Advice, Nurse?

The Kid has been sick for a pretty long time, off and on, with a number of ailments. Typical of an elementary school-aged child. Most recently, it's been a persistent cough which the pediatrician decided to try treating with qvar and albuterol. I reserved the latter since he has no signs of asthma. He did use the qvar inhaler. Vomited. The cough persists.

Why is this worthy of a blog post? Because I am about to begin study to be a nurse. When he vomited after having used the qvar, I called the advice nurse, just to be safe. He's had a recent history of respiratory problems as well as a nasty case of gastro; I disclosed related health information, including chest x-rays, previous treatments, basically his medical history for the past few months. While thorough, I think I was concise. ("Should he stop using the inhaler?" was my exact inquiry.) Apparently she was a little unsure of how to proceed and had googled the same web-advice I had. I found this mildly amusing and enlightening, if frustrating, as she proceeded to read to me every single symptom of every possible childhood ailment on the planet.

Note to self: process what patient/parents tell you about symptoms and behaviors. Don't read out of the manual or off of the screen. Mentally eliminate. As in, "Yes, he can put his chin to his chest and does not have meningitis. He has no other symptoms of meningitis, say, like an elevated temp." "No, he is not coughing up blood; I would tell you that." "No, there was no blood in his vomit; I would tell you that as well." "Yes, he is conscious or I would be hysterical and on my way to the ER, not talking on the telephone".

He seems fine now, as all of you other nurses out there probably could have predicted.