Do doctor's REALLY care?

ayndim · Jun 11, 2004

i was just responding to [color=#0080ff]are you in nursing for the care or cash? be honest. and my response got me to thinking. i almost never go to a doctor anymore, unless i have to. while having my son, i went to a c.n.m. for most of my care, then later a o.b. due to needing a c-section. any way, i always feel like i'm on a conveayer belt with the doc's. my stay at the hospital was the same. i was lucky if i saw the doc for me or the ped for my son for more than 3 or 4 minutes. when i'm sick i see a l.p.n. instead of the m.d. in the office. the personal care is so much better. m.d.'s always make me feel like their belittling me. like i don't know what my symptoms are or what they mean. am i going to have a real tough time working with doctor's for the same reason, or do you think it's better on the other side? i don't think nurses get enough credit, they do most of the work. when having my son, it was the wonderful nurses at the hospital that inspired me to get a move on in going back to school. thank you to all of you out there that take the time to care. :nurse: :nurse: :nurse:

i noticed you are in phoenix. did you use the cnm's at bethany women's center (on 35th ave and bethany). what hospital. i had mine with the cnm's there and one at phoenix baptist and the other two at john c. lincoln. the nurse at my last baby's delivery prompted me to go back to school. she asked if i was a nurse as i knew about all the things that go hand in hand with l&d. i told her i was just fascinated with it all and learned because of curiosity. she said i should think about nursing. and i did and i have never been happier with a career choice as when i think about nursing. eventually i would like to be a cnm, if malpractice doesn't drive them out of business.

rnmi2004 · Jun 11, 2004

Some doctors do, some don't...just like with any other profession or category of people. One day on clinicals, I walked into my patient's room to see a doctor taking the time to feed an elderly woman who had just received her lunch tray & didn't have a lot of strength to eat. She was definitely a caring one. :)

zambezi, BSN, RN · Jun 11, 2004

I only see my male OB/GYN doctor and so far I really like him--I think he cares...I don't ask for much though so some who has more needs may have a different opinion. I work with a lot of doctors that do care (sometimes too much and can't let go when they probably should--whether it is for the patient or their "stats" I don't know)

I feel that some docs are really caring and some aren't. Just like some nurses are really caring and some aren't, IMHO of course!

CarolineRn · Jun 11, 2004

i was just responding to [color=#0080ff]are you in nursing for the care or cash? be honest. and my response got me to thinking. i almost never go to a doctor anymore, unless i have to. while having my son, i went to a c.n.m. for most of my care, then later a o.b. due to needing a c-section. any way, i always feel like i'm on a conveayer belt with the doc's. my stay at the hospital was the same. i was lucky if i saw the doc for me or the ped for my son for more than 3 or 4 minutes. when i'm sick i see a l.p.n. instead of the m.d. in the office. the personal care is so much better. m.d.'s always make me feel like their belittling me. like i don't know what my symptoms are or what they mean. am i going to have a real tough time working with doctor's for the same reason, or do you think it's better on the other side? i don't think nurses get enough credit, they do most of the work. when having my son, it was the wonderful nurses at the hospital that inspired me to get a move on in going back to school. thank you to all of you out there that take the time to care. :nurse: :nurse: :nurse:

i have to agree with rnmi2004. some really,really care. others are almost flippant. i am a new cvicu rn, and just this am one of our surgeons was making his rounds and when it was really finally apparant that one of his patient's just was not going to make it, the sadness and hurt in his voice was touching. he recalled how the pt had first came to him, and reflecting on it, he was very saddened by that pt's current (bleak) condition. i keep hearing that surgeons are the very last to give up the fight, and i am starting to think that is true. maybe it has to do with some psychological deep "need" to "fix" things. but this doc certainly cares.

on the flip side. also today, a neuro doc who had declared a pt in a comatose state (won't say any more, so as not to break any privacy laws) flippantly refused to re-consult with the pt's surgeon after the surgeon wanted a last minute consult regarding a hospice order. the neuro doc *did* come in, but never did call back the surgeon who was questioning the hospice order, stating "tell him to read my notes from three days ago. nothing has changed." this before having seen the pt again, finally after his order of "no sedatives or narcs" had reached its desired effect. (it made no difference in the end, but how did he know that?) we d/c'd her ventilator tonight, at the family's request, and hospice is now in charge.

this was just one day for me, and let me tell you, i am emotionally drained. but with doctor's, as with all people, you simply cannot attribute the failings of a few to the entire group as a whole. there *are* good people out there, and not everyone goes into it for the money. if all med school candidates were just in it for the bucks-- ask yourself this-- why not go to law school instead? :)

RN4NICU, LPN, LVN · Jun 11, 2004

I have seen VERY VERY good docs and VERY VERY bad docs. I've had surgeons stay up in the unit all night when a patient was going bad - nothing more could really be done, but they did not want to just leave their patients. I've also had docs tell me "don't call me back" when I've called them repeatedly trying to get something for a patient. (FINE - I call house super instead, house super calls unit's medical director, medical director calls chief of staff, chief of staff calls and chews lazy doc's rear end off, patient finally gets what he/she needed.)

EmeraldNYL, BSN, RN · Jun 11, 2004

There's good and bad docs, just like there's good and bad nurses. For my primary care I usually see either an NP or DO. DO's are docs who tend to be a little more holistic due to the nature of their training. My fiance's in osteopathic med school so I feel like I have to support the profession, lol. Sometimes people get into medicine for totally the wrong reasons but I think the majority of docs care-- almost too much sometimes, like other posters said, like they don't want to "throw in the towel" and let go when a patient is actively dying.

SmilingBluEyes · Jun 11, 2004

They seem to reflect the human race around them------some care, some don't give a rats behind. Just like many nurses. It goes all along the spectrum. I have met WONDERFUL and caring doctors, and ones I would not let touch my guinea pig.

rica75 · Jun 11, 2004

Some doctors do, some don't...just like with any other profession or category of people. One day on clinicals, I walked into my patient's room to see a doctor taking the time to feed an elderly woman who had just received her lunch tray & didn't have a lot of strength to eat. She was definitely a caring one. :)

That is soooo sweet. I wish all Dr.'s were so caring.:stone

rica75 · Jun 11, 2004

It is good to hear about the good doc's. I wish there were more of them, and I hope that when I finally obtain my C.N.A., I will be working with more of the good than bad. I guess there's afew who put a bad taste in my mouth (not litteraly!). About HOSPICE... kudos to those wonderful, wonderful people. My grandmother died last year, and hospice maed a very emotional time much eaiser. It must be very hard to do what they do. My hats off to them!!! :nurse:

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jun 11, 2004

Docs have their own stress and issues and burnout just like nurses. As was said there are good ones and bad ones. Some go into it for the money and prestige. Some are doctors because of family pressure, dad was a doctor, mom wants son to be a doctor, family tradition, etc. But some do truly care.

mauser · Jun 11, 2004

Over a year ago, I had a TAH, BSO, with a TACU. Never met the surgeon before we scheduled the surgery. Nice guy. The night after the surgery, I woke up to him standing over my bed, squeezing the IV bag and hearing "BP 56/palp.

The next morning discussing this with the nurse, she said, you must have imagined the doctor being there (even though she was aware of the problems I had overnight). Later that day he shows up at my bedside (his partner had been there earlier - it was his day off). He said, I couldn't stop thinking about you. Yeah, he was there last night, yup he was doing what I saw. Shows up a couple of hours later. Feels "we" should go back in. Second surgery (on his day off). VERY caring man.

BTW, it was because of this hospital stay, that I decided to become an RN. The doc was one of my references. He said, "You are a fighter, you will do great!"