Common Sense?

I feel a disturbance in the force lately...

Since starting the new job, I've found a decided LACK of common sense regarding how to deal with situations which may prove fatal - or those that may NOT prove fatal...

It happens all the time: families are faced with potentially serious situations, and they need to know what to do.

Some things, however, one would think would be pretty straight-forward...

For instance (Disclaimer - these are real situations that have happened all over the world - they have not, necessarily, come through on my phone line - names have been removed and specific locations have been disguised for protection):

Parent calls to speak with the Advice Nurse. Why? Because his 14-day-old child has been throwing up for the last 4 days, and has a temperature of 103... And he wants to know what to do...

Husband calls in wanting to speak with the doctor. Why? Because they've returned home (out of state) from having a surgery, and 24 hours after they arrived she now has a fever of 104. They don't know if they should go to the ER, since her family practitioner doesn't know about the surgery...

Patient's family calls in to speak with the doctor. Why? Because one of the 4 pins in their body has fallen out, and they need to know if they've put it back in correctly...

These are just a few... It seems to me, in pretty much ALL those cases, you should be seeking medical help face-to-face - not over the phone... I'm not medically trained, mind you, and I couldn't assist in any kind of ER work - other than holding a hand while someone else is bandaging the patient. But, I do know fairly obvious "needs medical assistance now" situations... These would be them...

*shakes head*

Sometimes I just don't understand...

~M