- Joined
- Aug 6, 2023
That largely depends on 2 factors: workplace policies and staff interest.When you come across a case like Vicky, is it normal to look up them up online and find information about them? Not in a professional capacity, but just personally, to get a sense of what’s up with them?
Some workplaces have bans on searching patient names, and they track internet use. The staff do not care, and don't search her because of that. They want her gone and interact with her as little as possible. We are interested in Vickie. To the medical staff she interacts with, she is a name on a chart that engenders feelings of frustration and exhaustion. Nurses likely quietly go to great lengths to avoid her, and carefully word their notes (or make it as brief and underwhelming as possible; you can tell a lot from tone). I guarantee there are flags or at the very least not-so-subtle cues in her notes that she's faking.
People who don't work in medicine often observe a single symptom and declare it an iron-clad indicator; in almost all cases we are actually looking for a consistent trend with all the normal accompaniments. For example, true shortness of breath (SOB) is never just SOB. There will be accessory muscle use, other vital signs will be a little wacked, and even the way a patient speaks are all affected.
All of this is to say that it is patently obvious Vickie is a lying little shit, and the staff are doing just enough to cover liability while the admin staff consult legal to figure out how to remove her.
Also, ICU's have extremely strict protocols for who gets admitted. A bed cannot be requested by anyone except a doctor, and even that has to be approved.