If you have scrolled down a bit, you may have already seen that March is Social Work Month. One of the critical roles that any social worker plays is that of advocate, and as a social worker, this is a role I take really seriously, and I hope that I act as a good advocate for the clients I work with, particularly in hospital settings.

I've written about being in the hospital before, but today I'm writing out of my own recent experience with my mother.

Without going into a lot of detail, she went to the emergency room and ended up being admitted to the hospital. Once admitted, the doctors started doing what they do best: x-rays, CT scans, lab work, breathing treatments, heart monitoring, etc., etc. Not only that, but many medications were changed and new ones were started.

She immediately started having some quite unpleasant symptoms, that lasted for several days. 

What I have always known, and now know for a fact, is that when it's your own parent, all the relevant professional training and experience you might have goes out the window. It wasn't until the 4th day in the hospital that I began to suspect that the nasty symptoms might be medication related. When I questioned the doctor, of course his response was that it was unlikely. 

This is where being an advocate is so important, because by this time 3 different specialists had been called in, and no one could figure out why she was having the symptoms.

I kept questioning the medication choice, and the doctor agreed to change it. Guess what? Mom started to feel better almost immediately. I'm still kicking myself that I didn't think of this a day or two sooner, but I'm more aggravated that the doctor didn't consider it at all. But because I kept asking the question, he finally made a change, and that resulted in a positive change.

I'm happy to report that mom is doing better, and now I know that there is one medication I won't let her take again.

The moral of the story: Never stop questioning, never stop advocating, and don't let health care professionals make you think you don't know anything. You know your loved ones better than they do (usually), so don't back down when you think there's something wrong.