"Pardon Me, May I Kiss Your Feet?" Stories of doctors who want to rule the Earth

i've only been nursing a short time, but have been struck by how many doctors are so incredibly 'above' being civil to us 'commoners' (aka. nurses) (aka. the ones who do their dirty work). Reminds me of a joke i once heard:

q. What's the difference between a doctor and God?
a. God doesn't think he's a doctor

Thought i'd start a post to share tales of the docs in our lives who want their ass kissed but are more deserving of having it kicked..

I had a patient a few nights ago on IV antibiotics, and soon after i gave her her 8pm dose, her cannula started leaking, so i whipped it out and paged the doctor to come and resite it. When he called back, our conversation went something like:

me: Hi, i have a patient due for antibiotics at 2am who needs her cannula resited. would you be able to come up and do it sometime before then?
him: (in a very irritated voice) what does she need a cannula for?
me: her previous one tissued
him: (sigh) yes, but why does she need a cannula?
me: for IV antibiotics
him: (sigh) does she need it now?
me: no, she's next due at 2am, so anytime before then's fine
him: right. i'll come before 2am then. make sure everything's ready when i get there. (hangs up on me)

I got the IV trolley out, made sure it was stocked, placed it just outside the patient's room, and made sure the night nurses knew to expect him, as he hadn't materialised by 11pm. Next day they told me he arrived, demanded assistance to cannulate this lady, stood looking at the IV trolley SEARCHING for something to be missing, and eventually barked at the night nurse 'who stocked this trolley? where the hell are the scissors?'. The night nurse then proceeded to shift a packet slightly to one side and 'walla!!'

Even the patient said to me that morning 'who was that doctor last night? he thought he was awfully special..'

g

forgive me maynmom. my mistake.

and i practice in a hospital in Tasmania. Doctors or cannulation certified nurses cannulate, and it has to be recorded who the patient was cannulated by, and cannulation certified nurses have to do a certain number per year to remain 'in practice' and therefore competent. This is so the cannulations can be tracked and we can be sure that cannulations are done safely according to protocol. it also allows us to see trends between the cannulator (if that's a word) and problems with their cannulations.

i agree where is this country,,,there are times when I wish the physicians did start the IV's,,it would be a great help in an emergency situation where you dont have enough Registered Nurs's or enough LPNC's on. In a small rural hospital where I work I am the only night charge Rn..so if I get a cardiac in..and protacol dictates 2 iv's then I have to husstle to get them started, so I can give the medications the physician orders.. Our doctors that I work with are overall great. They have bad days just like nurse's do....