Dumbest thing a doctor has done/said to you

[WorriedNurse25]

I'm very curious. I'm sure we've all been there. We've dealt with doctors from all spectrum and mindsets. Most are very good at their jobs and have sound ideas!

But sometimes docs just say and do the craziest things

My example: at my last LTC facility I had one doctor seriously outright refuse/fight giving and prescribing pain meds (for patients who really, really needed it/were on vents/dying) because he honestly believed that these residents who had been stuck in a bed for years were going to get better and go out to buy/smoke crack cocaine.

According to him "prescribing narcotics leads to methadone and crack usage." These poor residents have been here for years taking the same medications and pain meds for years...just WHAT?

What kinda crazy stuff has your doctor done?

[ActualNurse]

I laughed harder than I should at the popcorn thing. Lol!!!!

Yes well it was pretty hilarious. We were laughing when we were offered this junk. So when the CNA turned MD commented on how much money he/she spent on a gourmet lunch for the nurses, I could not help but think of this. Popcorn is not really a high ticket food item. That person sounds like he/she was embittered working under nurses so went to medical school in an "I will show them" mentality and will do anything to run down nurses. It is too bad he/she is so angry, because it was meant to be a light hearted, funny thread, something to bring humor to us. Back to nurses day/week/whatever, I usually try to stay away from work at that time. I don't want to have to be resuscitated from choking on whatever choking risk food they supply or to take my blood sugar and blood cholesterol levels to previously unheard of heights from management's gourmet food treats.

[CNAtoMD]

Yes well it was pretty hilarious. We were laughing when we were offered this junk. So when the CNA turned MD commented on how much money he/she spent on a gourmet lunch for the nurses, I could not help but think of this.

Sounds like I really got to ya with that anger. I was actually already set on medical school when I started working as a CNA. Seemed like a good job with decent pay for a college student, plus worked at the place my grandmother lived so got to spend time with her. That and med schools love it. Didn't mind working for RN's most of them I am still friends with.

Anyways the EMR went down a month or two ago where I work. Had to go back to paper charting when one of the nurses grabbed me for an order one of the interns wrote. 1 L water, apparently the RN went up to him and they told the RN that tap water should just be fine.

[azhiker96, BSN, RN]

I'm just glad that medicine is a team sport. I get to run my suggestions by some pretty sharp docs. Most times I get what I ask. Other times they explain why they'd rather do something else and I learn. In return, I catch an occasional misstep they might make.

[ActualNurse]

Sounds like I really got to ya with that anger. I was actually already set on medical school when I started working as a CNA. Seemed like a good job with decent pay for a college student, plus worked at the place my grandmother lived so got to spend time with her. That and med schools love it. Didn't mind working for RN's most of them I am still friends with.

Anyways the EMR went down a month or two ago where I work. Had to go back to paper charting when one of the nurses grabbed me for an order one of the interns wrote. 1 L water, apparently the RN went up to him and they told the RN that tap water should just be fine.

Yeah, the popcorn was a pretty big treat, real gourmet treat. Well, maybe in the world of the management, popcorn is a gourmet treat. Not in my world. We just thought it was a big joke. I wouldn't touch it. Popcorn sticks in my throat and makes me choke. Maybe that is what the management wanted. Just kill us all off. No, wait a minute, who would do the work then? Well, I suppose they could give us all a litre of tap water to go with the popcorn. There you go, gourmet treats for nursing week -- popcorn and tap water.

[CNAtoMD]

Yeah, the popcorn was a pretty big treat, real gourmet treat. Well, maybe in the world of the management, popcorn is a gourmet treat. Not in my world. We just thought it was a big joke. I wouldn't touch it. Popcorn sticks in my throat and makes me choke. Maybe that is what the management wanted. Just kill us all off. No, wait a minute, who would do the work then? Well, I suppose they could give us all a litre of tap water to go with the popcorn. There you go, gourmet treats for nursing week -- popcorn and tap water.

So what do you actually expect from nursing week? What type of gifts do you expect? Real question.

I take back that many of the nurses complained about what we bought for nurses week, it was a select few. What got me so mad is that I am involved in 0 aspects of the nursing staff. I don't hire them, fire them, or pay them. I am merely an employed worker (with a small percentage of my pay based on what I bill) much like the nurses, techs, and clerks that I work with. I am not the nurses "boss" but I am the leader of the team when it comes down to patient care. Even though I am not the boss, nor in charge of their paycheck I still find that a good RN (same goes for the other ER staff) makes my job a ton easier. So it is not like I wrote off the expense of nurses week on the company. It was straight out of my paycheck. To complain about that is pretty ridiculous.

[CNAtoMD]

And so I contribute to the actual thread. One from my intern year.

Fresh out of medical school about a week into residency and had a pretty sick septic patient that I really wasn't sure how to take care of yet. Pretty sure the nurses liked to screw with the new interns. They kept yelling "what should we do doc?". I asked them to put in a foley not knowing what to do' one patted me on the back and asked "how about we start with some fluids first?"

[ActualNurse]

So what do you actually expect from nursing week? What type of gifts do you expect? Real question.

I take back that many of the nurses complained about what we bought for nurses week, it was a select few. What got me so mad is that I am involved in 0 aspects of the nursing staff. I don't hire them, fire them, or pay them. I am merely an employed worker (with a small percentage of my pay based on what I bill) much like the nurses, techs, and clerks that I work with. I am not the nurses "boss" but I am the leader of the team when it comes down to patient care. Even though I am not the boss, nor in charge of their paycheck I still find that a good RN (same goes for the other ER staff) makes my job a ton easier. So it is not like I wrote off the expense of nurses week on the company. It was straight out of my paycheck. To complain about that is pretty ridiculous.

I get it. You felt ripped off by nurses' week. It is a lesson learned for you to decline from contributing in the future. As to what do I expect from nurses' week. Nothing. I think the whole thing is a total joke. It is just paying lip service to the nurses. It is just a total artifice. It is meaningless and I wish they would just abolish it. It has obviously led to bad feelings on your part, feeling that you had to participate by contributing and then resenting having done so. I am in total agreement with you. I was not criticizing you about this issue. Not at all. You will have to go somewhere else if you want to pick a fight on this one. I was just sharing what my experience of nurses' week had been, and some other posters thought it was pretty funny. The staff at the facility where it happened got a good laugh out of it too. I can assure that no one in that facility made a personal contribution. The popcorn was a write off for the company. And it doesn't really matter who paid for it anyway. It was stupid and insulting and we all made it a positive by laughing at it and at the director who thought it was a treat. Anyway I do believe she thinks popcorn is a gourmet treat because when she left the facility she asked for popcorn for her going away party. Seems she has a thing for popcorn. So in her mind she was giving them all a big treat.

[Lev, MSN, RN, NP]

I'm a new grad, and my experience with docs has been nothing but positive throughout clinicals in nursing school (especially in the psychiatric setting), EXCEPT one incident that occurred before I even started nursing school. This guy was a resident at the time, I was thinking about nursing school and he said to me, "Nurses don't ask 'Why' questions, they just do as they're told. If a nurse is told to fill half a cup with water, she does exactly that without asking questions". I was literally speechless. I wonder if he's changed his tune since then ....

Nope....

[Lev, MSN, RN, NP]

Also over Halloween there was a big party hosted by one of the ED docs. I had to work that night and had to miss the party. Every single doc and resident showed up to work. Six, yes say it with me, six RN's and 4 PCA's called in that night. I know for certain 5 of the 6 RN's and all 4 PCA's that called in were at that party. Still not a single resident or physician missed work. It is hilarious how all the RNs care sooooo much about the patient. Lets face it Doctors cannot miss work and our work ethic won't let us call in. In 3 years of residency I never once called in and was physically told I had to go home twice after showing up. Yet RN's care soooo much about the patient that they will call in to go get drunk. I guess I showed up to get my money because that is all I wanted. Pathetic.

How do you know "for certain" that they were there if you weren't at the party. And it's call out. Not "call in."

[ActualNurse]

I'm just glad that medicine is a team sport. I get to run my suggestions by some pretty sharp docs. Most times I get what I ask. Other times they explain why they'd rather do something else and I learn. In return, I catch an occasional misstep they might make.

Yes I have found 99% of doctors I have worked with over the years to be great. I always treated them with respect and was treated the same way in return. I have had some scary experiences as a patient with incompetent doctors and also some really good experiences that way.

[ActualNurse]

Whoa whoa whoa. Talk about sweeping judgements. I never said nurses are drunks. I said the nurses called in to get drunk. Heck every year all my medical school friends take 4 days off and head to my cabin to get rip roaring drunk. It doesn't make us drunks nor does it make the RN's alcoholics for drinking one night.

Also I am definitely not bitter nor do I have "anger management" issues. I love taking care of patients and love my job. Yea I am pretty fresh out of residency and have a ton of loans and it pisses me off to have the amount of loans I have but I can pay them. Also I get along with most of the nurses I work with. Heck when I applied for my current job out of residency I needed a letter of recommendation from an RN I worked with and about 15 signed a "committee" LOR for me.

Also this whole thing about "spreading germs" is ********. Most colds don't need you to stay home. Throw a mask on and do your job. I did that several times throughout residency. Maybe it is the US medical training but my residency had the idea that if you called in you better be being seen by one of your colleges in the ED (I was an Emergency Medicine Resident). That may not be right but if one of your co-residents has to come in on their precious day off it better be legit and not for some party. Still now, as an attending, calling in has a huge burden on the department. It doesn't mean shutting down a couple rooms, it means someone has to come in or we shut down 14 rooms. My partners would fire me if I called in more than 1 time per year unless I had really good reason.

This brings me to the entire point of my tirade. This thread is ridiculous. I have no doubt that occasionally doctors say dumb **** (If I swear does that mean I have anger issues?). It is just hilarious that a forum made of nurses who have 4 year degrees (and often 2 year degrees in the US) think they know soooo much more than doctors that did at minimum 3x's the training you did.

What I am actually bitter about is the national consensus that nurses are "heroes" (I don't necessarily disagree with this but so is anyone that has to save lives.) Overall the average MD has a better work ethic than the average RN (see above about calling in.) Many nurses (whoa no "sweeping" judgments I said many not all) need a pat on their back and to be told how important they are just to do their damn job. The "hero" nurse gets up to take care of patients. Just watch your RN friends posts on Facebook this holiday season. They are "heroes" for working christmas. The doctor just signed up for it because they chose the profession and because we make more money we somehow aren't missing family like the nurse or tech is.

Just look at "nurses week". I lurked this forum around that time and how many people cried about the "gifts" they got for that week. Personally the ED docs where I work all pitched in for catered lunches for 5 days straight. A few of the nurses ******* that we didn't get "low fat options" and next year I won't contribute. Apparently there is a "doctor's day" and I didn't even know that except I got a pen from administration. Again I don't need a pat on my back to do my job.

Anyways I just got off the "whambulance" and I have an anger management session to get to. Discuss

My GP is away a lot, on endless holidays. I know doctors who work 3 day weeks so it is not true that doctors are always there, working hard. Maybe when they first start out, but once they get established it can be easy peasy, depending on the specialty they choose. I know OBs work hard and are burnt out early in their careers, due to being on call so much. I had a physician friend who died at age 60 of a massive MI. The family said he died from overwork, hardly slept, was so dedicated. His kids said they would never consider medicine as a career because they saw what it did to their father. He was the nicest man. Never swore, always a gentle soul, always respectful of patients and other medical team members. Never an angry word out of his mouth. And a fantastic physician. These gems really are out there.

[ActualNurse]

What ignorance. Go through 4 years of college and 4 years of medical school to be 300K in debt and work for another 3-5 years at just above minimum wage. Yea totally in it for the "money". Sure some physicians are in it for the money and those are often very bitter physicians who didn't realize how much time they had to put in before they made a dime. Yea I am out of residency and make a damn good living but I worked for it (and am paying for it).

Sorry if you want to make the big bucks do the schooling. Also just because I make more then you does not mean I don't care, I know crazy idea!. Just the last night I had an RN ask "really you want to give 4 of morphine to that old lady!?" Yea the one screaming in pain I sure do. An hour later still no pain med given. Finally had to physically walk the RN to get the damn morphine and give it to the poor patient. Thats just one example of an RN sitting around playing candy crush so I am sure that means all nurses do it.

Also talk about a freaking scam. A 2 year degree to get an RN and make more than teachers, firefighters, and serviceman. That is the definition of "in it for the money". Don't forget the CRNA's trying to find the easiest way to make a buck.

I didn't say you were in it for the money. I said these guys I know were. It is all they talk about. They were nurses first. Went into nursing for the money then found out they could get more by being doctors, found a way to get the taxpayer to fund their medical education, and went to med school. I just really wish they actually cared about their patients but haven't seen any evidence of that. So it was not you I was referring to. It was these guys. I seriously hope that most doctors are not like them.