Getting doctors to listen to me

Nurses Relations

Published

  1. Do doctors take your input into consideration?

    • 40
      Sometimes
    • 8
      Rarely
    • 1
      Never
    • 12
      They listen with rapt attention
    • 2
      They respond-are you a doctor?

63 members have participated

I think the first class in med school is "inflated EGO"-how to develop one! I ALWAYS have a difficult time effectively communicating my research driven info and resulting suggestions to doctors. Anybody else? One doctor even complained that a nurse was trying to influence their decisions! We learn in nursing school to keep up on the latest info, etc. what good does it do if there is no usage for it?

Specializes in Acute Care - Adult, Med Surg, Neuro.

Yes, doctors listen to me and other nurses. On my second day out of orientation, after calling about a troublesome NG tube, a doctor asked me - "What do you think we should do?" with genuine sincerity. When I call doctors they often ask "What would you like/need/recommend?" and they will also ask my opinion. I actively seek them out to clarify the plan of care. I think we've got awesome rapport with our doctors at my hospital. They often know us by name. Now, some of the surgeons, I'll tell you a different story ....

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Specializes in Pedi.

One of the biggest challenges we had when I worked in the hospital was that we had residents who came from countries where nurses didn't question doctors (or, more broadly, women didn't question men). It was quite the learning curve for them when they showed up and we didn't bow down to them. But, we were there to take care of sick kids, we didn't have time to worry about their egos. I had to climb the chain of command more than once when a resident wouldn't listen- being in hot water with their Attending isn't a good experience for them so it was usually better after that.

In my current job, I feel that I have a great relationship with MDs.

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Specializes in Public Health, L&D, NICU.
One of the biggest challenges we had when I worked in the hospital was that we had residents who came from countries where nurses didn't question doctors (or, more broadly, women didn't question men). It was quite the learning curve for them when they showed up and we didn't bow down to them. But, we were there to take care of sick kids, we didn't have time to worry about their egos. I had to climb the chain of command more than once when a resident wouldn't listen- being in hot water with their Attending isn't a good experience for them so it was usually better after that.

In my current job, I feel that I have a great relationship with MDs.

I used to particularly enjoy when the attending would tell the residents to have me check behind them. That really chapped some hides. I respect that they have a medical education, but they should respect my education and experience. The best residents, the ones that go on to be the best doctors, listen!

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Specializes in ED, ICU, PSYCH, PP, CEN.

I've worked in several hospitals around the country. In almost all of them I felt very respected and even had doctors asking me what to do.

I have also worked one or two places where the doctors wouldn't even look at the nurse and we were not allowed to talk to them unless they spoke to us first.

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If you're truly always having difficulty communicating your concerns to physicians, maybe the problem lies more in how you're communicating.

In another thread, someone said something like: "If one person calls you a duck, they're probably nuts. But if a dozen people call you a duck, you better start checking your butt for tail-feathers." Love that. Applies to so many threads here in some ways.

And it might take time to earn credibility. Nobody gets that for free.

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Agree with Brandon; if you're having a problem with multiple docs it might be you.

I work overnights so 95% of the time I'm calling on calls who don't know the patients. I sorta do SBAR but not so convoluted.

"Hi Dr. A, I'm calling about one of Dr. B's patients Mrs. C admitted 11/1 for reason D. Tonight she is has problem E (and then I give more detail). What do you think we should do? So you want to do F or G or something else?"

Then the doc will say "yes do F" "yes do G" or "no, let's do H."

Then I repeat it back. "So we are going to do G? (Then verify the order.) Okay thank you."

Calling docs usually isn't fun but its gotta get done. Being efficient helps!

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Docs really appreciate it when we do our homework before we call them and don't waste their time. As one told me way back when I was just getting started, "Don't bring me a problem until you have at least one possible solution." I've never forgotten that, and I've never had much of a problem getting them to listen to me. :)

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