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 had a baby doc(resident) question a comfort patients pain meds order. She was getting 2mg Dilaudid Q1h. He was afraid it would kill her. It didn't, the fluid build up in her lungs did.

I had another doc ask me why I was bothering him with petty stuff(not his actual word) when I called to get a nurse may assess order on a pt whose death was imminent. I asked if he would rather come down and assess for death. He shut up.

Then there was the doc go into the wrong room to assess for death (she refused to give us the NMA order), and came up to the primary nurse and I and told us that we obviously didn't know what we were doing. The patient was still alive. She then went to tell the family that their loved one was still alive. We realized that she had gone into the wrong room and had to have one of her partners come assess for death. The patient that she assessed was also a comfort patient, with no family at the bedside. I finally asked her if she didn't find it odd that there was no family at the bedside. She told me that no, she just assumed they had left. Head desk moment!

I work on a palliative care unit (Onc and Palliative) at a teaching hospital, so I get a lot of question that make me scratch my head. Most of them dealing with pain management of my palliative patients.

I had a close relative on palliative care recently. I had heard so much about how wonderful the palliative care program in this area was. NOT. My aunt was not appropriately medicated to control her pain. I guess they were afraid that 1 mg of Dilaudid was going to kill her. The docs kept telling the family that she was comfortable. She was not. She was also very stressed and they would not give her any sedation. Again probably afraid that half a mg of Ativan might kill her. The day before she died, I spoke to the attending about how she was not looking good and was starting to mottle. He said she the same as she always is and he "had not noticed" the mottling. The docs never knew when she had had bloodwork or breakthrough meds. They actually lied and when confronted, said "I don't read the chart." No they just collect the pay cheque and give abysmal care to these vulnerable people.

[allegra78]

That's assault. I would've called the cops right there.

[Bill Levinson]

They ought to be able to train dogs to detect C-diff. Dogs can even detect certain forms of cancer (due to the trace odors exhaled by the patient) as well as diabetes. Well trained dogs could conceivably screen for some conditions, although of course you need a medical diagnosis to be sure.

Using a dog's superior olfactory sensitivity to identify Clostridium difficile in stools and patients: proof of principle study | The BMJ

[ActualNurse]

I work in LTC and we sometimes have transitional/rehab patients too. Had one fellow, double BKA, brittle diabetic, post-op broken hip after his stump got stuck and he fell/twisted. Had been with us for about 6 weeks, had been on PO abx 3 times d/t redness, swelling and pain at his incision site, with spiked temp. One noc shift, I noticed his incision was oozing, red, hard, hot and in 2 hours his temp went from normal to 102F. Cheeks bright red, extremely pale otherwise, diaphoretic, seeing his ancestors coming to get him. I called the on-call doc who's response was "I'm coming in for rounds day after tomorrow anyway. I'll look at it then." In this small town, he was also the on-call ER doc, so I couldn't just send the pt to the hospital--I have to have permission from the on-call to send one of my residents. I was almost speechless, but did manage to throw enough a fit that he allowed me to start cephalexin 500mg BID with some PRN acetaminophen. The pt had an appointment with another doctor in a larger town the next day (before Dr. Idiot's rounds), and that doc was concerned enough that the pt was admitted to the hospital for another week, PICC inserted for IV abx for another couple of weeks.

Same doc who refused to come in to evaluate a pt who fell and was in intense pain because he didn't want to ruin his Sunday afternoon. Turned out she had a broken collar bone. We'd only been able to give her her prn APAP 650mg.

Had another resident with intense abdominal pain, not eating for 2 days, gray, pasty, diaphoretic, HR and BP extremely irregular. Doc was called both days--during his clinic hours! And ordered us to send in a urine sample. Surprise, no UTI! As far as he was concerned, that was the end of the matter. The day shift was in tears unable to get help for this super pleasant fellow. I waited until his on-call hours ended and called the PA on duty who was concerned and wanted him in right away. Had been having "cardiac events" for the last 2 days; admitted to the hospital. Did not survive.

I have more, but these are the stories that pop into my mind first when I think of him.

I could write a book of these stories. Unfortunately, LTC docs are not gerontologists. Many are GPs just trying to get more money by doing LTC on the side in addition to their regular practice. They just want to make their weekly rounds and not be bothered with much else. Sad but true.

[ActualNurse]

One day one of the hospitalists wrote the same order for all his patients: "Do not ask patient about pain level."

This one I can really relate to. My aunt was on a palliative care unit. The resident told my cousin that the docs don't ask elderly patients about their pain every day because "the elderly will say they are having pain if you ask them and then we have to treat it." We complained and got a very big apology from the resident was bent over backwards to cover his butt every time we visited. So, this is a lesson to all of us when we become patients, do not wait for the doc to ask about your pain. Shout it out to them. Geriatric patients get shafted so much in our system. They are viewed as disposable. So are palliative patients.

[ActualNurse]

During my Pap smear exam as we were talking, my doctor asked me " Have you ever had a hysterectomy" so I thought to myself he must be thinking because of some previous female issues I might of had a total hysterectomy. My reply to his question " Well I don't think so, isn't that what your working on down there" Me, the doctor and his assistant starting laughing so hard, that I'm sure he had to take a moment to control his laughter as he was still trying to do Pap smear.

Actually docs do do Paps on hysterectomized women, on the lady partsl vault that is left because they are still at risk to get cancer in this area.

[ActualNurse]

I read a dictated h&p on a patient admitted the morning before from my ED. I witnessed the ED doc make the call to the attending that ED doc had admitted his pt 2-ish hours prior. Call went to voicemail and ED doc left as it was the end of his shift.

Fast fwd to all of us returning for another night shift and a colleague showing ED doc what had been dictated during the day.

Attending dedicated an entire paragraph explaining why he didn't answer the ED doc's call..."As I was naked, in the shower with soap in my eyes, I couldn't reach the phone, blah, blah" Uh, and you decided THIS needed to be a permanent record in your patient's chart?

Same doc also wrote, in 2" tall lettering an order in another chart to "GIVE THE F##### TYLENOL" minus the censorship as you might suppose.

I heard about a psychiatrist who was swinging from the showerhead in the patient tub room to prove that a person could commit suicide in this manner. Her privileges were promptly removed. And how did everyone find out about her bizarre behaviour. She wrote it up in a patient's chart ("I tied myself to the showerhead to determine if a patient could kill themselves in this manner and I was swinging from the showerhead.") You can't make this stuff up.

[randomaccess999]

I had a doc ask me why did the numbers on the blood pressure monitor keep changing.

I told him it was because the machine was not finished yet

[LadysSolo]

Why do you need a dog to detect C diff? Any nurse with any experience can diagnose C. diff, Pseudomonas, and (sometimes, depending on location) cancer (tumor smell is pretty distinctive.) If you trust a dog, why not a nurse?

[endoflifeRN]

I had to eval a hospice potential pt at the hospital, met with the husband and the pt. Pt unable to swallow, refused peg, wanted transfer back to adult care home and comfort. Pt discharged, and when I reviewed discharge orders, doc wrote NPO, and 6 oral meds. sigh

[canyongirl]

I had a patient on a ventilator in the ICU where we were withdrawing care. The resident wrote an order to discontinue the ventilator and titrate propofol to comfort. Huh? I was able to get an order for Palliative Care, who then came in and wrote appropriate comfort care orders. But that particular resident was furious.

[nursetim, NP]

Chief surgical resident, "The family does not want you to shock for asystole." You betcha chief.

Same numbskull invades a code we were working on a beach. A literal rocket scientist, who didn't know how to swim, goes wading into the surf to fish and loses his footing and drowns. Dr. Numbskull says this, "let's give lidocaine, lidocaine is a good drug." Mr. Rocket scientist was in asystole. The lead paramedic told the Dr. that lido was not indicated.