I recently had the extremely unpleasant experience of accompanying my 89-year old mother to an…read moreappointment with Nikki Angeles, APRN. Whatever her other competencies may be, Ms. Angeles seems to have nothing but contempt for the role of family members as health care advocates for the elderly. My mother, an 89-year old woman with a recent history of A-fib and breast cancer, presented with a number of symptoms that are consistent with A-fib and/or heart failure, including severe shortness of breath, extreme fatigue, and dizziness. In this state, she was disoriented, afraid, and unable to ask questions or otherwise advocate for herself. As her only child, this is my responsibility, and I take it seriously.
Ms. Angeles, on the other hand, seems to find the exercising of that role to be an irritation, an annoyance, and a waste of her, apparently, very valuable time. When, for example, I tried to ask simple informational questions about the purpose of tests she was ordering, she cut me off in mid-sentence, rolled her eyes, and attempted to move on with her agenda of bringing the appointment to an end as quickly as possible and moving on to whatever she felt was more important, without answering the questions. I was forced to repeat my questions, which only seemed to make her all the more irritated.
On the other hand, Ms. Angeles, was quite pleasant with my mother. The problem is that my mother was in no position to advocate for herself. She was too disoriented and short of breath to ask any of the questions that she would later be asking me on the way home -- questions to which she has the right to know the answers. Questions that, as her health care advocate, I have the right and responsibility to see that she has answered, so that she understands her condition, her prognosis, and the care that is being proposed and/or provided for her.
Ms. Angeles does not seem to understand or appreciate the fact that answering the questions of a family advocate isn't just an annoying distraction, but is, rather, and essential aspect of caring for the PATIENT, especially where the elderly are concerned. Hopefully, though, Ms. Angeles is not done learning, and will find a way to incorporate this understanding into her professional growth, so that she will be able to provide an improved level of care to future patients.
