I look at doctors differently now!!! And what is it about their handwriting

Nurses New Nurse

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So I am a new grad and have only worked to floor for 9 days. I have called four different doctors now about pt and they get pretty impatient. They are really nice to their patient's but then I talk to them and their personality is completely different. Most of them don't even look at me. I called for blood pressure medication and could hardly hear the doctor. He got irritated with me when I asked him to repeat the medication a third time. Another doc I called because a pt. K was low and he ask what her sodium levels were. Crap I just didn't have that information so I had to look it up, I could hear him sigh. I know K and Na go together like peanut butter and jelly but her Na was normal so I didn't think. The last doc I called, it was unclear if the doctor wanted to stop just the two medications or the whole list of them. He had no period or anything at the end of this prescription list and it said stop.... I called and he kept asking me if I had his orders in front of me. I said yes but it was unclear if he wanted all of the medication stopped. I feel so stupied some times when I have to call a doctor. Then I had an appointment with a doctor just the other day and I kept wondering; yeah you're nice to me now because I am your patient. How do you act with your nurses?

And then to top it off, I can't even read their writing. Does this come in time? I really think there sould be a class on how to read bad handwriting. I mean they are smart people, has anyone done research on why doctors handwriting, well...sucks!!! :nono: I have not seen one MD's handwriting that is nice, but I can read all the nurses handwriting. Do they teach them to do this in medical school that way if they don't know how to spell something nobody will really know because they can't read it anyways? okay I think I am done venting. So I hope this reading the doctors handwriting will come in time, right. Anyone else ever had the same problems?

Why do all the people that are saying, "get a thicker skin" or "ignore it" take this kind of behavior from physicians? It is completely inappropriate and unprofessional. I do not let anyone talk down to me and I don't care who they are. If someone is being rude, I call them on it.

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Specializes in Utilization Management.
Why do all the people that are saying, "get a thicker skin" or "ignore it" take this kind of behavior from physicians? It is completely inappropriate and unprofessional. I do not let anyone talk down to me and I don't care who they are. If someone is being rude, I call them on it.

Unfortunately, it's so rampant that if you call them on it every single time, two things will happen -- you will become known as a troublemaker and you will get complaints about you from the docs.

And I don't know about any of the rest of you, but I just don't have time to put my complaint in writing each and every time.

I think this is more of an issue with night shift, as the docs are quite nice to me on evening shift. Most of the time, anyway.

I try to deal with it right then and there nowadays, because I really don't have the time to do the followup. And forget, just forget, ever getting an apology from any of these clowns. The most you can hope for is support from your manager and coworkers.

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Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).

I was lucky that we had a neurologist during my first year who never made a nurse feel stupid, even when he was. The only one I wasn't nervous about paging. She was cute, too. Alas, she has moved on to bigger and better things...perhaps I should have proposed when I had the chance!

Over time, I've gotten less tense about calling, and docs seem less grumpy when I do. Part of this is knowing more about what info to have ready when I do call. Also, docs on our service are usually on the floor at some point, so I get as much done face-to-face as I can. I also try to get as much of the "housekeeping" stuff done at the start of the shift or let it keep until morning--an hour and a half before rounds, they're usually awake and not too busy getting ready for rounds, yet. I won't page at 0300 unless it's important or I know they're awake. (I'm usually dealing with residents, and I've seen them face down on a desk often enough to know how grueling their shifts can be.)

Very rarely have to deal with a grumpy doc, and I usually treat them like a grumpy patient. Half the time, it's really the patient they're grumpy at, anyway.

Our docs enter orders on the computer, so handwriting isn't an issue, but some are still confusing. A lot of times, they aren't near a computer, so you have to take a verbal and put it in for them, and some of those times, you see why they're confusing.

One thing I'm finding, lately, is that I would much rather page a neurosurgeon than a neurologist. Cutting peoples' heads open must make you more decisive. Well, then, too, some of our neurology

residents are pretty new--and I know what that's like.

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Specializes in anything that I had my clinicals in.

to lorabel:

i am a very nice person myself. i made mistakes so far but had one lady say i was the best nurse she's ever had and the other one give me a rose at the end of the day. my problem is that i want to spend more time in my patients room but my old preceptor said that i am not a nursing student anymore. it seems that if the patient isn't dieing that the nurse's are not very giving to that patient. i would tell the manager about how she makes you feel. i know, it was hard for me because i hate confrontation and don't wan't to make ememies but this is your career. don't hate it because you had a nasty nurse breath down your neck. and if it still doesn't change i really incourage you going to a different unit. we are new nurses but that doesn't mean we have to put up with abuse!!!!! hang in there :)

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ltmj, Thanks! It is wonderful when patients or familiy tell us we are appreciated for caring! I'm told that sometimes as well. I havent been told I spend too much time in the room.......I think only because a patient talked to my unit director and told her much it helped him just listening to him and being attentive and caring...I work in oncology. Most if not all my patients have a terminal diagnosis.......They keep coming back for further treatment or sometimes 5 days of chemo......You develop relationships with them and it helps them so much. The nasty nurse did yell at me for talking to a patients son for too long...15 minutes.....I couldnt be rude and cut him off....he filed a complaint against the hospital during a prior stay, so my director basically said to kiss butt........I told the nasty that and she just poo pooed it. I get so many mixed signals and information.......Keep up the good work! We CAN and DO make a difference in the patients lives and thats what nursing is all about...or supposed to be!

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
Why do all the people that are saying, "get a thicker skin" or "ignore it" take this kind of behavior from physicians? It is completely inappropriate and unprofessional. I do not let anyone talk down to me and I don't care who they are. If someone is being rude, I call them on it.

For me it's not that rampant as Angie says.

I choose my battles and I don't necessarily allow people to continue rude behavior, but I may not "call them on it". 90% of the docs are upset with nursing/the hospital/or someone about something we're not doing properly - they are frustrated labs weren't drawn, their frustrated that nurses did or didn't do something they should have done, upset a radiology report isn't read, etc. None of this justifies them being rude, but being human they sometimes take it out on whomever is there to hear them "vent". So I try to address the issues by saying "I'm sorry, I know it's frustrating and I agree.......blah blah blah" and the rudeness usually seems to end. They just want someone to gripe to and know that their gripes are heard, understood and will be corrected or addressed in some fashion.

There have been a time or two I've had to call them on it by walking away or by confronting them. But I choose my battles carefully, sometimes an egotistical arrogant doc isn't even worth my time and I ignore it. Just depends on my mood. LOL

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Lol my Dad is an MD and while his bedside manner is great his handwriting is atrocious.

He also treats nurses with respect and has a lot of nurse friends. I think that has a lot to do with the military culture (and the fact that he's married to an RN). The nurses and docs get along a lot better and treat each other with respect.

Unfortunately I have his handwriting.

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I can read most docs' handwriting. Usually it's a matter of sneaking up on it...

A few have stumped me. An older doc once wrote (I swear) "Discharge all patients". No matter how you looked at it, that IS what it said lol.

There is only one though no one could read--- EVER. An anesthesiologist in Florida. No matter what the order or note, it ALWAYS looked like this:

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~ram/capsense/noise-gen-waveform.jpg

Up/down 'waves' all the way across the page.

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Docs are human too and don't always meet our expectations of how they should be.

I actually had a doc come up to me and say "Hi I'm Dr. Doe, the one you talked to earlier, I'm new here, nice to meet you in person", and I nearly fell out of my chair. Another one that I've known for years said "Have a great weekend!" I guess the stars were in alignment that day.

There was a new, younger female doc I'd never met before; I found myself staring at her and I went up to her and told her I wasn't being weird or anything, but that she looked just like my daughter. I pulled up a photo of my daughter and showed her to prove it. We started talking, about her patient I was taking care of, and then about life in general (and shopping!). Had a nice long conversation. Later in the day before she left, she came looking for me and thanked me for taking the time to talk to her. She was new and nervous and said I'd made her feel welcome. Maybe I reminded her of her mom lol.

See, they're people too ;)

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I think the best way to handle any testy situation when someone is disrespecting you is to be overly polite and courteous. In the end, it will always make them feel like a fool... especially if you can manage to keep your cool. I love doing it when my supervisors get testy with me. :) They get so frustrated that I never raise my voice beyond normal conversation level haha.

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As nurses, we don't like it when people generalize about us - I don't think it's fair to generalize about doctors. There are fair ones and unreasonable ones, there are nice ones and not-nice ones, there are good ones and bad ones.

It's hard when you have to work with a doctor with an attitude, but one thing I've learned over my years is if I have problems with more than a few doctors, sometimes, it was really me - either I was too timid and uncertain or too demanding and obnoxious.

Sometimes we do need to look at how we are presenting ourselves. We teach others how to treat us.That's not to say that we deserve to be treated badly, but we do need to take into account what role we may play in certain situations and that we should not be generalizing about others as we don't want them to generalize about us.

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