Incomplete history
One of the most frustrating thing we encounter as paramedics is that patient who tells you they take no medications but once you get to the hospital, the nurses bring up their chart with 4 pages of medications for their disease riddled body.
Me: "I thought you said you werent taking any medications and had no medical conditions?"
Patient: "I dont"
Me: "well then why are you prescribed all of these?"
Patient: "oh yeah I take that for my high blood pressure, and that for my diabetes, oh and I take that for my hyperthyroidism"
Me: "THOSE ARE MEDICAL CONDITIONS"
A recent patient of mine denied any medical history except for an injury they had 2 years ago that landed them in the ICU for a month. They denied any medications stating they refuse to see doctors now because "all they do is push drugs and you can lower your blood pressure by just thinking about it" their blood pressure was 180/110.
I asked them many times in every different way possible if they had any medical conditions, like diabetes, hypertension, asthma, COPD, etc. But every time, they said no. I even worded it like "when you were seeing a doctor did they diagnose you with anything that required a prescription?" Had to be worded that way or else they'd go on their rant about how they don't believe in doctors anymore. Still I got nothing out of them.
We get to the hospital and the nurses bring up their recent hospital stays and med records. Not even kidding, the medical history and medications chart were each 3 pages long. The nurse looks at me frustrated because I said that they has no history. How am I supposed to know they have every single disease on the planet if they don't tell me! They told me they were super healthy except for their bad back. Never once did they mention they had renal failure!
