This kind of POOP is the bread-and-butter, so to speak, of neurologists.
It's one of the reasons I don't especially value the national pain initiative (whatever it's called), where patients get asked to rate their pain on a scale of 1 to 10 -- virtually every headache patient in the ER rates theirs a 10, even when they're calmly sitting there asking for something to eat, or to go out and have a smoke.
Jaaay-zus, how I hate that pain chart! And hospital "mission statements" and all of that costly crap.
I'm a civilian here; what does "ED" mean?
For the past year, Bethesda Naval Hospital has been doing some kind of study, a pair actually. So for every visit, the patient must answer two questions: 1) are you in any pain and 2) Do you learn better by seeing, doing, or a combination?
I made the mistake at an endrocrinology appointment of telling the corpsman that my left elbow hurt. 65 questions later, we were able to get on to the point of my appointment which had nothing to do with a bone spur in my elbow. So now I just say "no" and then feel vaguely guilty that I'm skewing whatever it is they're trying to do.
The second question, on the other hand, is so annoying by dint of repetition and being outwardly pointless (it doesn't seem to have affected any of my interactions with the staff) that I have started giving a different answer each time, just to see if anyone notices. I don't feel guilty about that.
Back to the main topic of your post, I appreciate the compassion you showed for this grieving woman. It would have been easy to be angry or mock her "fake" distress -- but then, that doesn't seem to be the kind of doc you are.
ED/Emergency Department = ER/Emergency Room
I have found the national pain initiative to be just that -- painful! I cringe every time I see some nurse administrator walking around wearing a stupid button with a big red slash through the word "pain." I know this may come as a shock to some, but there is generally only one state where one can be rendered completely pain free: it's called death.
It strikes me as odd that that is exactly the skill they train for at the academy for correctional officers and police.
Commenting by HaloScan
