Dilema with Dr..

[bonnie west]

My dilema is with a Dr. that told me verbally to stop a drip.he ask me orginally to hold drip for one hr. but as I was walking into the pt's room he said to just stop the drip. I did.The next day he ask why this drip was stopped.I told him he had told me to.He then proceeded to tell me the reason he would not have told me to do this.He said he only ask me to hold the drip for one hr. I repeated that he told me to turn the drip off and he said there is no way he would have said this. I was so angry I cried in front of him.Has this happen to anyone? and how did you deal with it? I cry when I get mad.He thought I was upset because I had made a mistake.

[MedSurgeMess]

That's why you never follow just a verbal order, you must see it in writing! Those MDs remember what they want to remember. And when he said to just stop the drip, he may have meant to start the 1 hour stoppage at that time. Without a written order, you don't know.

[RN1982]

As I always tell the residents..."You write it first, then I will do it".

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

This is why verbal orders are a really bad idea.

Unless it is an emergency, your first response is to hand them a chart and a pen.

(really they should get them theirselves, but with MDs too laz......uh, busy to write the order, feel free to give them an assist)

[bonnie west]

Thanks for the replies. I grant you this will not happen to me again.

[chenoaspirit, ASN, RN]

I would have asked if he meant to start the 'stop' order...meaning stop it now and restart in an hour or to stop it completely. Always repeat and verify any verbal order you get. I used to take alot of verbal orders over the phone, but rarely in person. I would just look at them and say, "ok, I'll do that, and you will write the order?" Or I would write it for them and then hand it to them to sign before they left the floor. Over the telephone, repeat and verify every order.

[Batman24]

Consider it a lesson learned. You now know not to take a verbal order anymore. We aren't allowed to at my facility due to issues like the one you just had. Best to cover yourself at all times. Don't be upset. Hang in there.

[CASTLEGATES]

i see exactly how this happened and i can understand.

i can say this and that but based on your reaction, i'm sure you'll be one of the nurses who now says "i'm stopping this now, is that what you want, no more drip?"

lemme play this through.....doc comes in and says "stop drip for an hour" you say "ok i'm stopping the drip for one hour" while you're emptying the foley. he says "just stop the drip" (thinking you weren't' stopping it for an hour fast enough) and you say "i'm going to stop the drip" and he says "great, have fun, yehaaa you're stopping the drip" ...ahaaaaaaa, i see!

stinker!

the 4 r's right dose, time, route, patient, and one needs to add duration. 5 r's in the icu.

stinkin doc to assume you were crying cause of your mistake? don't cry, tell him it was his failure to communicate and your failure to clarify. if he knows anything, many errors take two. you should attend the doctor's god 101 class, then you could make him cry!

don't sweat it; it's certainly not something to cry over. you need to do as the doc's do and not be subservient. give yourself credit and call him on the carpet as well as admitting your clarification error then conclude your discussion with how you both can communicate better.

one thing that helps me is always asking "why" so i know why they wanna stop it for how long, etc. if he said he's sure he'd never stop it outright, you need that knowledge so you can better anticipate scenarios like this one and file it for next time. learn all you can and try to think like they do (it's kinda fun, too)

[diane227, LPN, RN]

Well, you have learned that you cannot trust this physician. Since he has burned you now, you will refuse to take any orders from him in the future. You will hand him a chart and tell him to write it. When he calls you will tell him that you will not take a telephone order from him and turn him over to the charge nurse. If he says anything about it to you again, you just tell him right out, "Buddy, you screwed yourself. I am not taking any more orders from you unless you write them down, period" and you turn and walk away. And what ever you do, don't cry in front of this guy. It just supports this power trip that he is on.

[bonnie west]

Thanks again for all the advice. I truely learned a valuable lesson on this one.i had another one of his paients today. I was cool, calm , collect and he knew that it would never happen again.

Thanks again guys