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A lot of people take a bit of umbrage when they’re corrected, so many times it’s just not worth the effort of the doc/NP/PA or RN to say anything. Think: “I need antibiotics! I have a cold.” 🙄 Try and tell that person that antibiotics won’t help and they get pissed and say something along the lines of, “Well, my last doctor gave them to me,” and then they file a complaint against you because you were arrogant/rude and unhelpful. 🤦‍♂️

I can’t tell you the number of patient charts I see that have, say, opioids under medication allergies. But the effect is “nausea” or “makes me sleepy.” Makes you scream. “Holy f***ing shit! That’s not an allergy, that’s a known side effect!” An actual allergy would be itching, skin redness, hives or anaphylaxis.
I’ve only seen this once, but a patient claimed to be allergic to epinephrine (aka, “epi to us medical professionals) which is colloquially known as…”adrenaline.” Her allergic response? “Makes my heart race.” Yeah, no. Just…no. 1) you can’t be allergic to epinephrine. It’s your own body’s natural adrenal glands’ secretion during stress responses❗️2) it’s SUPPOSED to make your heart rate increase (see 1), and 3) it’s the drug we give for anaphylactic reactions to actual allergies; Epi-pen, anyone? It’s used in other situations, as well.

Try telling a patient that they don’t have (or in the case of epi, can’t have) an allergic response to xxxx, and (in many cases) see what happens. Not a lot of fun for us. 🙄😡🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️