To not agree with the nurse practiser's view that my DS has asthma and to think a diagnosis should come from a doctor?

[PolkadotCircus]

Soooo my v healthy but skinny boy 9 has had a nasty winter virus that he has had problems shaking off,symptoms involve a cough that won't go away.Loads of other kids and adults have had/got it here.

The same happened last year and our fab doctor gave him temp inhalers to calm his airways down which worked a treat and were never used again.

His grandad is the same(very skinny and some times gets a chest infection in winter it takes a whole to shake off) but still cycling 16 miles a day at 80.

Anyhow dtwin 1 keeping dtwin 2 awake so tried to get an appointment with our fab GP but because he is so fab it is nigh on impossible so was offered an appointment with a nurse which I reluctantly accepted as all I wanted were temp inhalers and ds better ASAP.

Anyhow after a very lengthy appointment when his puff was measured,history looked at,records filled in,weighed etc she finally gave us some inhalers.Puff was poor(errr yes he has a virus and a temp) and we were told to come back for a follow up asthma review.I said but he doesn't have asthma only to be told well this happened last year etc,etc.

So we went to the review puff beyond normal now and very good,virus over so no surprise.Nurse then said as he had asthma she'd like to see him again,keep him in her records,how many inhalers did he have etc,to keep him topped up when tight in the chest etc etc.

I said very firmly he doesn't have asthma and never gets tight in the chest.She then asked if he had eczema or hay fever.He had eczema as a baby and gets a bit sneezy in the summer ahhhh then they are linked so he does have asthma.Me-no he doesn't he just gets a cough he can't shake some winters.
I don't want asthma on his records unnecessarily.We politely agreed to disagree.

So aibu to think a)he doesn't have asthma and b) a diagnosis should come from a doctor.

blubberguts Sun 17-Feb-13 18:18:02
Higgie - -'technician level qualifications' wtf??? Or are you just winding me up??

I hope it's a wind up, I really really do. As I don't know what else to say without being offensive.

Crash doll - that's my thought exactly no one is going to care if its on their or not especially as he is still a child and may grow out of it all anyway!!

Today's experience of hearing general opinion about my profession has not been edifying. Mind you, don't know if social workers or teachers would get it much easier.

www.asthma.org.uk/about-asthma/living-with-asthma/asthma-at-work/having-asthma-at-work/

There are more jobs than I thought, where having asthma may be a barrier.

It's amazing really with our low qualifications we know how to work the Internet.

Now, must get back to saying 'yes doctor' and scrubbing bed pans.

CharlieMumma. Surely though, threads like these help to educate the General Public.
Especially if a career has changed a lot over say the last 10 years.

The thing is people have so many misconceptions about asthma. There is a massive range of asthmatics from those who only have trouble occasionally or when ill to those who have daily issues and asthma that is hard to control.

When DS was diagnosed at 12 months I was relieved to get an diagnosis because in his case it gave answers and meant we could try to find the right course of treatment (he is 3 now and we are nearly there now!)

I think, a nurse practitioner is a nurse with extra qualifications that allow them to prescribe under certain circumstances. A practice nurse could be a nurse practitioner but they are also found in walk in centres and minor injuries units. An asthma nurse is usually the nurse in a GP practice who is responsible for treating and monitoring patients with asthma. They will have specialist qualifications in how to treat, diagnose and monitor patients with asthma.

True I guess people on here have now learnt a few things just shocked at the attitude of 'dr knows best' from
some. It's so often drs going to nurses for advice many people wouldn't believe it. If the ops child had asthma then he has it. There no point pretending he doesn't. If down the line he never exhibits another asthma symptom then perhaps he doesn't buy surely its better to accept he clearly had something going on for him to need inhalers once a year. I'm 27 and have never needed one. My dp is asthmatic and went years not needing his pumps never had check ups thought he must be fine. Until a severe chest infection got hold of him and I had to rush him up to hospital as he was struggling to catch his breath - he's now back on his pumps. Touch wood never has an attack as he uses he preventer pump as prescribed.

For those of you that have any worries about correct inhaler technique please have a look at these podcasts (one for each type of inhaler in different settings) that were developed as part of a project I'm involved with...

wires.wessexhiecpartnership.org.uk/video-series/inhaler-technique/

Sorry I'm on an iPhone so can't embed the link.

wires.wessexhiecpartnership.org.uk/video-series/inhaler-technique/

I was diagnosed with asthma when working in a kitchen when I was 16 due to the humidity making me so breathless. I stopped having problems when I stopped working there. Five years later I got a particularly nasty chest infection and my asthma came back. I suffer in really humid weather and when I get coughs/colds, other than that I am not wheezy or breathless so thankfully don't need to take my inhalers very often.

However a few years ago I was having a CT scan before having major surgery and I suffered my first full blown asthma attack. Luckily as I had asthma on my records (even though its very mild) I had been instructed to bring my inhaler with me so it was treated straight away.

So personally I would rather asthma be on my records no matter how mild than not as many unsuspecting things can aggravate it in the most surprising situations. I'm 36 and I have developed allergies to a drug I've never reacted to before despite having it many times and the only sign of allergy was an asthma attack - again luckily I had the inhaler with me and made a note of the reaction as according to my doctor the reaction next time could be much worse.

primaryhealthcare.rcnpublishing.co.uk/archive/article-assessment-of-nurse-practitioner-advanced-clinical-practice-skills-using-the-objective-structured-clinical-examination-osce

The link that you posted can only be accessed by registered users.

Arrgh - if you google inhaler technique podcasts or copy and paste the link into your address bar it works for some reason.

Your link works AvoidtheTrees, it's careergirl's where you needto be registered.

Thanks for the link. The video about howto use the aerochamber was really useful. Was that improved teaching about inhaler technique reduced asthma deaths by 75%. It does make sense I suppose.

Frightening isn't it?

It scares me how many people on threads on here have never been shown how to use an inahler properly. Maybe I am lucky that DS was in hospital when he was first diagnosed but the staff spent ages showing how to use the inhaler and each time he is admitted if it is a nurse who doesn't know him (most do now) they check we are doing it right.

I have to say, the only reason I knew what to do in the event of a full blown attack was because I'd spent time lurking on some of the long term asthma threads on Mumsnet. Up until that point any coughing had always been relieved by a couple of puffs of salbutamol and then I wouldn't have to think about it again for 6-12 months. Waking up at 5am one morning to find I couldn't breathe in enough to use my inhaler was a bit of a shock.

so clay, a bit OT but what ARE you supposed to do in that instance?

like crashdoll, I am struggling to understand what harm it would do to have the label childhood asthma on your record

it is incredibly common, insurance companies don't care, it is well known that many children grow out of it, it doesn't prevent you from any activity you might want to do, it won't hinder you in the employment market, it won't cause social exclusion

dc have all sorts of things on their medical records, some of which are relevant to their present situation, some of which are not

no future employer/insurer/girlfriend is going to sit down and read those weighty tomes

In my experience with DS the cost of travel insurance only goes up if you need more than 2 medications to control it or if you have been hospitalised recently.

I'm an asthma nurse. I often don't give leaflets out at diagnosis because we don't have any!

I may print info from patient.co.uk but it depends on the patient, their family and how receptive they are. Sometimes they've had so much info in one appointment it's overwhelming to send them off with printed info too. I would get them back within a few weeks and give it then, and advise them to check out Asthma UKs website in the meantime.

-discussed here Military air crew need to have been asthma free for life - see the problems this young man faces for accepting inhaler "just in case".

I'm sorr if I offended anyone but in my view doctors are professionals and nurses not. It does link in to the advice you get and leaves me very inclined to pay the small fee a consultant charges if we need a firm diagnosis in our family. I manage a care service and every year a few of the NVQ3 qualified people go into nurse training, yes they get a degree at the end of it but pklese do not try to tell me that the academic rigour of it is the same as a medical degree.