I hate it when patients....

[Galaxian]

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This absolutely pisses me off. I was talking to this diabetic dude who had all the risk factors for PVD. His leg was kind of dusky, and atrophic, he had poor pulses, DTRs, and muscle strength, and he described pain in his calves and even buttocks when he walked for a little while. I take all this down, and go and tell my attending this guy's probably got caludication. We go back in to see the patient, and he totally changes his f*%&ing story! He says the pain is in the sole of his foot, and that it gets numb and tingly, a total neuropathic story now! My attending gave me the "someone needs to brush up their H&P skills" look, as I seethed underneath my stupid short white coat...

 

[Bobblehead]

Won't be the last time this happens. The story always changes when the attending/consultant/resident walks into the room. Sometimes just posing the question gives the patient time to reflect on the answer and "refine it". Most attendings will remember when this happened to them and not hold it against you.

 

[woolie]

Try working in a free clinic for the homeless if you want to see stories change ! Now that's a mind-bending experience and a challenge to your professionalism.

Maybe the attending was also razzin' on you, because like the above poster said, it is so common to have pts change their symptoms, etc. with other people.