Rude ED Doctors

Nursing Students CNA/MA

Published

Okay, I understand how busy the ED can be but as a nursing assistant working in an AFH who just sent off a resident with worsening leg/knee trouble I am concerned with the care and treatment she will be receiving at the hospital and my boss told me to call and make sure that they ran a battery of tests and X-Rays to cover all our bases before they send her home. But, when the nurse put me on the phone with the doctor and I repeated what my boss told me to say she goes; "We were going to do that anyway." really condescending and hung up on me. Just because you may be swamped down in "the pit" is no reason to rude to those involved with you patient's care! I know there are a lot of good, polite doctors out there and the rude ones put them in a bad light.

Sorry for the vent.

~Ami

Specializes in DD, Mental Health, Geriatric.
Next time h=just give them info they may need, but not have and then ASK if they could do A,B, C....

They may or may not still be rude........:rotfl:

Next time I will tell my boss it makes me uncomfortable and let her handle it if she wants to make demands of them.

Specializes in DD, Mental Health, Geriatric.
So was this an als run or a call for transport bls run? Did you specify what you wanted or really say "run all possible xrays, tests, etc"? Do y'all even know what that request means?

ER docs don't like being told how to do their job. ER nurses don't like it either.

I, myself, had no decision making process at all in this. I never ever take it upon myself to decide when and if someone needs the hospital. My boss instructed me to call 911 and send the fire department out to take a resident to the ER for knee/leg trouble and then she instructed me to call the ER and told me to repeat what she wanted me to say to them which was basically "run every test available." I thought it was stupid but I didn't want to get in trouble for not following orders. Caregivers have been written up and fired for that before.

Specializes in DD, Mental Health, Geriatric.

Anyway, this is the rest of the story in which was missing from my previous venting post of being upset at some rude ED doctors. (not all!) I thought I'd write the rest of what happened so people will stop verbally beating up on me and realize that I had no choice in that situation and that the one who made all the decisions was my boss and not me!

I work in an Adult Family home overnight all weekend and two days out of the week and besides myself there is only one other caregiver who works on alternating shifts who is another NAR like me and the owner of the business and my boss. Only one of us is on the premises at a time. One of our residents had been having worsening knee and leg trouble and when my bods called the home to check up on her and asked me how she was standing up and walking and I told her that she was needing help with standing but she was having so much trouble walking that I was having to use a wheelchair,(which was also as per my boss's orders before she went home at the beginning of my shift; if the resident was having trouble walking to use the wheelchair), and so my boss said to call 911 and send for the paramedics to transport the resident to the ER to, and I quote: "Have that knee checked out." Then, after a while a nurse from the hospital called me and gave me an update. I called my boss and updated her as to what the nurse said. My boss then told me to call them back and pretty much demand they "run every available test on her before they discharge her. Make sure!" she said to me. So, not wanting to get written up or possibly fired I had to do as I was told. And It also was not my idea to bother the doctor with my boss's requests but the nurse decided that I needed to tell her instead and put the doctor on the phone. So, now I really understand what "shoot the messenger" really means! Lol!

Specializes in ER, Med-surg.

Doctors are right up there with lawyers on the nasty level. I try to avoid them as a CNA just from how I've seen them treat the RN's. Thankfully all of my interactions with doctors (in the workplace anyways) have been pleasant, but I'm totally prepared to get treated like crap when I get to clinicals.

You're a CNA, she's a doctor, in her eyes, you're trash and she's God. Just let it roll off of your back. I wouldn't know how else to deal with it other than to lie back and think of England.

Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
I, myself, had no decision making process at all in this. I never ever take it upon myself to decide when and if someone needs the hospital. My boss instructed me to call 911 and send the fire department out to take a resident to the ER for knee/leg trouble and then she instructed me to call the ER and told me to repeat what she wanted me to say to them which was basically "run every test available." I thought it was stupid but I didn't want to get in trouble for not following orders. Caregivers have been written up and fired for that before.

Sounds like your boss doesn't understand the way the system works. The doctor can't "run every test available". Maybe it's been far too long since the resident was seen by her primary care provider.

But, you have to do what you have to do - sorry for the unnecessary flak you got over the whole mess.

I'm a CNA on a med/surg/tele unit. Our doctors are pretty nice. I let them know that I am not a nurse and they'll still communicate with me and ask specific questions along with the patient. Obviously, if they ask something that is completely out of my realm then I'll refer them to the appropriate nurse. Idk...maybe my work atmosphere is different. Most of the physicians are pretty

friendly and they actually communicate with the team..... But we DO have our fair share of *sshole doctors as well.

Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

Threads merged for continuity

The RN should have made the call, but who cares if the Doc was rude and snotty. You make a fraction of the money she makes doing a thankless job that gradually wrecks your back. Yeah the ER doc has a stressful job, but she has a nice mercedes Benz and the occasional skiiing trip to Aspen to take her mind off it.

Besides, you dont work at that hospital, so if a doc you dont work with or for gets snotty, id get snotty right back. Most Docs are rich kids whove never done a day of hard physical work in their life, so they can take their attitude and shove it.

Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
You're a CNA, she's a doctor, in her eyes, you're trash and she's God. Just let it roll off of your back. I wouldn't know how else to deal with it other than to lie back and think of England.

I really don't think that is fair at all. Perhaps this was how the doctor thought, but I think it's pretty unfair to accuse the doctor of those ideas knowing nothing about the doctor or the situation. My guess is the doctor would have had a similar reaction had another doctor called, made demands and told her how to do her job. I think, the point is, the OP got put in a really cruddy situation by her boss at the facility...if the boss wanted "everything done", then she should have called herself.

Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.
The RN should have made the call, but who cares if the Doc was rude and snotty. You make a fraction of the money she makes doing a thankless job that gradually wrecks your back. Yeah the ER doc has a stressful job, but she has a nice mercedes Benz and the occasional skiiing trip to Aspen to take her mind off it.

Besides, you dont work at that hospital, so if a doc you dont work with or for gets snotty, id get snotty right back. Most Docs are rich kids whove never done a day of hard physical work in their life, so they can take their attitude and shove it.

Because you have worked many shifts as an ER physician, so you know their job is a breeze, right? Plus med school is like maybe 4 hours of work a day--plus that long summer vacation--and why would you need to spend any time studying? Then things really get easy and their workload goes down even more when the reach their residency. (sarcasm icon here)

Every ER doc has that moment when they are not so kind to RNs and techs, but they are all hard working and generally pleasant individuals (as a whole, more pleasant than docs I have encountered in other specialties). Sure they make a nice salary, but they work very hard for that money, so you might want to give them a bit of break. Who knows, one may save you life sometime.

Having said all that, the ER doc had no justification for being rude to the OP.

Every ER doc has that moment when they are not so kind to RNs and techs, but they are all hard working and generally pleasant individuals (as a whole, more pleasant than docs I have encountered in other specialties). Sure they make a nice salary, but they work very hard for that money, so you might want to give them a bit of break. Who knows, one may save you life sometime.

Having said all that, the ER doc had no justification for being rude to the OP.

I dont mean to totally trash Doctors(like they would care what I think anyway), or ER Docs in particular, I just get annoyed at the tone of some of the responses. How dare a CNA suggest something to a Doctor! Give me a break, as a CNA I have people telling me how to do my job all shift long. RNs and other staff, patients....and especially patient's familys. In some cases their advice is neither desired nor remotely helpful, I still dont act rude.

Im not saying an ER Doctor wouldnt have reason to be arrogant or rude, for all you know the ER was swamped and this Doctor just finished intubating a crashing 5 year old kid right before she got this call, but I notice a couple responses were by EMTs, and I noticed a tendency by many EMTs and Paramedics to hero worship ER docs. Most of them, including the really nice ones, tend to have a pretty healthy ego, so they dont need people fueling it even more. RNs dont seem to do this as bad as many EMTs do.

I am curious, did the resident come home or get admitted?

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