Dear Doctor Imajerk: (vent)

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I am sorry if you are unhappy with your tour of duty with the CTS surgeons here on our little PCU.

I'm sorry if you hate taking call. You are a resident. This is a teaching hospital. It is your job.

I'm sorry that you think that my patient's dropping blood pressures and non-existant Urinary Output were a crappy reason to wake you up at 4 in the morning.

I'm sorry you don't feel like you need to write orders for my patient.

I'm sorry you feel the need to be a rude a*****e when you are on the phone with me.

I'm sorry you feel so incompetent at your job that you apparently don't know which orders to write.

I'm sorry you have endured a month and a half in an assignment you obviously loathe.

I"m sorry you feel the need to be rude to all the nurses on this unit (but especially us night-shifters since we interfere with your sleep schedule).

But

I have a sinking feeling that the nights when you are on call will be riddled with calls every hour from all the nurses on this floor asking for orders for our patients. I have a feeling nurses will "forget" to inform each other that they are getting ready to call you and as soon as one hangs up another one will realize suddenly that only your expertise can save her patient from the brink.

*sigh*

And it would have been so much easier just to be polite and do your job.

We are very fortunate in our attendings. Occasionally they will take first call as well. There is always an attending on 2nd call after either the resident or PA who is on 1st Call, so if things are serious, we know exactly who to go to. I have called them before in the middle of the night and was extremely relieved (I was a 3-month newbie at that point, just out of orientation) at how gracious the doc I talked to was.

Things have never got to the point w/ "Dr. Imajerk" that we have needed to call the attending. Yet. After we insist vehemently, we get orders. But even that is a lesson in patience. Last night the order he first tried to give me was "Bolus him". "Okay Doctor, how exactly would you like me to write that?" On other occasions he has said things like, "Give him some lasix." Well, okay, but can I get a doseage, or maybe even a route? or, "Just do what you normally would do." Um, no. You're the doctor. That means you write the order. I may suggest something to you, but for me to write to order would mean I was practicing medicine without a license, and I'd like to avoid that.

Luckily, we work with our PAs who are without exception, fabulous, most often. Although they may not be thrilled to be called in the wee hours of the night or when they are putting the kids to bed, the are unfailingly gracious, polite, and helpful. Unfortunately, at this point, we don't have anyone in-house overnight, but that may change in the future. I can't help but feel that would benefit our patients hugely.

All in all, I realize how lucky I am where I work, and I have way more good nights than bad. Last night just wasn't one of the better ones.

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I thought your vent was pretty funny. I used to tease the docs on our floor if they were being snippy: "Be nice to me or you're gonna get a 3am tylenol call...." *winks*

Had some pretty bad docs but none to the point of the one of 40/palp wait til morning rounds. Skeery!

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We do joke with our PAs about the 3am call for PRN benadryl for sleep. We're also very fortunate in that we have an outstanding set of standing orders that covers the normal stuff. (sleeplessness, nausea, constipation, pain) So when we do call them, it's generally for something a little more serious. Low urine output, low pressures, changes in rhythm, respiratory distress.

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Specializes in Neuro, Critical Care.

I work in a teaching hospital, we have someone around all the time, be it residents, attendings (very rarely, I work nocs), etc. We also have intensivists...however we have to check with our clincial lead (charge nurse) before calling them. If a doc gets mad at me for calling-oh well, it's my job and last time I checked-his/hers too, don't like it-find a new job. It is NOT my job to take abuse from a co-worker, won't do it. That said, ive really haven't been treated badly except for the occasional bad mood.

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Specializes in Corrections, Cardiac, Hospice.

I have been there, as well. Ever notice the ones who are the worst offenders tend to be the WORST clinicians? Had one idiot tell me to go ahead and feed a patient that had flunked his swallow study, just "to see how it goes." I said, I know how its going to go, he is going to aspirate:uhoh3: Called the attending to get the NPO order. He wasn't impressed with his student:lol2:

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...on a positive note...

I am working at a call center right now part-time while in school taking calls for people who have questions about their auto-insurance.

I got a call yesterday from a guy in medical school (4th year) and the "password" on his account was a fraternity that was the same as my husband's...we'll, I casually teased him about it, and I mentioned I was starting nursing school this Fall, and he congratulated me on my entrance and he said, "I hear it's more competitive than medical school because there are fewer slots for you folks"...I told him I wasn't sure, then I congratulated him on his venture as well.

I joked with him during the call and said, "Just when you graduate and get the title of M.D. after your name, don't succomb to the peer pressure and be nice to nurses." We had a good laugh.

Then he said, "Are you kidding me? I have all the respect for nurses in the world and I know I couldn't do my job without them. My Mom was a nurse, and when I have witnessed other doctors do that in the hospital, all I can think of, is someone talking to my mother that way. We all have a hard job and being nasty doesn't make it better for anyone...and they REMINDED us in medical school that the nurses don't work FOR us, they work WITH us."

I told him, "You are going to be a great doctor!"

I thought it was great to hear a med-student with such a great attitude.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
So what if docs read this? Maybe if one takes this back to their board and complains about how we talk about them, the others will set him straight.

It's not that they care that we're complaining about them, it was the payback that bothered me. I do not care what they think and that they are reading our board.

I also know for a fact nurses read their board too. :lol2:

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Tweety, I'm sorry if I offended you. My post was meant to be exactly what it was labeled: a vent. Nothing more, nothing less.

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Specializes in cardiac.
I am sorry if you are unhappy with your tour of duty with the CTS surgeons here on our little PCU.

I'm sorry if you hate taking call. You are a resident. This is a teaching hospital. It is your job.

I'm sorry that you think that my patient's dropping blood pressures and non-existant Urinary Output were a crappy reason to wake you up at 4 in the morning.

I'm sorry you don't feel like you need to write orders for my patient.

I'm sorry you feel the need to be a rude a*****e when you are on the phone with me.

I'm sorry you feel so incompetent at your job that you apparently don't know which orders to write.

I'm sorry you have endured a month and a half in an assignment you obviously loathe.

I"m sorry you feel the need to be rude to all the nurses on this unit (but especially us night-shifters since we interfere with your sleep schedule).

But

I have a sinking feeling that the nights when you are on call will be riddled with calls every hour from all the nurses on this floor asking for orders for our patients. I have a feeling nurses will "forget" to inform each other that they are getting ready to call you and as soon as one hangs up another one will realize suddenly that only your expertise can save her patient from the brink.

*sigh*

And it would have been so much easier just to be polite and do your job.

Well, said, my dear. Well said.

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I have met a few like that...just wait until a nurse pulls his a** out of the fire sometime, or stops him from making some huge mistake. Then maybe he'll realize how important we are. I wish that they could take a step back and think about this - what would I do if there were no nurses?

WE pull residents and interns butts out of the fire all the time!! If it wern't for us, I'm absolutely certain the M and M numbers would skyrocket! This nurse has NO PROBLEM going up the chain of command to the attending if need be.

BTW...we had one surgical resident that was a complete and total a$$ to us female nurses. Would not respond to pages from the ICU, chewed us out for no good reason and was generally obnoxious. I recently had to give a deposition regarding a case where he ignored nursing staff and his patient bled out. The patient made it to the unit too late-I ended up calling the attending. He realized she was in trouble too late.

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Don't ever apologize to a doctor for doing your job.

You last paragraph presents nurses as catty and the student doctors reading this forum will probably quote that in their forum. (And yes, they do read this forum.) LOL

I agree. While it's tempting to want to respond this way, it only perpetuates the problem. Unfortunately, we (the nurses) have to be the grown-ups and act in the best interests of the pt., not retaliating just because someone's been a jerk.

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg,Cardiac.

I would like to read one of their boards too do you know one I can access. I am a new nurse who has encountered the SNOBBY senior resident and the old school Attending who thinks nurses have no brains.

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