Stupid questions/comments made by doctors!

Nurses General Nursing

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What kind of stupid questions have you been asked by a physician? You know, the kind that just make you want to scream. I had a patient the other day who was having big time mental status changes. I finally convinced the doctor that something wasn't right, and we needed to try to find out why. He ordered some labs. I called him with the results which included a high potassium, a low sodium, and a glucose over 300. The elderly patient had no history of diabetes. The physician called me and was asking me why the patient's glucose was high. Never mind the potassium, he was freaked out over the glucose. He kept asking me why it was high and kept stating that she had no history of diabetes. This doc is oriental, so his English is broken. Anyway, after the third time I said," I have no idea why the glucose is high. You're the doctor, you tell me." I could have just jumped through the phone and slapped him!! Don't you just love it when the docs ask you these kind of questions? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :confused: :confused:

Specializes in Neuro, Critical Care.
Had a doc stop at the nurses' station with his MA (i think they're dating too btw) and tell me that pt X's IV line had infiltrated b/c the IV pump was beeping. The VTBI had just been completed - that's all. BIG, blinking screen even said so!

Oh, but gosh, he got to look soooo smart, letting the nurse know something was going on that she wasn't keeping an eye on...:uhoh3:

LOL. I had a doc come find me for another nurse's pts as she wasn't in the room and he wanted to turn off the IV fluids...so he walked all the way down our loooong hall (seriously its really long) to find me and ask me if we could stop pt. X's fluids...I say, sure, just switch the pump off...he stared at me like I was speaking another language...I had to walk all the way down the hall to show him how to press the POWER button!

Or the neurosurgeon who asked me (while fiddling with the ICP machine)...how do you work this thing? How do I get this bag off?

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In the nursing home I had a patient with chest pains so I called the doctor. When I told him who it was he said, "I can't place her in my mind right now...what does she look like?"

Well, she has gray hair and wrinkles and rides around in a wheelchair...which describes about 98% of the people in the facility.

Of course, he told me my description didn't help him. He has a reputation for being kind of bumbling and absent-minded anyway so that he would seriously ask something like this was no shocker.

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I see now that I have made the right decision - stay away from docs unless conscious and can fight for myself (and loved ones); someone must be with the patient every second if any of them are to ever survive; There was a book many years back called "Nurse: Doctors Don't Keep You Alive, I Do" but I have never been able to find it.

Thank God some nurses are keeping tabs on their patients.

Don't be too hard on the docs, though. Just look at all the spelling and grammatical errors on this board, all the improper use of words, and you'll see that we all have room to improve. Try not to be bitter or vain - these lead only to more misery. Just gently accept your nurse role and help the docs help the patients. Go over their heads PRN.

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Specializes in OB, NP, Nurse Educator.

As I am standing there doing chest compressions on a patient the doctor rushes in and yells "she was dead when you started CPR right?"

No, I just want to exercise my back and arms.

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Specializes in nursery, L and D.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=412827

http://www.mommd.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=21;t=000020;p=2

Hope this makes you guys feel better.........they blow off steam just like we do. There are stupid people and people that occasionally do stupid things (ie...everyone) everywhere. And come on, it's funny!

My fav was a doctor that wanted to deliver his own baby. OB lets him, with assistance of course. This guy was just tooting his on horn all through labor and delivery, ya know "big bad doc" in the house kinda attitude.

After the delivery he ask, several times, what the babies "AGAR" scores are. Everyone was talking about that one for days! I was 16 when I had my DS and I had read enough to ask what his "APGAR" score was. Never heard of an "AGAR".

Turns out the guy was a dermatologist, guess he didn't pay much attention in his OB classes, and didn't bother to brush up before his child was born.

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Just the other day, a patient told me his doc went into a tizzy and threw the manual BP cuff against the wall because he couldn't figure out how to use it. When the patient explained to him that I'd been using it all night, and it seemed to work just fine, he said, "Well I didn't go to nursing school!"

:lol2:

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
I think we have posted several different times about stupid mistakes we have made ourselves et mistakes we have seen other nurses make. I laugh at them et post there too!

But would you be laughing if on a doctor's forum it was a "stupid nurses" thread?

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Specializes in cardiac/critical care/ informatics.

tweety I understand what you are saying. But really do you think doctors are going to be on this forum.

ANd yes I would laughing if i was on a doctors forum and they had stupid nurses. THey are stupid_________ in every profession.

ANd besides this is a place to blow off steam and say things that you might not be able to say. Right?:)

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Specializes in ub-Acute/LTC, Home Health, L&D, Peds.
What kind of stupid questions have you been asked by a physician? You know, the kind that just make you want to scream. I had a patient the other day who was having big time mental status changes. I finally convinced the doctor that something wasn't right, and we needed to try to find out why. He ordered some labs. I called him with the results which included a high potassium, a low sodium, and a glucose over 300. The elderly patient had no history of diabetes. The physician called me and was asking me why the patient's glucose was high. Never mind the potassium, he was freaked out over the glucose. He kept asking me why it was high and kept stating that she had no history of diabetes. This doc is oriental, so his English is broken. Anyway, after the third time I said," I have no idea why the glucose is high. You're the doctor, you tell me." I could have just jumped through the phone and slapped him!! Don't you just love it when the docs ask you these kind of questions? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :confused: :confused:

I had a little old lady with a raging UTI and she was obviously in pain. I called the doc (he was a new doc) and he said to me "Well at her age we have reason not to treat." I said "I know her family and they would want her treated." So he ordered antibiotics but geez I mean just 'cause someone is old doesn't mean we should let them die from a UTI!!!

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Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.
It doesn't build our profession up, or make me feel about it any better about myself to bash physicians, so i won't.

If on a doctor's thread there was a "Stupid Nurses" thread how would you feel?

Actually there are many "Stupidest thing a nurse did/called/paged about" threads on SDN, as well as other BB. Plus regular entries in other threads about nursing inabilities. There is often a new one every few monthes, in some form or another...especially in July.

Do I like these threads - NO! - Do they serve a useful purpose? Not always, but they can. Some of us actually post there and help correct misconceptions that MDs and future MDs have about nursing. While it may not work on all MD bad behavior, if it changes a mind or two, maybe it is worth it. They need to be presented with our views of behavior, as we need to be aware of their views.

Some truly have no clue of our scope of practice and we can educate them.....just as they can educate us about theirs.

MDs also, like nurses, need to be able to vent.

There are a lot of posts here that "pick on" various groups - some can increase knowledge and be used to clear up misconceptions. Just think of how the public would view much of what we (or for that matter, what MDs) think?

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Specializes in ICU/CCU, CVICU, Trauma.
But would you be laughing if on a doctor's forum it was a "stupid nurses" thread?

Actually, I would. We all need a place to vent. As other posters have said, there are stupid people in every profession. And if the stories about "stupid nurses" were true (I'd laugh either way); they should be heard and learned from.

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Specializes in ICU/CCU, CVICU, Trauma.

I had a patient in the week that our new interns started. A septic patient had a temp of 105.1. The intern asked if we had IV tylenol so it would work faster!

I had a pt. s/p OHS with a balloon pump. He lost his pulse in the balloon leg. When notified, the resident replied, "Don't worry - he has a pulse in his other leg"!

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