Nurse can't read - what to do..?
Discussion
I'm off travelling in africa in a couple of weeks, so need a load of vaccinations.
The complication is that I'm on immunosuppressants, so I can't have any live vaccines.
Went to the nurse at my GP today to have what I can. At first she didn't want to give me anything. A bit of persuasion and a chat with the doctor convinced her that she could. Then we came to the typhoid...
There are two types, one is a live vaccine given in 3 doses orally. I cannot/must not have this. The other is injected and is not a live vaccine.
For some reason, she failed to read the prescribing information correctly, and decided that it said I couldn't have it whilst on immunosuppressants. Odd I thought, having done my research and finding that the only thing I couldn't have was yellow fever, and the oral typhoid vaccine.
So I checked the prescribing info when I got home. It says it's fine, just that response might not be as strong, and they strongly recommend that you still have it even if you're heavily immunodeficient.
So I gave them a call, and got a shirty response telling me that I'd have to have something concrete or they wouldn't do it. And that the nurse would ring me back. This was 3 hours ago and I've heard nothing...
What exactly does one do in this situation? I've reviewed the actual leaflet that she was referring to and it's clear that she hasn't read it properly. I was fairly sure of this as she was actually reading it (well, skimming, blurting out key words in a fluster).
Not to mention the fact that a nurse without basic comprehension skills is probably quite dangerous...
The complication is that I'm on immunosuppressants, so I can't have any live vaccines.
Went to the nurse at my GP today to have what I can. At first she didn't want to give me anything. A bit of persuasion and a chat with the doctor convinced her that she could. Then we came to the typhoid...
There are two types, one is a live vaccine given in 3 doses orally. I cannot/must not have this. The other is injected and is not a live vaccine.
For some reason, she failed to read the prescribing information correctly, and decided that it said I couldn't have it whilst on immunosuppressants. Odd I thought, having done my research and finding that the only thing I couldn't have was yellow fever, and the oral typhoid vaccine.
So I checked the prescribing info when I got home. It says it's fine, just that response might not be as strong, and they strongly recommend that you still have it even if you're heavily immunodeficient.
So I gave them a call, and got a shirty response telling me that I'd have to have something concrete or they wouldn't do it. And that the nurse would ring me back. This was 3 hours ago and I've heard nothing...
What exactly does one do in this situation? I've reviewed the actual leaflet that she was referring to and it's clear that she hasn't read it properly. I was fairly sure of this as she was actually reading it (well, skimming, blurting out key words in a fluster).
Not to mention the fact that a nurse without basic comprehension skills is probably quite dangerous...
Pothole said:
get an appointment with the GP and talk to him about it?
Prob worth a shot I expect... (pun not intentional, but for some reason made me chuckle...) I shall try and avoid the fact that I think their nurse is retarded and dangerous until *after* they've stuck a needle in me. 
Don't forget that you are potentially a special case, the doctor and nurse are unlikely to have been asked these questions that regularly, so they may be going on info that is older than yours, or they could be back of a course on vaccinations and imuno-suppressants with the latest peer reviewed data.
Book an appointment with your doctor, find the details for the school of tropical diseases link here as atleast these guys are NHS specialists in tropical medicine so should know more about what's safe with what.
Book an appointment with your doctor, find the details for the school of tropical diseases link here as atleast these guys are NHS specialists in tropical medicine so should know more about what's safe with what.
Engineer1 said:
Don't forget that you are potentially a special case, the doctor and nurse are unlikely to have been asked these questions that regularly, so they may be going on info that is older than yours, or they could be back of a course on vaccinations and imuno-suppressants with the latest peer reviewed data.
Book an appointment with your doctor, find the details for the school of tropical diseases link here as atleast these guys are NHS specialists in tropical medicine so should know more about what's safe with what.
Oh I'm definitely a special case - my abuse of her reading skills is slightly tongue in cheek (unless I get to read the same leaflet that she did and find that the DID misread it, the one from the manufacturers website could be different). Her face fell as she looked through my file at the multiple huge doses of corticosteroids in my recent past. And then I pulled out my patient alert card... Book an appointment with your doctor, find the details for the school of tropical diseases link here as atleast these guys are NHS specialists in tropical medicine so should know more about what's safe with what.
Edited by BMWBen on Wednesday 10th February 14:01
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