“Too much information.”
Have you heard or used that phrase recently?
If you aren’t familiar with it, it signifies that someone has disclosed details with which you aren’t comfortable.
I occasionally find myself saying that during discussions with people—usually those under the age of 40. For some reason, they feel it’s perfectly acceptable to say just about anything about topics those of us over 40 would consider personal. I’m still haunted by an episode of “Sex in the City,” which I discovered while channel surfing. The show’s main character, Carrie, (in her late 30s?) is telling her girlfriends that she knows she has reached a certain comfort level with her latest boyfriend because she was able to have a bowel movement in his toilet.
I can hardly believe I wrote this, much less heard it on TV, but you can see my point.
More and more often, I’m hearing conversations in public that make me wince.
Take yesterday, for instance. I was standing outside a museum where lots of school kids were entering and exiting. There was a group of what I’d guess to be 14- and 15-year-old boys and girls goofing off on the lawn. There was lots of laughter and suddenly one of the girls squealed, “Quit it! I’m on my period!”
That got my attention.
My first thought was that I couldn’t ever imagine shouting something like that in a crowd or public place when I was a teen—and certainly not with boys present.
Maybe I sound like an old fogey and what’s this got to do with nursing anyway?
As nurses, we want to learn everything important about a patient, so maybe there isn’t such a thing as too much information. My questions to you are:
Do those of you who take patient histories find it easier these days to broach sensitive topics like sexuality and bathroom habits?
Do those of you who work with teens and people in their early 20s find that they want to tell you more than you want to know?
Are patients these days more forthcoming with answers and details, and does the level of comfort go down as the age goes up?
What’s your comfort level with these topics?
Tell me what you think.
Friday, April 11, 2008
How Much Information is Too Much Information?
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2 comments:
I think comfort level of certain topics like sex and bathroom habits are determined by your exposure to them in your everyday life. In the 60's seeing a woman in a bra was embarassing for me as a teenager. But because of the gradual relaxation of almost all inhibitions on sex and bodily functions on TV, in the movies and in the very public lives of stars and politicians - nothing seems to be off limits. Is this a good thing? I don't know, but as a mother of boys - they got very used to me saying "keep it covered" when they went out on a date. Something I would never dreamed I would say growing up in the 5 0's and 60's.
I am in my late 30s and work in a Level 1 trauma center, and even I feel uncomfortable at times with the things I hear today. A lot of younger patients (late teens, early 20s mostly), don't seem to hold back when it comes to telling me about their weekend exploits. It leaves me wondering what to say...and I'm not a prude by any stretch of the imagination, but sometimes I think there is such a thing as too much information.
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