Ever had a Dr. mad at you?

AlphaPig · Nov 22, 2012

Happens all of the time - just apologize and move on. Try not to take it personally - as you get more experience, it will get easier. I have also forgotten to initiate orders and after it happened that one time, I never forgot again!

Remember - the docs are human and have all made mistakes, too.

umcRN, BSN, RN · Nov 22, 2012

Yup. had a doctor mad at me for suggesting that the parents of a baby, who already knew how to drop and NG (not taught by me by the way) take him home with that since feeding was his only lingering issue and they were refusing a g-tube (mid you spending day after day in an ICU, mom was present 24/7 doing all his care including feeding him by mouth and handling his NG tube). This particular doc refuses to send babies home with NG tunes. He insisted on a sit down with myself and the charge nurse to go over why he was upset with me and so we could "get all our feelings on the table" :rolleyes: he was a bit much. I got over it and still stand by my ground when I think my patients/families need advocating for.

RNperdiem, RN · Nov 22, 2012

I would understand that a doctor would be peeved if orders for the day hadn't been done. Nurses aren't the only ones who get upset. Unless he was crossing the line and insulting you personally, let him get mad; he will get over it.

It is not about you; it is about the patient.

What can you learn? It is rare that a patient goes all day without any orders. Get into a habit to check.

Your hospital needs to get firm about doctors doing computer order entry. Where I work, it is not optional. If the docs want to give orders on the patients, they need to put the order into the computer. Verbal orders are used only during procedures.

I hope you feel better soon and can move on from this experience.

sharpeimom · Nov 22, 2012

A psych patient in her late sixties had always lived with her identical twin. She had been hospitalized for depression and anxiety, which were growing worse by leaps and bounds when her idiot doctor put in a no

visitors order.

She had been making steady progress before the no visitors rule went into force. The MD had apparently had

a disagreement with the twin, hence the order. The sister had visited on every visiting day and she frequently had no other visitors.

Two of us felt the MD was punishing the wrong person. We blatently ignored the order and welcomed the twin. We knew from past experience that trying to reason with this particular doctor was like :banghead: .

When he found out, he was LIVID! :madface: Fortunately, our supervisor backed us to the hilt and eventually he got less huffy but it took awhile. It was a l-o-n-g few weeks though. If one of us happened to answer the phone, he'd hang up. If we were at the nurses station, he'd leave. Very mature! :roflmao: Jerk! :saint:

Been there,done that, ASN, RN · Nov 22, 2012

Please continue. Were the orders that were not followed... was

because they were not properly

entered in the first place?

KBLOWE831 · Nov 22, 2012

The orders were put in correctly, I just have never had a direct admit have orders that I needed to initiate. Usually, the only time I ever initiate orders is when I get a pt from surgery. Most times when we get a direct admit, the dr comes up and puts the orders in or sends them with a pt. So I didn't even think twice about checking to see if there were orders that needed to be initiated. I even had talked to his residents throughout the day and they were saying they were going to have xrays done, etc so I just assumed they were putting them in. Obviously, I was supposed to initiate them. I think the dr was mostly ****** because they x-ray and doppler didn't get done. I know I would have been upset to if I was the dr and I know its completely my fault, I just never thought twice about looking for orders. It has taught me I needed to check every pt for orders, especially new pts.

I think the thing that really got to me was that he said "No offense, but that's just bad care." I try my hardest to do my best, I've only been nursing for 9 months, and that was just a dagger to the heart.

Nurse ABC · Nov 23, 2012

Sometimes dr's can be jerks. Yes you overlooked something but it didn't kill the pt (hopefully! ) He had a right to be upset but not to put you down. However, some just get mad and throw their little fit and not care how they make you feel then move on. Just do your best and don't let them see you sweat. It will get easier and you'll learn to take it less personally over time.

SaoirseRN · Nov 23, 2012

You made a mistake in not checking for orders, so the doctor's anger is understandable. Could he have handled the situation differently? Probably. But you've learned something from this, presumably, which is to always check for orders. Don't take it personally -- take it as a lesson learned and move on.

tyvin, BSN, RN · Nov 23, 2012

I've only had one doc mad at me that I know of. It was an elderly women whose doc always gave her abx's when ever she got sick (pheumonnia due to immobility, etc...). This was in a LTC faciltiy. It turns out that the women's doc was on vacation when this women got sick again and the doc he left in charge of his patients told me that there would be no course of abx's to let nature take it's course. She had no family and was not a bother to anyone. OK, this made me mad so we had this long discussion where I basically told him what a jerk he was for his decision for letting her die. The next day I get hauled into the bosses office like I had murdered someone. He complained to the hilt telling my boss all types of things (they may have been true). Long story short somehow the women's doc found out and saved the day. That lady was still living there when I left a year later.

joanna73, BSN, RN · Nov 23, 2012

Many many times I have had Doctors upset with me, sometimes due to an error I've made with orders, but mainly, because I am a huge advocate for patient care. One Doctor in particular does not like to come to the unit and argues or hangs up when we request assistance. Too bad. In the instances where I was at fault, I have apologized, and learned from my mistakes. However, I will never apologize for asking for orders when I need them. Overall, you will need to develop a thick skin in nursing to not take everything so personally. This is definitely not easy.

kelly434 · Nov 23, 2012

as you say drs are only human to , then don't they realise its ******** to yell at people.