Hi Laura

As a paed nurse, you will have an advantage in understanding the significance of what you are told by doctors. In my opinion adult nursing is just taking care of bigger kids . The big difference between them is that kids often can't articulate what they are feeling and adults can't articulate what they are feeling either but think they can.

A classic example: Alex tells the doctor that he feels pain and burning here (centre point just under his rib cage), doctor enquires no further and recommends Mylanta which didn't help Alex at all. Alex was trying to describe nausea not reflux and did not get around to telling the doctor that burning usually resulted in vomiting which was the key point.

The other thing that adults do is self diagnose, so they unconciously filter the information they give healthcare professionals sometimes resulting in wrong diagnosis and treatment.

Our example: Alex decided he had a decaying tooth so went to the dentist and told him that he had a sore tooth and wondered if there was an abcess. Dentist pulled the tooth but mentioned that he thought there was more going on and referred to ENT. Alex failed to mention that he had a sore throat and was struggling to swallow. Result? A regular referral rather than an urgent appointment and a delay of over 2 months.