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Sickle Cell Disease patients developed a tolerance for pain relief medication over a period of time that patient should be provided with strong pain medicine on request, rather than be forced to suffer through a gradual increase of the dosage to “see what works.
Providers should never make assumptions about pain or urgency of treatment based solely or largely on the physical appearance and vital signs of a patient. Sickle Cell is not the only disease or condition which doesn’t manifest itself through visible symptoms. As someone who has endured numerous emergency room visits and hospitalizations, I have had much time to observe actions and reactions of medical staff and I realize how often superficial judgments become the basis for triage. There are objective methods of triage, and they should be learned and followed.
Finally, and we feel most importantly, health care providers should be reminded that they often have an expert on even the rarest diseases right there in the room with them – the patient. Individuals with a chronic disease usually learn a great deal about the condition and its treatment through repeated experience. Instead of dismissing patient ‘opinions’ medical professionals should be taught to solicit, assess and act on the expertise that the patient is able to share with them.
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