"If you don't take a temperature you can't find a fever"

[PCIntern]

From the brilliant tell-all novel House of God by the pseudonymous Samuel Shem.

Who needs testing?

Just remember: the chief resident invented Dr Jung’s Anal Mirror so people could see their own. How great is THAT?

[Aristus]

1. Fever is something I frequently have to educate my patients about.

One cannot confirm a fever unless one has one's temperature taken. One can feel 'feverish'; i.e. hot, sweaty, fatigued, etc., without having an actual fever, which is 101.0 Fahrenheit or 38 Celsius or higher.

I've had patients tell me they had a fever and confirmed it with a thermometer reading.

"What was it?"

"98.9"

"That's not a fever".

"Well, my temperature runs low, so 98.9 is a fever for me."

"It doesn't work like that; fever is fever for everyone."

[CTyankee]

2. good point, Aristus. Thank you for that.

Bless you for having the patience to explain this stuff to the people who don't know or just plain don't care to know what's real and what's just in their heads.

[Aristus]

3. Patient education is my favorite part of the job.

Explaining things to people who are genuinely unaware of important medical information. I love it.

The patients who try my patience (sorry) are the ones who dismiss the information because some brain-dead hamhock told them differently. *cough*antivaxxers*cough*.

[CTyankee]

4. "brain-dead ham hock"

[Cousin Dupree]

5. Ahhhh...House of God. Loved that book. Remember "The Rose Room",

the “Orthopedic Position” and the famous term that originated from that book: GOMER ?

[PCIntern]

6. 😄