Can I have a nurse be my doctor? (vent)

[mommy2boys]

I had to take my husband to the ER when he broke his ankle the other night. He was playing softball and "tried" to slide into home and turned his ankle. WHen he came home, he said that it was fine and took motrin and iced it. Around 2:30 am he woke me up and said that he couldn't take the pain and swellling anymore and to please take him to the ER. Why he couldn't tell me at 9 pm that he needed to go to the hospital (when we could have gone to ugent care for 1/2 the cost, trouble, and losing sleep:angryfire ) is beyond me.

WHen we got to the ER there was no wait, so we got back right away. After he got a lot of ribbing from the nursing staff (he is a sheriff deputy and has to guard any inmate he brings in, so he has gotten to know the nursing staff pretty well.) the doctor comes in to see him. This doctor could not have been out of med school for more than a week. He knew nothing at all and the nurse to give him direction on every thing. If it wasn't for her we would probably still be there and he would have had to have surgery for a minor hairline fracture. Thank God for this nurse.

If I ever have to deal with this doctor again, I just going to ask for the nurse to treat us. SHe knew 10 times what he did and would probably do a much better job treating patients then him. I know nurse can't treat patients w/o orders from a doctor. Just let the nurse tell the doctor what orders to write and tell this doctor to keep his mouth shut.

So I have a quick question: Have you ever had to tell a doctor what to do for a patient, because they didn't know what was going on?

Thanks for letting me vent. Everything turned out well and my husband is being the biggest baby but will survive this, if I don't kill him first.

Erin:balloons:

[froghair]

this happens quiet often. the problem arises when the dr gets his nose out of joint because youve sugested something. the dr's that are willing to listen are worth there wait in gold

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

I was thinking this doc was worth his weight in gold too - he was a newbie and listened to the voice of experience and didn't get upset about it.

We have a doc who started as an orderly and he always says he was taught well by all the nurses. He is a great doc, very knowledgeable, worked and taught ER for years. When we have a delivery, he cleans up the mess while the nurse assesses the baby. He does things in the ER like put in a foley in a CHF patient while the nurse is busy drawing up the meds he just ordered.

Of course sometimes I do think that in cases where we deliver a baby before a doc can get there, we should get the big bucks.

Hope your husband feels better soon.

steph

[gatherswool]

LOL. The doc probably *did* just start his ED rotation. I didn't realize just how much the residents learn from the nurses until I started working at a teaching hospital. "You want me to give him 10 and 10" and "You want me to push some propofol to soften up his jaw" can be said as a question or a statement, depending on the relationship, but I've seen a lot of new docs with deer-in-the-headlights looks silently nodding as the senior nurses tell them which orders to give. The docs will learn (okay, most of them will) with time, but it's sure worth saying your prayers for an experienced nurse to be there for you!

I hope your hubby feels better soon. If he starts expecting you to do too much for him, remind him what a tough guy he is and that you're sure he can handle it! :-D

-woolie

[Multicollinearity, BSN, RN]

I remember when I went to a clinic, age 22 with these strange 'blisters' all over my body and I didn't feel so well. Young MD had a deer in the headlights look at my scary blisters. He rounded up several RNs and brought them into the exam room. They all took one look at me and then laughed and told the young MD "honey she's got a case of chicken pox."

The RNs were right. I too am thankful for receptive MDs who listen to their masters. :rotfl:

[RedSox33RN]

I remember being in the ED many years ago, just after I got engaged. I felt like I had the flu, but had a very hot, swollen ear, to the point of being misshapen. After leaving me sitting (no bed in this room) in a room for over an hour, I felt so horrible that I just had to lay down (you know, when your bones ache so badly that even the disgusting dirty floor looks like a warm, soft bed??) so I went out to the nurses desk to tell them I was leaving.

When I got out there, the doc was on the phone, with a huge medical textbook in front of him, saying something to the effect of "I don't know! It's all swollen and looks like someone hit her on the side of the face!" and almost crying, it seemed like! I heard the nurse mention cellulitis, but he rolled his eyes at her.

I finally figured out that he had NO IDEA what was wrong with me. He saw me, hung up, gave me some antibiotics, and told me to put hot compresses on my ear q2h.

Two days later, I'm back in the same ED, seeing a different doc, because now my misshapen ear is about 4" thick (yeah, my EAR!) and has BLISTERS from the hot compresses. It takes this doc about 4.8 seconds to diagnose cellulitis, and another 2.3 seconds to admit me for IV antibiotics and pain meds.

He also was quick to tell me, while no one else was in the room, to keep the written instructions (ie, the hot compresses) given to me 2 days before, that I may need them again (*hint, hint* attorney will need them if my ear does not go back to normal, because of a missed dx).