I'm reading a study on how nurses define the term 'drug seeking', and what makes them more likely to put the 'drug-seeker' label on a patient's charts and. well. let me just throw down some quotes
"Needy, unable to cope" (<- you try coping with chronic pain)
"Comfort seeking" (<- you mean.. having a preference for not being in pain.. how criminal)
"Using or trying to obtain drugs on a long-term, chronic base" (<- do you understand what 'chronic pain' means.)
"Asking for pain med then returning to sleep."
"States he’s level 10 pain, but does not appear to be in pain (or ‘5= on appearance)." (<- it is well-known that chronic pain patients tend not to display pain in the same way as acute pain patients)
"Dramatic response to pain" (<- notice how this directly contradicts the comment above. you cannot win)
"Gets IV med, then leaves unit to smoke or walk around" (<- wow requiring medication and then going off to do something you needed pain meds to be able to do is so suspicious)
the article itself put it best when it says: “some comments depict patients trying to apply sound pain management principles, such as continuing to take medication for persistent pain”. no wonder all the other literature on the matter says that women of colour are the most likely group to be labelled drug-seeking. this shit is entirely vibes-based (read: based on the prejudices of nurses and doctors)
