WILTIMS #396-7: Communication breakdown

After a pretty jumbled week, it's been nice getting back into the normal rhythm of things at the clinic. That rhythm of course being: DM f/u, HTN f/u, cough, DM f/u, PE, DM & HTN f/u, PAP & CBE, DM f/u, WBV, back pain, HTN f/u... for 8 hours a day. (DM=diabetes mellitus, f/u=follow-up, HTN=hypertension, PE=physical exam, PAP=pap smear [pap=Papanicolaou], CBE=clinical breast exam, WBV=well-baby visit)

An interesting conundrum we got in today was trying to make sure a patient knew which pills to take at what times and, ideally, for what reasons. The problem was that she is totally illiterate. Born in another country and never having been to any kind of school, she had a hard time even understanding what was spoken to her, let alone any printed instructions or drug labels.The best we could do today was to tell her to have her daughter show her which meds to take at which times of day and to also have her daughter come with her to the office from now on.

YIL: Myringotomy is the medical name for purposefully perforating the tympanic membrane, either with a small incision or tube placement. This can help relieve pressure from chronic middle ear infections.

TIL: Creon (aka pancrelipase) is the medication given to replace all the pancreatic enzymes after the pancreas is damaged from... [you guessed it] ...pancreatitis. It consists of a blend of lipase, protease, and amylase in their physiologic ratios.

Blood pressure and depression sound even more similar in Spanish than they do in English. If we fully said "blood pressure" in Spanish it would be fine (presión sanguínea), but instead most people shorten it to just "presión" which sounds very similar to "depresión." This became an issue today when a patient had to come in for reevaluation before we would send a refill for her medication because we thought she said she needed more depresión medication but, in fact, she only needed presión medication, which we have no problem refilling over the phone.

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