Favourite Doctor Moments

[NO50FRANNY]

Sometimes the doctors I work with make me want to cry because they are so damn good. I know we all have our fair share of complaints but what are some of my fellow AN favourite doctor moments?

Here's a couple of mine:

Pt. behaving like a child (20yrs old), performing for attention, mum at bedside. All investigations pending, develops chest pain when told it might be a few more hours before she sees a doctor. Intern checks results, assesses pt., gives her an antacid. Pts' mother- but what about this terrible pain. "Well, all your tests are fine I'm afraid you'll just have to suck it up", while giving her a discharge letter.

One of our very senior consultants being verbally threatened with litigation because he said the patient could go home (she had the flu). "I WANT YOUR NAME" me hiding round the corner saying to myself "please spell it, please spell it.." our consultant "It's (spells it) " then calls security.

Deliver a pt. to pre-op and she decided to flick into rapid AF. I have ALS so ask the nurses for some amiodarone an ECG machine, and a doctor. Anaesthetist walks out and says "just do whatever she says" and walks away.

My all time favourite, consultant and intern chatting to a patient. The patient asks for a cup of tea. Intern- "Oh, one of the nurses can get that for you", Consultant- "Who is getting the cup of tea?" looking very intently at the intern, Intern- "Um, I am?" Consultant- "Bingo".

I am sure I will remember some more but outdo me.

[Goldenhare]

I'm at a new job at a small hospital. I previously have met some good docs, but some real drama queens too. A couple of weeks ago, I took a completed, ordered EKG down to the doc to look at and figured I would return later to pick it up and put it in the chart. After a few hours, I noticed that the EKG was back at the nurses station with a sticky note on it that said " THANKS!". Maybe it was just a small thing, but it made my day :)!

[beckster_01, BSN, RN]

We had a couple residents last summer who would jump up whenever one of the nurses called for a boost. Often times they wouldn't just help, but the two of them would do it for the nurse. It is possible that they were trying to be macho men, but I was okay with that

[liebling5, MSN, RN]

When I was a new grad, I had an Endocrinologist consult me about a patient's insulin regimen. I offered my suggestion, and he promptly wrote the order I recommended. I was so empowered by that experience!

[Vespertinas]

Really? I find that a little more unusual than the rest. All the endocrinologists I've met are very particular and the patients they consults are more complex than average so I'm surprised he was consulted and then wrote your new grad recommendation verbatim.

[bonquilt]

Surgeons (at least the ones I've worked with over the years) generally say a 'thanks for helping today', but it usually is like 'have a nice day'. But one surgeon stands out; if he missed saying 'thank you' in the OR, he would search for the people assigned in that room and thank them personally at the end of the day.

I have also had a surgeon who told the CEO (and the other C_O's) that he liked working with me because I stayed a step ahead of him. Felt so good!

[anotherone, BSN, RN]

When I was a new grad, I had an Endocrinologist consult me about a patient's insulin regimen. I offered my suggestion, and he promptly wrote the order I recommended. I was so empowered by that experience!

maybe he was testing you, if not semi scary. when endo is consulted where I work it is because the primary service can't figure out what will work best, and has tried the usual approaches or it is a complex pt, or new diabetic.

[AlsgalRN]

The patient had several daughters. Her husband strongly desired a son. This pregnancy was a boy who had been diagnosed with anencephaly. The patient and her husband believed that God would cure the little guy so he would be born healthy. The doctor spoke to her in her native language while he did the kindest, loving delivery. The peds team confirmed what we already knew, the little one had anencephaly. It was very important to Mama that her son be baptised in the family baptismal gown before he died. The doc helped me make that happen. Mama and Papa were too upset to hold him so he died in my arms.

I have been present for many, many deliveries. The compassion, kindness, and caring of this doctor will always stand out in my memory. Yes, Dr. A.S. in Raleigh, NC, I am talking about you. You were awesome that day!

I have cared for this patient several times since her son was born. She has several new daughters--------------and a new husband!

[liebling5, MSN, RN]

"Really? I find that a little more unusual than the rest. All the endocrinologists I've met are very particular and the patients they consults are more complex than average so I'm surprised he was consulted and then wrote your new grad recommendation verbatim."

It was neither. He was lead endo for the facility. I was blown away that he asked my opinion, especially since I was a newbie. I'm not sure if he knew I was a newbie, but I thought it was cool that he asked what I thought.

We continued with that mutual respect and later collaborated on another patient who was end-of-life and still getting accu-checks. I asked him to discontinue the accu-checks, and he again agreed and wrote the order.

[GitanoRN, BSN, MSN, RN]

i can't take credit for this one even though it happened at a facility where i once worked, and so it goes...

a colleague of mine was on duty at ed when a young woman with purple hair styled into a punk rocker mohawk, sporting a variety of tattoos, and wearing strange clothing, entered. having said that, it was quickly determined that the patient had acute appendicitis, so she was scheduled for immediate surgery. needless to say, when she was completely disrobed on the operating table, the staff noticed that her pubic hair had been dyed green, and above it there was a tattoo that read, ‘keep off the grass.’ once the surgery was completed, the surgeon wrote a short note on the patient’s dressing, which said, ‘sorry, had to mow the lawn.’

[StarryEyed, RN]

I was still on orientation when this happened, but we had a Spanish speaking only male who was post-op and had a foley. He was getting pretty strong and had asked me if he could have his foley removed soon. I knew his surgeon would be in early so I told the pt I'd ask the surgeon or pass it along.

Shift report time came. We're doing bedside report and I get to this pt's room, I introduce the pt and day rn to each other, start report, then get to the part where I tell them I think he's ready to have the foley out and when I look, I see the guy has no foley! I ask the pt about it and he tells me, in Spanish, "the guy came in and took it out."

So we walk to the nurse's station and ask if Dr.Surgeon was there, and one of the nurses laughs and says she saw him walk out of a pt's room with a foley in his hands asking where he could throw it away! I thought it was awesome that a) he took the effort to communicate with this Spanish speaking only pt and b)rather than just write an order and wait for a nurse to remove the Foley (as would be expected), he just did it himself :-)

[MN-Nurse, ASN, RN]

I am sure I will remember some more but outdo me.[/QUO TE]

I can't outdo you, but I can sure tell you I appreciate every MD who, when seeing a patient, seeks the RN out and asks, "Any concerns from a nursing standpoint?" or other inquiry, then addresses those concerns.

As opposed to ones who walk by you as if you don't exist.

Fortunately, the former is the most common species at my hospital and their patients are much better served than the unfortunate ones who have jerks in latter category.

[dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN]

Work at a large teaching hospital. Seems like many of our residents are big into asking the nurse "Do you agree?" or "Do you have any suggestions?" after a call/intervention about a pt. (I work nights.) Some do seem to mean it, but many don't. It's like they got a long inservice on How to Not **** Off Nursing Staff and now they're bitter about having to sit through it.

We do have one particular doc - a surgeon - who is open to ANY questions that you might have and never, ever talks down to you or uses simplistic terms/information. Because, hey, I have some degree of medical training, too.