Anyone have problems with Doctors who sleep at work

NurseKevin · Feb 19, 2006

I work the night shift and I have been to 3 hospitals in the past 7 years and it seems it is condoned that the doctors can go to sleep. I know it is supposed to be only if the unit is empty and there are no patients to see but our doctors say they are tired and need to nap when patients need to be seen or dispo'd and getting them up to see a new patient is very very difficult. The scary thing is the nurses accept this behavior. We have a PA until 0500 and they are completely on their own.(this is not policy). Then the attending takes over but again. If a pt comes in after five, if he is not critical the MD's say the pt can wait until the intern comes in at 0700. They get paid 7 to ten times more then us and they sleep. :angryfire Anyone else have this problem and what do you do?

Are they on call? The docs at the facility that I last worked worked the day before and the day after their call rotation, so yeah, they were allowed to sleep. However, didnt ever have a problem waking one up.

Sives560* · Feb 19, 2006

The same thing happens where I work, but I have no problem wakeing them up when I need them. If they don't return a call or come to see the pt within 15 minutes, I get the nursing supervisor involved. They get paid quite well to do this shift and it is there job! That is what they signed up for. I love it when the ER physician has to call the admitting doctor in and waits for several hours to so (because they are tired!) Sorry. Get in here and do your job! It's not fair for the patient either that has to lay there on those hard stretchers for hours, let alone, taking up an er bed!

Noryn · Feb 19, 2006

I have never worked on a unit that had doctors there 24/7 although my hospitals have been relatively small. Of course in the ER there was a doctor there all the time and at one small hospital very often we wouldnt have patients in the middle of the night so they slept. I didnt see a problem with it. I never had any trouble waking them up anyway.

The way I see it is a lot of doctors never are off call completely. I have worked on call jobs before and it sucks bad. Once I leave my job I can go to sleep without worrying most doctors cant. Some doctors also have to do office hours or if they are residents they have to work crazy hours so if they can sleep then I let them.

Most doctors realize specialized nurses know their stuff and if something goes south they will let them know.

As much as we are short nurses it seems that we are much shorter of doctors and pharmacists who are willing to work nightshift. That may be why most hospitals are more likely to make the working conditions a bit better for them although I am not sure if pharmacists can sleep on the clock but at my old job radiology techs were allowed to at night.

Like the above poster says, if there is a problem try to wake the doctor and if that doesnt work always report to your nursing supervisor.

RNOTODAY, BSN, RN · Feb 19, 2006

I work the night shift and I have been to 3 hospitals in the past 7 years and it seems it is condoned that the doctors can go to sleep. I know it is supposed to be only if the unit is empty and there are no patients to see but our doctors say they are tired and need to nap when patients need to be seen or dispo'd and getting them up to see a new patient is very very difficult. The scary thing is the nurses accept this behavior. We have a PA until 0500 and they are completely on their own.(this is not policy). Then the attending takes over but again. If a pt comes in after five, if he is not critical the MD's say the pt can wait until the intern comes in at 0700. They get paid 7 to ten times more then us and they sleep. :angryfire Anyone else have this problem and what do you do?

What do you want them to do, stand around ? Where I used to work, they are allowed (encouraged to sleep) because they were on for many days in a row......Never had a problem waking one up.

themadscotsman · Feb 22, 2006

What do you want them to do, stand around ? Where I used to work, they are allowed (encouraged to sleep) because they were on for many days in a row......Never had a problem waking one up.

They can sleep because of the hours where I work too, if one never answered their bleep though I'd be escalating it so (and I know you guys in the US prob have different grades so impose whichever levels of doctor are appropriate!) if the SHO failed to answer a couple of bleeps I'd page the Registrar, if that failed I'd get the consultant. When they've had their backsides kicked by a consultant they'll make sure they answer

JessicRN · Feb 23, 2006

The same thing happens where I work, but I have no problem wakeing them up when I need them. If they don't return a call or come to see the pt within 15 minutes, I get the nursing supervisor involved. They get paid quite well to do this shift and it is there job! That is what they signed up for. I love it when the ER physician has to call the admitting doctor in and waits for several hours to so (because they are tired!) Sorry. Get in here and do your job! It's not fair for the patient either that has to lay there on those hard stretchers for hours, let alone, taking up an er bed!

The supervisor knows about it and does nothing. These particular doctors are not residents working crazy hours but attendings working less hours then me. I have no problem with them sleeping, only their not getting up in a timely manner and making patient stay in the ED hours longer then they should have.

Gompers, BSN, RN · Feb 23, 2006

Question is, these nights they are there sleeping, are they working that day and the day after? Are they doing 24+ hour shifts? Or are they just coming in for a 12 hour call? I ask because we used to have nurse practitioners on our unit that worked all 12 hours shifts, day and night. The ones at night just worked 3 12's a week, like the nurses, so they weren't allowed to sleep at night since it wasn't really "on call" but more like their actual shift. The docs, on the other hand, are on call and work anywhere from 24-30 hours at a time. They are allowed to sleep at night and we just wake them if we need anything. Their call rooms are right on the unit. We encourage them to sleep and try to group our calls to them at night because you never know how the night will go. If it all hits the fan and there are critical situations going on, I'd much rather have a doc that has had SOME sleep in the past 24 hours rather than one that is completely exhaused.

Trauma Columnist · Feb 23, 2006

Our hospital ER physician group covers our hospital and several rural hospitals on 24 hour shifts. Yes, they do sleep on those shifts. I would much rather have them sleep than be tired and make errors. However, as I understand it, your concern is your ability to wake them? Is that it? If so, then yes that is something that needs to be addressed.

blueheaven · Feb 23, 2006

Jessic,

I worked for quite awhile in a hospital that allowed ER docs to sleep if the ER was quiet. All of the nurses of course triaged the patient and ordered labs, xrays etc (under the docs direction) before getting the Dr. awake. Of course if it was a trauma etc, we got him up immediately. On the rare occasion I would get called in as supervisor (to wake him up) I was always successful.

Go up the chain of command in your facility and document on an incident report(s) problems encountered. Good Luck!!!!

JessicRN · Mar 1, 2006

Question is, these nights they are there sleeping, are they working that day and the day after? Are they doing 24+ hour shifts? Or are they just coming in for a 12 hour call?
No he is an attending. He does not do on call, it is really only one doctor who I cannot wake up and he does this any time whether he has worked an8 or a 12 hr shift. My problem is not that he does it, it is that he is liked by some of the staff so they let him sleep in including the night supervisor. I could persue it only I would be deemed a trouble maker and life in the ED would not be fun. :imbar The other doctors sleep but they wake up when we call them.

Geeg · Mar 10, 2006

Only when they wake up.