Doctor stole my stethoscope

Nurses Relations

Published

So, this week hasn't been fun. My lovely Litmann that I received as a Christmas gift has been stolen by a doctor. I've even gone so far as to post fliers around the unit. I know that many nurses have their stethoscope stolen. My thought is "If doctors are stealing our stethoscopes, why are the facilities not paying us for those EXPENSIVE things?" Take it out of their paychecks. Every stethoscope stolen results in money taken from their paychecks. Or make them pool money together to supply us stethoscopes.

Needless to say, I miss my stethoscope. Who else has these problems? How do you track your stethoscope down?

Specializes in PCU.

thanks for sharing, gonna have to look into this "tile" thing

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

Moved to the Nurse Colleague/Patient Relations forum.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Home Health, Hospice, LTC.

I had a doc take mine from my neck during clinicals in nursing school. It is a pink Littman with my name engraved and you would think he would remember it wasn't his, but nope I still had to chase him around to get it back. I never let anyone use it now, and keep it either in my bag or in my pocket.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Reproductive & Public Health.
I'm not sure stealing someone's stethoscope is an act of malice. I doubt anyone goes out of their way to steal FutureFatMans stethoscope. But physicians have the nasty habit of picking up stethoscopes to use, usually without asking and sometimes asking only AFTER they've plucked it off your neck, and then walking off with them. They don't really care whose stethoscope it is; they just care that they don't have one with them, and the one they just lifted will be handy to them for the rest of their day. They don't usually care whose it is, but they do know it isn't theirs.

Stealing is the act of taking something that doesn't belong to you, so yes it is stealing. I've caught physicians in the act of scarfing down my lunch on several different occasions. They knew it wasn't their lunch, that it belonged to someone else, but they were hungry and the lunch that their department provided for them was on another floor so they just ate someone else's lunch.

Wow. I didn't realize I was so lucky in my experience. As a whole, the physicians I worked with have been relatively normal human beings. I've never ever ever experienced anything like what you are describing.

You've been lucky so far. Doctors, especially residents will just lift it right off your neck without a word if they feel like it. I suspect they believe the "MD" after their names makes them privileged.

I just... I don't know. I bristle when I hear physicians, as a group, described in these negative terms. Sure, some docs are jerks, and some have a huge chip on their shoulder. But that's just as true in the nursing profession, and I am sure it is true for all professions.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Reproductive & Public Health.
*cracks knuckles*

Okay buddy. Your stethoscope was stolen? Really? That implies an act of malice, and somehow I DOUBT that. Your property is your responsibility, if you feel it was STOLEN report it to an admin (good luck with that insanity). You will probably be told the following: you're an adult, keep track of your items. Get your stethoscope engraved. If you can't afford the extra ten dollars on that, you shouldn't be buying a Littmann anyways.

I have walked off with a coworkers stethescope more than once (I work outpatient OBGYN, so really only need it for the token heart & lungs at annual visits or whatever, for billing purposes (gotta love insurance requirements. Super important I listen to that heart, even though I have no idea *** I am hearing and wouldn't be able to pick out a murmur if my license depended on it). So when I need a scope I borrow one. Once I brought a nurses' stethescope home with me by accident, after a exhausting 24 hour shift. I felt terrible, and I would have died if she thought I had stolen it.

I am also the one who slowly ends up with the entire clinic stock of pens in my drawer. I don't know how it happens. I am certainly not hoarding or stealing pens. It's always best to assume the most charitable view of a person's actions. Unless you know the doc purposefully decided to snatch your scope, I would assume he forgot to return it until and unless you have evidence to the contrary.

What's the difference between God and a Doctor?

God is not a Doctor.

I, for one, prefer the Doctor.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Wow. I didn't realize I was so lucky in my experience. As a whole, the physicians I worked with have been relatively normal human beings. I've never ever ever experienced anything like what you are describing.

I just... I don't know. I bristle when I hear physicians, as a group, described in these negative terms. Sure, some docs are jerks, and some have a huge chip on their shoulder. But that's just as true in the nursing profession, and I am sure it is true for all professions.

I'm sorry you were offended.

The majority of people are nice people, docs included. But when you've spent 40 years working in teaching hospitals, you see a LOT of doctors, and some of them aren't nice people. Or some of them don't spend the energy thinking about the nursing staff they're interacting with -- and it comes across quite negatively. Hopefully my colleagues in the teaching hospital and I have impressed upon these residents that nurses are the backbone of the healthcare team and that we can help them enormously in their professional lives . . . or not. Not only do we keep the residents from killing the patients -- as one of my early preceptors cheerfully informed me was a big part of my job -- we shape their future perceptions of and interactions with nurses for the rest of their careers. Hopefully, we shape them in a positive way.

Those of us Crusty Old Bats who work in teaching hospitals have attempted to knock the rough edges off some of the more obnoxious specimens, and in the greater part, we succeed. We endeavor to assist the thoughtless new resident to think and the socially retarded overachiever to fit in with his new colleagues on the healthcare team. It works quite often, and I'd like to think that some of the physicians we've let loose into private practice are better because of us. Over the years, I've had quite a bit of feedback that this is so. Academic medicine is a small world, after all, and you run into someone who works with someone you worked with as an intern. And vice versa.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I have walked off with a coworkers stethescope more than once (I work outpatient OBGYN, so really only need it for the token heart & lungs at annual visits or whatever, for billing purposes (gotta love insurance requirements. Super important I listen to that heart, even though I have no idea *** I am hearing and wouldn't be able to pick out a murmur if my license depended on it). So when I need a scope I borrow one. Once I brought a nurses' stethescope home with me by accident, after a exhausting 24 hour shift. I felt terrible, and I would have died if she thought I had stolen it.

I am also the one who slowly ends up with the entire clinic stock of pens in my drawer. I don't know how it happens. I am certainly not hoarding or stealing pens. It's always best to assume the most charitable view of a person's actions. Unless you know the doc purposefully decided to snatch your scope, I would assume he forgot to return it until and unless you have evidence to the contrary.

I, for one, prefer the Doctor.

When they lift the scope off your neck, out of your bag, from your workstation, it's pretty clear that they've decided to snatch it. When they walk away with your scope and refuse to give it back when you ask politely, it's fairly clear they've decided to snatch it. And when your cardiologist's office is fully stocked with stethescopes engraved with the names of your CCU colleagues, that seems obvious too. I'm sure you would never do any of those things, so no need to take offense.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.

If hospitals aren't paying md's, who is?

Well since doctors don't get paid by hospital they can hardly take it out of their pay can they!

I have a very good Littman that I have carried for 17 years. It never leaves my person though I was quite careless with it at first. Did you know that Littman offers free engraving on every scope it sells. Doctors don't usually like my scope because it has a short length but one time I did find it around a doctor's neck and I said "Doctor I think you have my stethoscope?" The Doctor replied "I don't see your name on it!" "Well let's take a look" I said and there it was my name engraved on it. Guess I schooled the Doctor that day. :roflmao:

Hppy

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
If hospitals aren't paying md's, who is?

The insurance companies or the patients themselves. My facility has been buying up a lot of physician practices, but there are still many with admitting and treating privileges who are not employed by the facility.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.

Hmmmmm, not around here. Smaller facilities, different way of life!

The insurance companies or the patients themselves. My facility has been buying up a lot of physician practices, but there are still many with admitting and treating privileges who are not employed by the facility.
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in PICU, Pediatrics, Trauma.
I have walked off with a coworkers stethescope more than once (I work outpatient OBGYN, so really only need it for the token heart & lungs at annual visits or whatever, for billing purposes (gotta love insurance requirements. Super important I listen to that heart, even though I have no idea *** I am hearing and wouldn't be able to pick out a murmur if my license depended on it). So when I need a scope I borrow one. Once I brought a nurses' stethescope home with me by accident, after a exhausting 24 hour shift. I felt terrible, and I would have died if she thought I had stolen it.

I am also the one who slowly ends up with the entire clinic stock of pens in my drawer. I don't know how it happens. I am certainly not hoarding or stealing pens. It's always best to assume the most charitable view of a person's actions. Unless you know the doc purposefully decided to snatch your scope, I would assume he forgot to return it until and unless you have evidence to the contrary.

I, for one, prefer the Doctor.

Look....I think we know that most of the time when doctors" borrow" stethoscopes that they don't intend to steal them. The point here is that you should try to be more considerate in that this is someone's property, has paid good money for that stethoscope and took the time to shop for the best deal and choose the one that best fit their work needs. Maybe you don't feel you have a legitimate reason to have one, but we do. I also understand and am sorry you guys often work ridiculously long hours so I know how easy it can be to forget something like this.

I guess my main point here is that just because you happen to need a stethoscope in a given moment, doesn't mean you should just walk over and take any one you see sitting around. Maybe the nurse set it down for a moment to use the restroom or something. Go get your own and keep track of it the way we all have to do. We shouldn't feel like we have to keep them under lock and key every second of the day. If it doesn't belong to you, don't take it. How would you feel if someone was frequently making off with your otoscope/ophthalmoscope, reflex hammer or whatever it is you do need and use regularly in your work? Especially when it is a costly item you paid for out of pocket, replaced more than once etc... You are likely not the only doctor in that practice and for those of us who have been nurses for several years have lost many stethoscopes because "doctors taking nurses stethoscopes" is a common problem for us...hence a relatable topic for discussion on this site. Stock pens supplied by the clinic/practice for all to use is completely a different thing.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg.

I purchased a lilac Littmann this week and got it engraved. And it no longer leaves my side. Problem solved.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment