A Stereotypical Patient

Everyone has some patients who are just stereotypical patients. The ones who are they way they are because of how they are. What I am going to do is try and describe a type of patient that I have noticed at every place I have worked as a RT and the reason they are this way.

Yep you might of guessed it, these types irritate me a bit because of what they could do to change their symptoms.

• They become short of breath with exertion.
• They most likely are diabetic.
• They are usually younger 30-50 years old.
• They have "Exercise Induced Asthma".
• They have hypertension.
• They seem to have back problems.
• They like to sleep and are become tired a lot.
• They like to order food at all hours, or have a stash of snacks in the room.
• They have decreased lung sounds.
• They get pneumonia a lot, or just plain sickly.
• They give a very lazy effort when asked to do a peak flow.
• They have that certain smell about them.
• They all seem to smoke.
• They seem to be on public aid.

Now you ask what patients am I talking about here, well these would be the morbid obese younger patients who have no motivation to help themselves. Just think how many trips to the hospital they could save just by losing weight.

Their breathing problems with exertion would be less, hypertension could be better controlled, diabetes better managed, they would have more energy, back problems could be gone, they could get a better job or a job in general with insurance and there possibly is not real asthma component. Finally that smell could disappear.

Now I'm sure this sounds like I'm bashing overweight people but I'm really not. The people I'm talking about just do not take care of themselves, are lazy and leech off the system. There are many overweight people who don't fit into this mold at all, but as for who I'm talking about...You RT's and RN's know exactly what I'm talking about.

Feel free to comment me on this but as always

Drive On RT's