I am so tired of hearing people rant and complain about the medical professionals that care for them. I work at an office to pay the bills but I am a nursing student working on my BSN but planning on getting my Master's degree and becoming a Nurse Practioner. For those of you that don't know what that is. Usually if you go into any kind of clinic (Family Planning, Free or Rapid Care) you are most likely seen by a Nurse Practioner. At least that is how it is here in Ohio.

At my job I constantly hear my coworkers use the terms "stupid nurse" or "stupid doctor". Albeit in most every profession there are the inept or bad apples but come on now. People don't relize just how much we have to take in over the course of our schooling let alone during on the job training. So the "term" stupid should not be applied to us. They should count themselves lucky to even be able to deal the medical fields "stupidity" at all. Many Americans (myself included) do not have insurance nor qualify for medical assitance. So when they go to the ER for a toothache and get to be in the presence of these "idiots" all I hear the next day is how "much they wanted to slap the nurse" or how "that moron Doctor wouldn't give me any vicodin". I wish I could seek medical help when I am sick or injured but unfortunatley my grace period is up on my student loan and I'm still waiting to start my clinicals so I am paying out the hind end to cover my schooling to help people like this.

So here's a few points I've attempted to make to my co workers, sadly it usually falls on deaf ears. These are the same people that come to me with a laundry list of ailments and want me to diagnose them and/or cure them on the spot.

~When you seek help from a medical professional they are not always going to be able to pinpoint the problem immediately. The human body is an amazing and complex mechanism and every one is unique and function as such.

~You can't be an "armchair quarterback" when it comes to the medical profession. Just because your aunt's mailman's sister had a similar problem and your healtcare provider perscribes a different course of treatment does not make them inept. Everyone is different and most infections are different. Some bacteria are gram + and need a certain anitbiotic, some are gram - and some just require a broad spectrum antibiotic.

~There are always long waits at an ER. It happens. Never go between 11am and 11pm if you "have better things to do than wait around" Trust me, they are not in the back playing Texas Holdem' while you suffer. They treat people in the order of severity not in order you came in...this is not McDonald's, it's triage.

~Next time you complain about the high cost of medical care just remember that malpractice insurance is extremely costly. Sadly malpractice insurance is often used to protect medical professionals from bad PATIENTS who are trying to make a quick buck rather than protecting patients from bad medical professionals. In some levels of medicine the average yearly premium can reach $100,000!

I'm not saying all medical professionals are infalliable and that all patients are money grubbing morons. I'm mostly speaking on my experience with my co workers. Sadly, they seem to represent the norm.

I look at it this way, if you are so much smarter and much better at diagnosing yourself then go back to the age of leeches and vapors and let us take care of the people that truely want and need our help