I'm not venting frustration with this one so much as bafflement and disappointment:
Saturday night we had to take Sproutlet #2 to the ER. She wasn't able to sleep for coughing and finally coughed until she vomited just before midnight. She also had a low fever and was wheezing, so we called the on-call at our pediatrician's office and he said to take her in. They tested her for RSV and did a chest x-ray. They gave her a cool mist while we waited. She was a crack-up with the mist. She loved it! She was happy and smiling the entire time we were there, except for the brief moment while the took the mucous culture for the RSV test. She came back clean on both tests, and the doctor told us it was viral and to follow up on Monday with her pediatrician if there was no improvement. Sure, it was a waste of time if we look at it from one perspective, but she did have the symptoms of pneumonia, and she's still young enough that if she had had it, getting her seen immediately would have been very important, so I just chalk this one up to one of those things you go through when you're a parent. After telling us her illness was viral, the doctor launched into a lengthy explanation of why he wasn't prescribing an antibiotic. I good-naturedly rolled my eyes internally and after he left the room mentioned to my husband that it was sad that doctors still had to explain why they don't prescribe antibiotics for viral infections. If anything needs to be said at all, "It's a virus. Antibiotics are for bacterial infections," should be sufficient.
Here comes the vent: The nurse came back in the room to go over our discharge paperwork. She stops in the middle, just after reading out loud the part that says it's viral, and says, "Oh, he's not prescribing anything." I said, "Yeah, she's only 8 months, so she's really still too young for cough medicine or decongestants." She stared at the paperwork for a moment more with a puzzled look and then said, "Oh, I see here that you're supposed to follow up with her pediatrician on Monday. He probably just wants her pediatrician to be the one who prescribes the antibiotics. They may want to wait a bit longer anyway since she's so little. Some pediatricians want to wait ten days after a baby catches a virus before giving an antibiotic." What, what, and what??? There are several things wrong with those statements, but I'll only address the most glaringly obvious one. Antibiotics are useless for viruses. Now maybe I understand a little better why the doctor launched into his whole shpiel. This woman is a nurse, a parent, and a human being. To me, those are 3 great reasons why she should know what antibiotics are for. I realize how condescending I sound, and I honestly don't mean to be, I just think it's a shame how little our general populace knows about their bodies, so when a healthcare provider says something like this, it really concerns me.
She was very sweet, and I don't want to get her in trouble, and she's not a doctor, so she won't be prescribing anything to anyone, but I still keep wondering if I should call the hospital and say something about this. It's one of my pet peeves, so I'm not a good judge on how serious it is to have medical personnel saying stuff like this. Any input? Should I call? Maybe Princess Fiona will weigh in since she's in the medical community. I appreciate anyone's input!