[trailrunner]

Originally Posted by Alice

I'm sorry this person in so uninformed. And that this was said to you after you were giving her an honest, update on something you felt she had a personal interest.

I think what upsets me the most are the "medical" personnel (nurses, I'm sorry, but they are the worst!) know so little about diabetes. I traveled with another couple through Europe and put up with "can you eat that?" for two weeks by the other wife, who was a "career nurse"...but hadn't worked in clinical practice for 20 years...she's administrative now.

By the end of the trip...after explaining how fast-acting insulin worked...repeatedly...I was barely speaking to her. It was a weird kind of superiority game going on with her...almost 24/7.

I asked a recent nursing grad who worked in my endo's office just how much training she received on diabetes in her RN program. She said very little and said had she not worked in an endo's office, she would have been very disappointed in what was taught.

You were polite. That's about all you can do with these people. Have mercy on them, is all you can ask. Explanations never seem to get far.

Wow. Nurses really get bashed here sometimes. I am so sorry that many of you have had frustrating encounters with nurses, but not all of us are uneducated.

[lilituc]

Originally Posted by trailrunner

Wow. Nurses really get bashed here sometimes. I am so sorry that many of you have had frustrating encounters with nurses, but not all of us are uneducated.

I don't think it's nurses so much as *nursing schools* doing a poor job in that area.

[Alice]

I agree...I think it's the schools. I can certainly understand the general public not knowing diabetes and the general effects on health...but someone who's working in the health field should know the basics, at least. (Other than only eating sugar causes high blood sugar...and such nonsense)

In my own endo's office I ran into such an incident. My endo was out of the office for a month and told me to just call her nurse for refills...that the other doctor on call would handle them. No problem...I needed a refill for pen needles. So I called and told her the quantity for insurance purposes. (8 per day for monthly total average)...there was dead silence on the phone and the nurse (who works in an endo office) said "I've never heard of anyone who needed more than 1 or 2 of these..."...I just asked her to transfer me to the other endo.

She didn't understand MDI (Multiple Daily Injections) at all. I realize most diabetics are Type 2, but come on...

She had worked their for at least 2 years.