Dumbest thing a doctor has done/said to you

Nurses Relations

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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?

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

Five days of gourmet lunches. Wow. Where do you work? You have read what I posted before so you know there are no gourmet lunches where I work. We only got cheap popcorn on one day. And, like you, I don't need a pat on the back and I don't consider myself a hero for working a Christian holiday. In fact, I like to work it. It gives the Christian nurses time off to spend with their families and it is not my holiday so it is pretty boring if I am not working. Also, it is really nice for patients to have staff who don't resent being there. I think it is hard for people who celebrate Xmas to be in hospital on that holiday. And I don't think they should have to worry about the nurse having to work it. I have had patients make comments like that. And I think nurses week is unnecessary. If it is causing so many hard feelings for doctors, maybe we should just eliminate it.
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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

Just as a side comment, lev

"Calling out" and "calling in" are interchangeable. It's a regional thing, like: 'Coke' vs. 'cola' vs. a 'soft drink' vs. 'soda' vs. a 'cold-drink' vs. 'pop' vs. 'tonic'

Personally, I call IN to the office to let them know I will be OUT of work that day.

To me 'calling out' means confronting somebody about something, kind of like I'm doing to you now :), only this isn't as serious as REALLY calling someone out over something.

Like Robert Blake used to say in that show "Baretta", "An' dat's the name of DAT tune!"

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
"Calling out" and "calling in" are interchangeable. It's a regional thing, like: 'Coke' vs. 'cola' vs. a 'soft drink' vs. 'soda' vs. a 'cold-drink' vs. 'pop' vs. 'tonic'

You forgot the third part of the triad: "calling off".

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

I actually have never heard it termed 'calling off'! I like it, even though it sounds (to my ear anyway) a little sideways in reference to work.

We used to joke that 'calling in dead' was the only way we could be reasonably certain of getting some time off, and yet, even then you might not catch a break.

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Specializes in Hospice.
I actually have never heard it termed 'calling off'! I like it, even though it sounds (to my ear anyway) a little sideways in reference to work.

We used to joke that 'calling in dead' was the only way we could be reasonably certain of getting some time off, and yet, even then you might not catch a break.

Everyone I know in the Chicago area "calls off".

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Specializes in ICU Stepdown.
Everyone I know in the Chicago area "calls off".

I'm in Ohio and I say "call off"

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

Oh, well, Chicago, you know, that explains it.

Buckeyes, too.

They have to​ say they're calling off; it's only the truth.

*ducks and runs*

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As a new graduate of about 3 months, I was running a post surgical floor with 2 aides that spent most of the nights hiding in the utility room, when I had to call a surgeon and tell him that one of his patients had pulled out a central line, and we (me, nursing supervisor and the house Doctor) could not get a peripheral line started, and I had 3 IV Meds to give. He lost his **** and told me that his patients would get better care laying out on the boulevard in front of the hospital than when I was caring for them. I was DEVASTATED then, but now (almost 40 years later) I have to laugh and say that was a pretty impressive turn of phrase.

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Specializes in PICU.

I love my docs from my last job. My favorite stories aren't dumb, but funny (and I think they would laugh along with me). One of our docs was notoriously difficult to wake up. Once "awake" he wasn't totally oriented and would give ridiculous orders. We had a patient that needed labs. Didn't have a central line at the time and PIVs weren't drawing. After several pokes by different nurses, the nurse finally called him to say we were having issues. I see her on the phone with him and she just smiles, puts the phone down and puts her head down on the desk. We asked what happened. She pops her head up and she's laughing...."He asked me why didn't I just get it (the blood) from someone else."

Same doc....patient's labs came back with a low potassium. I called doc to report the critical lab and he goes "Ok, let's give some blood." I said "Weeellll, his H&H are ok, but his potassium is low." "Ok, (long pause), how about some Phos." "Phos is ok (read off more of his labs), but I have a low potassium." "Ok....thank you." Hangs up. ;P

Yes, us nurses have our bad moments too. The worst though was hearing a story about a nurse who had an order for "sips and chips." She gave him a package of potato chips and told him he could only sip at his soda. :roflmao:

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Specializes in Critical Care.

[quote=Lev

Actually...

Where I work we do say "call in", kind of short for "called in sick". Took me a little while to figure out what "call out" meant when I first started frequenting this forum! Haha ;)

"Are you at work?"

"No, I called in!"

:)

ETA: (Sorry my quote didn't work! Referring to Lev's comment about "call out" vs "call in"!

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Specializes in Hospital medicine; NP precepting; staff education.
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 know I'm sidetracking, but I'm coming to really enjoy one of our new ER docs. He was an ER tech before MD, so your story made me think of him.

He is so laid back but super smart and makes for a good day, even out of a bad one. He got my goat the other day by teasing me that I had put a posterior splint on the wrong foot. For half a nanosecond I believed him. It was a good laugh. I'm glad I have fun doctors to work with (for the most part.) From my varied and cross-trained experience, it really helps to have that cohesion in the ED. Basically, you have to spend your whole shift with the crew so there needs to be some form of camaraderie and trust, both ways.

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I had a physician tell me he couldn't replace a patients phosphate because the patient was npo and he didn't know how else to do it, 🙂

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