The tortoise or the hare? How do your docs rate?

Specialties Emergency

Published

Hi! I work in a 36,000 visit a year 17 bed ER. This time of the year, as in most ER's I'm sure, we are especially busy with pediatric cases and geriatric pneumonia cases, etc. Even the busiest days can run smoothly depending on the doc that is there. We have a couple of fantastic ones on days. They see patients quickly but efficiently and for the most part completely have trust in their nurses. Days like today are another story. We got so backed up because the day doc was moving like pond water. He saw one patient at a time, all day long. People in my trauma beds had been there at times for almost five hours before being seen. I'm sure most of you know how frustrating it is to know that more could be getting done, but isn't because the doc is taking his sweet time getting with it. How do your docs rate? And how do you deal with the "tortoises" in your ER?

Specializes in Emergency Nursing Advanced Practice.

I work with slow docs and fast docs. I work with slow nurses and fast nurses. I work with slow techs and fast techs. I wish they could all get on the same page/speed but all people are different and the sooner I learn to accept that the happier I will be. Until then, get up and move your A**!

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Specializes in Emergency Room.

HA! We used to actually HIDE the chart on the patients that were (finally) ready to be transferred to the floor,so the doc couldn't order any more tests. He was a great doc, just ordered one lab test at a time. :)

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Specializes in Emergency/Critical Care Transport.

Yeah I work with both kinds too. We have this one doc who works midnights, he the tortoise kind, but what's nice about it is if you"re getting slammed, everything comes to a screeching halt @ 2400hrs and you have plenty of time to catch up on your work. It's actually refreshing, a nice breather. I always smile when this doc comes in.

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Originally posted by Medic946RN

Yeah I work with both kinds too. We have this one doc who works midnights, he the tortoise kind, but what's nice about it is if you"re getting slammed, everything comes to a screeching halt @ 2400hrs and you have plenty of time to catch up on your work. It's actually refreshing, a nice breather. I always smile when this doc comes in.

yes, and this kind of doc usually doesn't care if you do the work up and then present to him. that is sometimes nice. nicer than those kind of docs who nickle and dime you. order test after test one after the other, each after the previous result is in!

:roll

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Specializes in Emergency Room/corrections.

I work in an ER that has 20 beds and we see 50,000+ per year. Those statistics alone tell the tale. Most of our docs are Hares. We have 2 or 3 who are tortoises but they are such good docs that no one complains.

Its the guys who order every single thing on every single patient that get on our nerves... you know cardiac workup for a patient with right elbow pain, or CT scan for every headache, Orthostatic vitals on everyone etc etc. We have one now who is fixated on urine tests. OMG UA's on everyone!!! Our nursing staff is ready to lynch this guy...

The Hares seem to counterbalance the tortoises and the gridlock usually doesnt happen until later in the night.. One thing that slows our ED down is waiting for the admitting docs to come in and see patients because our ED docs do not admit!! Average wait from entrance to exit in ER's in our area is 6 hours, so we dont do too bad.

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I agree about the admitting docs taking forever. I understand, especially during the day they will be very busy with rounds and such, but when it takes an hour for him to respond at 2 AM and it's obvious when he gets there he's been sleeping, it's a little annoying. But they are, for the most part, very personable, so you can't be too mad! :-) I tend to think that part of whether or not a Doc is fast or not is related to past experience. Our 'tortoise' is so because of multiple law suits filed against him in the past has made him paranoid that he'll miss something and be drug through all that again, as an example. I love all of my ER Docs, though.. fast or slow! :-)

Rachael

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the guys who order every single thing on every single patient that get on our nerves... you know cardiac workup for a patient with right elbow pain, or CT scan for every headache, Orthostatic vitals on everyone etc etc. We have one now who is fixated on urine tests. OMG UA's on everyone!!! Our nursing staff is ready to lynch this guy...

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yeah! what is up with that? we have one doc who changes the "fixer" every time he works. this doc also falls into the slow category. he gets po'd when the nurse orders any tests befor he sees the pt. even when we follow our protocols. you'll have a blatent cardiac chest pain pt, place a medlock, order a chest xray, and send cardiac labs. then you will see him in passing, tell him about the chest pain and he blows a gasket!

"yes, your heiness, let me bow down befor you"!:roll

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