Best Doc Stories

caeRn · Mar 4, 2010

MY OBGYN. she is amazing. I have one child who was delivered by her, but i have suffered 2 loses. The last being absolutley horrible. (long story) however we were devistated. I was very ill and then lost my baby. I had very serious bloodstrem infection and unfortunatley lost this baby due to this at 11 weeks. My obgyn is so compassionate. She came in after my ultrasound to my room to deliver the bad news, which i already new after looking at the ultra sound.She layed in bed with me hugged me and just cried. She gave me so much comfort and hope throughout my loss. i dont think i could have got through it with out her. I am not over it and never will be,, but i am not dwelling on it anymore. She was amazing, like an angel sent from god. SHe called me once i was discharged daily to check on my emotional well being. I feel such a specil bond with her and know she truly cares about her patients.

ShawnfromMn · Mar 4, 2010

I was blessed to work with a physician who treated me like an equal. Never would talk down to me or disrespectful. We were a team and we appreciated each other. He took the time to teach me what he was doing, it got to the point where we almost read each others minds. I had a hard time when a year ago i was offered a different position (promotion) and it broke my heart to leave his side. I still miss working with him every day but i do take the time to swing by and say hi and many times he has come to my office to "just chat." He

encouraged me to take this position knowing that he would be retiring in a couple of years and knowing it would be an awesome opportunity for me.

I will be forever grateful to him. He was my boss, my partner and my father all in one!!! :nurse:

kanzi monkey · Mar 4, 2010

One senior resident I worked with as a new grad was just a good person and phenomenal physician. Kind, gentle, soft-spoken, good sense of humor. Considered each and every nursing concern or request and responded appropriately--either by writing new orders or helping the nurse to understand an issue s/he was uncomfortable with. Always showed genuine gratitude for nursing efforts and accomplishments. He was able to see the big picture for each patient, and because he was able to do this he made heroic efforts to attend to each detail, no matter how trivial it seemed at the time. I've never seen someone deal so well with pressure and responsibility. He left to start a family and start a new specialty. He is missed, but we remember him.

Also, any time I have worked with the palliative care team. When I am caring for a patient who is dying--who has really only discovered that they are dying--and their families/loved ones, well, there is nothing like the deep feeling of relief when a palliative care clinician comes to the room and SITS DOWN with the patient to talk and plan. Or when a patient has pain that I cannot comprehend related to their disease and palliative pain service steps in to sit with and actually administer the 20mg of dilaudid IVP the patient needs while I provide more routine surgical pain management to my 4 other patients.

These are people who care deeply about what they do. They seem magically unaffected by the burdens of their responsibilities or the politics of the hospital. When I feel burdened or tainted by politics I think of them and I try.

HollyHobby · Mar 4, 2010

One evening, our unit secretary coded in the stairwell. She had an unknown heart defect and she went into vfib and dropped like a stone. The nurse that was with her ran into our ICU and called the code, but since the magic voice overhead was saying "Code 99, northwest ICU stairwell" nobody knew where the heck to go.

Dr. Galvan happened to be there. He leaped down the stairs, scooped Laura into his arms, and ran back up to the unit, threw her in the first open bed he found, and started CPR. Laura had a pretty rocky hospital course, but with an AICD, she is perfectly fine today and still works on that unit!

Another time, I called Dr. Galvan in the night to report that bile had started gushing out of a post gastric bypass patient's incision. He said, "It's not bile."

I said, "Yes, it is bile."

"It can't be. Did you taste it?"

"Of course not!"

He repeated, "It's not bile." And he hung up on me. I just stared at the phone. Huh?

A minute later he called back and said, "Are you SURE it's bile?"

"Yes."

"Well, damn!"

I loved working with him.

heron, ASN, RN · Mar 4, 2010

In 38 years, I have a bunch of great doc stories. This is the most recent.

36 yo man on our hospice IPU for management of pain. He was a/ox3 and unwilling to be DNR. Pain was under control and discharge within a day or two was planned, when he suddenly started becoming progressively more hypoxic and coughing up large amounts of blood, the most likely explanation for which was tumor eroding into the airway. All this went on between 11pm and 3am.

Nothing I could say would convince this young man with young children to make himself a DNR. This was perfectly understandable, but coding him involved loading him into an ambulance and bringing him back to the ER of hospital he came from ... and there were NO therapeutic options for stopping the bleeding. Guaranteed nightmare.

The MD on call, who had been informed all along of developments, could have ordered the transport and gone back to sleep. Instead she ordered a chest x-ray and got out of bed at 3AM, came in to the IPU and worked with the pt and the family until they were able to allow DNR ... roughly 5 or 10 minutes before the young man actually coded.

This MD was a whiz-bang cardiothoracic surgeon who had to stop operating for physical disability reasons and switched to palliative care. I don't normally get along well with surgeons ... our personality styles just don't mesh. But Dr. S has become one of my heros because of her insistence on doing the job properly, no matter what.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Mar 4, 2010

One of my favorites is a neonatologists at the hospital I'm currently at. On one of his first nights there, he popped over to the newborn nursery (totally unheard of), introduced himself so casually, "Hey, I'm Dr. ___, one of the neo guys. Just stopping in to introduce myself and see if there's anything you guys in here need." When my fellow nursery nurse and I picked our lower lips up off the ground, we made our introductions and we've had a great working relationship ever since.

My biggest admiration, however, comes with how he deals with families who've experienced a neonatal loss. He sits and talks with families as much as they need, he answers every question thoroughly and without talking down to them. He hugs parents, he cuddles the babies, and he treats every person with the dignity they deserve whether they are 27 weeks or 27 years. I absolutely adore him. I've never seen him get rude or angry regardless of what is going on. I know for a fact that if I had a sick baby, I'd want him taking care of my family. If I never have a sick baby (that's my hope), I would gladly work with him every day for the rest of my life!

HmarieD · Mar 4, 2010

I worked on a med surg unit, and our general surgeon's mother was a patient. She became very confused and combative on my night shift, and I had called her MD for orders, but we were unable to do anything to settle her down. I called this surgeon (her son) in the wee hours and he came in to stay the night with her.

When he arrived, after comforting his mother and getting her quieted down, he settled down for the night into one of the awful wooden chairs kept in the room for visitors. I found a geri chair not in use (still not great, but better than the other one), and was wheeling it into the room for him to use. He asked me what most patient's families used in these situations, and I admitted they had to use what he was currently sitting in. He said, "Well, that's good enough for me, then! Don't bother with that other one, but thank you for thinking of me."

I don't know why, but that really touched me and has stuck with me all these years.

Katie5 · Mar 4, 2010

Amazing stories y'all have here. Doctors are amazing and God is AWESOME- we need to remember that!

RNtoJD · Mar 5, 2010

I used to LOVE working with the anesthesiologists in MRI. Sometimes, my sides would hurt at the end of the day from laughing so hard.

One in particular got on the phone with my daughter who was 10 at the time. My daughter was trying to convince me to buy her an iguana. This doc got on the phone with her and said, "Ohh you don't want one of those. I had one. They aren't very cuddly..." The conversation proceeded, and I thought Doc had my back about not getting another pet, when I heard him say,"I know... here's what you tell your mom. You tell her you want a little brother..." I then heard him giggle like a little kid.

Another anesthesiologist brought me chicken soup during one shift when I was feeling crappy. Same one wrote my recommendation for law school

Good times.

taz628, BSN, RN · Mar 5, 2010

the peds intensivists at my hospital are all generally WONDERFUL to have come around! there have numerous times in a peds trauma when they show up and are all, "I've already called my charge nurse, PICU bed xyz is open, let's just get them over there now, I've already given the nurse report." --I just stand there and say thanks for doing my job, and *Poof!* off to PICU we go with the doc pushing some form of equipment.

I had another trauma pt (adult) in MRI and the attending trauma surgeon stopped by with his PA to see how things were going and I was just getting on the phone to request help transporting the pt back to the ER and he was all, "Oh, no worry, we'll help transport." and that surgeon pushed the bed all the way back for me. :) His PA lent me her jacket too 'cause MRI is FREEEEEEZING lol

And one of the ER attendings was a nurse in a former life, she's just flat out awesome. She'll do little things for the nurses when we're busy and sticks up for us and teaches us all kinds of good stuff that other docs don't bother with. I have the craziest amount of respect for her.

I've had the pleasure of working with some truly amazing doctors at my facility - for every bad experience, I can name AT LEAST two good ones.

RNtoJD · Mar 5, 2010

We had an ED attending at one facility who used to bake all sorts of yummy treats for special occasions, and if someone was expecting she would knit the baby-to-be a blanket.

Another pedi hem/onc doc I knew used to play guitar, sing, and juggle for his patients. He has even been seen riding around the onc floor on a tricycle (btw, he is about 6 ft tall).

And at the same facility, we had a pediatrician who was dedicated to caring for the underserved. She was tireless in her dedication to her patients, and everyone loved her. Sadly, she passed away from cancer a few years ago, but every year there is a race in her honor to raise funds for the cause that she was so passionate about. Families still talk about "Dr. Nancy" and the difference she made in peoples lives.