can be a diabetic nurse after two days training, we should all apply for the job! Scary stuff John. Mind you, the last consultant I saw gave the impression of knowing little about insulin!

Hey, with 30+ years 'on the job' training would i qualify?! 🙄 😱

Can't get over how utterly, utterly mad bordering on negligent this is!! I have done more formal diabetes training than her - a 5 day DAFNE course!!! 😱 DISGUSTING!!!!

 

[Twitchy]

Sorry, just realised this is a whole thread, not just UKJohn's bad experience (which I'm still outraged about btw!) 😱

My nominations would be, in no particular order;

1. Uni med centre doc: "I'm afraid you probably have diabetes"
Me: "Phew, good job I've been taking insulin for 20 years then!" 🙄 (It was a previously undiagnosed underactive thyroid, I'd been falling asleep in lectures for months & months! When I went to the docs they initially assumed I'd just been out parting too much!!)

2. DSN (some years ago): "Oh, we don't bother about carb counting or exchanges these days, just eat three good meals a day"
Me: "O-kay, describe a good meal..."?!

3. Diabolical doc in antenatal clinic: "Your HbA1c is 5.7%!"
Me: "I know, I'm really chuffed!!"
Doc: "You MUST be going hypo ALL the time - it's FAR TOO LOW!!"
Me "?!?"
(She didn't even look at my notes! Same doc, different app, when shown my notes in the DAFNE format "I don't understand all this - you're testing too much!!!")

4. Practice "specialist nurse": mutter mutter, "PCT" mutter "budgets!" mutter "far too many test strips" mutter "I'm not accusing you of testing anyone else OBVIOUSLY" (dirty look!), mutter "prescription audits" mutter "list" mutter "your name on it" !!!
Me: Snarl.

Oh, the joys of diabetes!

 

[AlisonM]

The thing that horrifies me, is that we ALL have such astounding stories to tell. Wouldn't this make a great article for the Red Tops that spend so much time moaning about the money wasted on us?

 

[Northerner]

The thing that horrifies me, is that we ALL have such astounding stories to tell. Wouldn't this make a great article for the Red Tops that spend so much time moaning about the money wasted on us?

I put out a challenge on Twitter for HCPs to decide which camp they fall into - heros or numpties! You are right - we very rarely hear about these day to day incompetencies. Usually, it's only high profile cases where people have died that appear in the papers, but general failure to perform should also be a big concern for everyone. Thankfully, many people have good stories to relate too, although it does make you question why there should be such a disparity in a profession that is supposedly so well monitored and difficult to get into.

 

[margie]

Of course we have to remember that even the best Dr can be having a bad day.

There is a Dr at my local surgery who is lovely and helpful. Though on visit I was put off by the fact that the room was very dark (light were off). When I mentioned it it was because the Dr had a migraine. If I hadn't seen the Dr before I might have been freaked out by the darkened room.

 

[hotchop]

I have a great dieabetes doc.... fanbloodytastic he is, fair play... then he took a week off on holidays.

The other practice doc asked me whether I had stopped eating chocolate and sugar as that what had caused my diabetes in the first place! mmmmm? not a happy bunny... hes the one who also told me i didnt need to test anymore, depite being insulin dependant..

when normal doc came back, i had a chat with him about it who told me to test as much as i want

 

[Ellie Jones]

This is going back to the late 90's..

I was swapped over to 4 injections a day, due to being pregnant (sadly I did miscarry) the DSN went through the details of my new regime... when to inject what insulin... But left one important bit of information out...

I was told to take the background insulin at bed time!!! She made no mention that it had to be a timed injection..

Like most people, bedtime varies from one night to another.... Boy did I get some control issues...

 

[RachelT]

Ok i think this may sum up my problems with my GP...
I'd been having high finger prick results so i went to the drop in centre at the hospital, largely because it's in the building next door to where i work, as opposed to across the other side of town.
Nurse: "And who's your GP?"
Me: "Dr........... of the...........surgery."
Nurse: "How do you spell that?"
Me "(spells) He's the diabetes specialist."
Nurse: "Really? I've never heard of him..."

Considering that the nurse in question recognised me from 6 months previously and Nurse Janet from the surgery knows of my boss in the hosital pharmacy, he really can't be much good, can he?

This is also the man who almost prescribed me the wrong drug for my over-active thyroid (Carbamazepine, for neuropathy and epilepsy, rather than Carbimazole) and tells me to calm down when i'm angry or upset or he's just given me what sounds like a horrible diagnosis.

 

[imtrying]

just had to add to this once again....

picked up my first repeat prescription from my new drs surgery after my old gp faxed over my medication, and I wrote a letter requesting what I needed. Went to the chemist and as I got there I realised rather than prescribing me 4mm and 6mm needles, they'd done 6mm & 8mm needles. I took a deep breath, let it go and just crossed out the 8mm needles (as I'm never going to use them) and handed it in.

went away while they made up the prescription and went back 20 mins later. the chemist handed over my meds and then said 'you need to speak to your drs surgery because.....

they had only prescribed me ONE box (5 cartridges) of novorapid (i'd have to go back for a repeat prescription after 2 weeks!!) I'd asked for 5 boxes.

AND AMAZINGLY....

they had prescribed me ONE CARTRIDGE of lantus!!!!!!!!! not even a box worths!!! and I'd asked for 5 boxes!!

It's the one cartridge that gets me the most! thankfully the chemist realised it must have been wrong and kindly gave me a whole box....still going to have to get another prescription in a week but hey! thank god for the nice chemist man!!!

rant over lol

 

[Lauren]

My old Diabetes Doctor: 'You can't eat bananas if you're Diabetic... realy you should only have up to two pieces of fruit a day, if you have to have any...'
Me: ???!!!

Old Diabetes Doctor: 'If you ever want to try for a baby we will have to take you off Lantus as its dangerous in pregnancy' (Lantus is the recommended long-acting insulin in pregnancy!)

Old Diabetes Doctor : 'We're not sure why you're having hypos every night but you seem to have highs every morning... you could possibly have rebound but thats unlikely because its so rare... we could look into it but that would take a lot out of the budget... just increase your Lantus by two and we'll see you in 6 months' (every time I saw him)

Old GP: 'Why on earth do you need so many test strips?!'
Me: 'Because I'm going to America for three months and as my Diabetes is badly controlled I test lot, and I want to have enough to last'
Old GP: 'Well that is FAR too many. How often do you test?!'
Me: '6 to 8 times a day'
Old GP: 'What?! I have never known a Diabetic who tested more than once a day! Really you should only be testing once a week!'
Me: 'I'm a type 1 Diabetic'
Old GP: 'Yes. I DO realise that.'
Me: '...I need to test to control my Diabetes...'
Old GP: sighs

She eventually writes out a prescription for one box of test strips and minimal supplies of my other items, which I manage to make last three weeks before having to fly home early. I request more test strips. She writes back a snotty note, underlined in red ink,which says: 'What happened to the supplies I gave you three weeks ago?!'
I manage to borrow a box off my pharmacist who says she will sort out a script for me.

A few days later I find out I'm pregnant. I go straight to my Diabetes clinic.

Me: 'I'm pregnant.'
Old DSN: 'Oh. Are going to terminate it?'
Me: '....NO'
old DSN: 'Well. I don't realy know what to do. I'll get the other Specialist Nurse to ring you in the next three days. Take some folic acid.'

You can't buy folic acid 5mg. You have to have a prescription. She didn't arrange one for me. I was fairly young,very frightened as it was unplanned, and had no idea what to do. No one rang me. Funnily enough, I miscarried the baby. And now I am so frightened of getting pregnant again,but since moving surgery and hospital I have a very dedicated care team who are making me feel a bit more confident about it.

The numpties above should win the award!!!

 

[Northerner]

Goodness Lauren, all that is really frightening! Thank goodness you now have a team that are better informed!

 

[margie]

Old Diabetes Doctor: 'If you ever want to try for a baby we will have to take you off Lantus as its dangerous in pregnancy' (Lantus is the recommended long-acting insulin in pregnancy!)

I was told that no insulin is approved for use in pregnancy as they don't have enough data to go through the approval process. That doesn't mean that they would stop it though. Your conversation wasn't when Lantus was first introduced was it ? As I can imagine then more Doctors would be a little reserved about using it.

 

[Lauren]

I was told that no insulin is approved for use in pregnancy as they don't have enough data to go through the approval process. That doesn't mean that they would stop it though. Your conversation wasn't when Lantus was first introduced was it ? As I can imagine then more Doctors would be a little reserved about using it.

No, this only happened 2 and a half years ago! My friend was on Lantus when she was pregnant and it was fine

 

[Starcat]

I was recently told by my DSN that one of the ways of calculating how much insulin to have during mroning sickness was to eat, wait till you throw up and then try to work out how many carbs i have digested and then inject.

She also told me off for having too many highs and lows and taking too much insulin. I did try to point out that I have only ever had one appt while on insulin at the clinic as every one in the 2 years since has been cancelled! I am only going now because I am pregnant and they have to see me!

 

[Northerner]

I was recently told by my DSN that one of the ways of calculating how much insulin to have during mroning sickness was to eat, wait till you throw up and then try to work out how many carbs i have digested and then inject.

She also told me off for having too many highs and lows and taking too much insulin. I did try to point out that I have only ever had one appt while on insulin at the clinic as every one in the 2 years since has been cancelled! I am only going now because I am pregnant and they have to see me!

Hi Starcat, welcome to the forum 🙂 Where on earth did that nurse get her training from? 😱 I thought I'd heard everything, but oh how wrong I was! Dreadful. I wish you well with your pregnancy and hope that the standard of care improves - post in the Pregnancy section if you have any questions or concerns, we have lots of very experienced mums and mums to be that you can share things with. 🙂