A "Success story" to start things this year!

I realize that I don't start clinicals for another week, but I had an encounter today that I feel is very appropriate to share, given this is my last year of nursing school. HALLELUJAH!!!! The story starts like this: I was working my summer job and was talking to my supervisor about my life. I am still battling my chronic undiagnosed ankle pain and had been back to wearing a brace...still am to this day. Anyway, we were talking and she told me she had had some problems with her hands. One doctor said this, another one said that, and another one said carpal tunnel. But to me, carpal tunnel just...didn't seem right. The way the signs/symptoms were just...didn't match up to the way that I thought it was. She told me she was seeing a specialist, and I kept thinking maybe that it wasn't carpal tunnel. Before I left for the day, I asked if she was ever tested for RA (if you don't know what it is...ask me). She said no, and then that was it. Didn't hear anything about the matter for a while.

So my summer job ended and I started back at my regular semester job last week. This morning I was making the AM mail run and I heard a familiar voice. It was my supervisor from the summer and we got to talking again. Before I left she told me "Kelly, I know you're going to make a great nurse." A bit confused, I nodded and said my thanks. She then said that she received a phone call stating a diagnosis of RA was made. My mind blanked for a second, but then I thought..."holy crap I was RIGHT?!"  I left the CPO a bit amazed, but also a bit sad. How many patients walk out of the hospital or their doctor's offices with a "diagnosis" without really digging deep into it? Without really listening to the chief complaints? Sometimes I really do feel like that we get shoved out the door with the assumption that they just rattled off the first thing that came into their heads. Yes...I am speaking from experience. I want to change this.

What I don't understand is how did a 22-year-old novice nursing student pick up on something that in my opinion can be...easy to diagnose? All it takes to diagnose RA is a blood test and the knowledge of what to look for. Maybe that's why some people stop seeing doctors; they feel like they don't get straight answers. They're thoughts that I myself have found myself slipping into. And it's easy to; why can nobody figure out why after 2 years my ankle still hurts? And sometimes I have felt like I have been shoved out the door without feeling listened to. This is the aspect of healthcare I want to change: taking back the remedial step of being a healthcare provider...LISTENING to people, no matter how long it takes to tell their story. Some of these people traveled a long way to be heard. I feel the LEAST healthcare providers can do is provide what they came for. I understand that things get hectic and busy, and I understand that some patients are more demanding than others. But me picking up on RA only took a few brief conversations and then a few connections in my head. That was it. And if a 22-year-old in school can do it, then what is everyone else waiting for? My challenge for the year ahead.