Expert: Kathleen RN - 1/9/2012

Question
Hello,
    I am studying to be a nurse, primarily in psych or an ER nurse, and i have a question about allergies. I recently read on the internet of a girl who really liked dogs but she couldn't own one because she was really allergic to them. However, she loved them so much that she wanted to be around them and ended up in the emergency room because of it. The website that i found this comment on was a giveaway for a dog shaped necklace and she commented that she was ecstatic on how the necklace looked and that she wanted it so that she could "have a dog that she could carry around and not worry about going to the emergency room."
    This got me to wonder if a necklace or another object (like a stuffed animal) could be a substitution for the real thing, although i know it would not replace it.
   My question is can a nurse, in a case like this, suggest to a patient to get a substitute for the animal so that they don't come back to the emergency room or would that be a bad idea? It seems to have worked for this girl and i was wondering if it could possibly work for other patients.

Answer
Hello Daisy,
What a great question. As an ER nurse, I see nothing wrong with incorporating this article into a conversation about possible alternatives to decrease the visits and give this child a better quality of life. Our goal is to never make a patient feel like we don't want them in the er. But sometimes parents do overlook the obvious because their worry for their child overides anything else. A perfect example of this is when we have parents bring their child in with a high fever, did you give he/she anything for the fever? "No, we wanted her/him seen right away" So the obvious is overlooked. There are many ways to have that conversation, as long as you don't sound accusatory to the parents. I hope this helped Daisy, good luck with your chosen career path!          Sincerely, KathleenY2