Stupid questions/comments made by doctors!

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What kind of stupid questions have you been asked by a physician? You know, the kind that just make you want to scream. I had a patient the other day who was having big time mental status changes. I finally convinced the doctor that something wasn't right, and we needed to try to find out why. He ordered some labs. I called him with the results which included a high potassium, a low sodium, and a glucose over 300. The elderly patient had no history of diabetes. The physician called me and was asking me why the patient's glucose was high. Never mind the potassium, he was freaked out over the glucose. He kept asking me why it was high and kept stating that she had no history of diabetes. This doc is oriental, so his English is broken. Anyway, after the third time I said," I have no idea why the glucose is high. You're the doctor, you tell me." I could have just jumped through the phone and slapped him!! Don't you just love it when the docs ask you these kind of questions? :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :confused: :confused:

Specializes in LTC , SDC and MDS certified (3.0).

Ya'll quit being so touchy. Didn't I see a thread about the stupidest things we've(ourselves) said???:cool:

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Specializes in Med-Surg.
tweety I understand what you are saying. But really do you think doctors are going to be on this forum.

Yes. The student doctors forum quotes Allnurses occasionally, or references a thing they heard here without mentioning us. Just as nurses cruise their websites.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.
Ya'll quit being so touchy. Didn't I see a thread about the stupidest things we've(ourselves) said???:cool:

I resent the flame, but can take it. We're all entitled to define what bothers us and what is funny or not without being called "touchy".

I won't get defensive. Carry on. :)

:monkeydance:

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Specializes in ICU;CCU;Telemetry;L&D;Hospice;ER/Trauma;.

I think the "doc talk" thread here is equally balanced by the "scarey-ist thing you ever saw another nurse do" thread.....

It just shows you that none of us are God/goddesses...(wink wink) and all of us have the ability to pull some real bone-headed stunts from time to time....

I like reading about how the rest of the world operates....it gives me a sense of orientation....a sort of social pro-prioception, if you will...

I realize that some of my own mistakes have been both a good teacher and task master....and I also learn from others' as well...

You know the "DESPAIR" CALENDARS.....(just Google Despair Calendars) and you will find a wonderful source of self deprecation and madness to hang on your walls....(hehehe)....but there's one that says something like, "Your life serves not as an example to others, but as a living warning...." or something to that effect....

I'd like to think that if we can look seriously at serious problems and lightheartedly at lighthearted problems, we go through life a whole lot less stressed out...

I am one of my biggest critics....but I also am learning that I am also pretty funny sometimes....and it's kind of nice to bring smiles to the faces of those I work around...it makes our jobs so much more pleasurable when we can share a good laugh....

I am sure the docs have plenty of great nurse stories and even tell a few on themselves....they are, afterall, humans...

and unlike Star Trek Vulcans....they do express humor...(uh oh...there goes that eyebrow again!!!)

"a merry heart doeth good like a medicine" Proverbs from the Bible.crni

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Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, Emergency, SAFE.

Upon crusing the SDN thread myself I came upon this one and it was HILARIOUS...

"So here's one that hopefully doesn't offend all the unit secretaries lurking on this forum...

Background story: A patient had been getting ABGs so chronically that he had developed a pannus over his radial artery. One of my co-interns wrote him for a lidocaine jelly on the pannus prior to ABG. Of course, a unit secretary has no clue what a pannus is. But...

(one week later...)

Nurse: Can you renew Mr. B's lidocaine jelly to his member?

Intern: Ugh... Why is Mr. B getting lidocaine jelly to his member?

Nurse: I don't know.. it says in his medbook that he's been getting it for a week, just prior to his ABGs.

Intern: I guess it makes sense he hasn't complained..."""

Now you cant tell me that wasnt funny..!!!

:rotfl::roll:rotfl::roll:rotfl:

user_offline.gif

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I had a patient in the week that our new interns started. A septic patient had a temp of 105.1. The intern asked if we had IV tylenol so it would work faster!
Our docs sometimes used IV toradol to break a fever. Works great...
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Specializes in Med-Surg.
"a merry heart doeth good like a medicine" Proverbs from the Bible.crni

I guess it's one thing to tell funny stories, especially if we are talking about ourselves and not others. Maybe my problem is that this isn't a thread "tell us your funiest doc stories so we can vent and laugh and have a merry heart". Rather it's a "tell us your doc stories and judge those actions as stupid and laugh at them". It just sounds like tearing someone down to build ourselves up. I'm not a good judge because I grew up with peer rejection.

I may not know how others view me, but humorless hopefully isn't one of them. Surely some of my 37,0000gazillion posts have had some humor. :)

Again, carry on.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.
Now you cant tell me that wasnt funny..!!!

:rotfl::roll:rotfl::roll:rotfl:

Yep, I have to admit, I spit my coffee at the screen reading that one. :)

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Specializes in ER OB NICU.

Was making rounds with a questionable "DO" and the patient was admitted through ER. The Dr says you have some really high enzymes there, The guy responds I was a really bad alcholic for several years, and uuit a few months ago.Dr goes on and on about this and that,turns and says "We probably should recheck those labs, come see me in a month" we get to the hall, and he says to me:"Wonder why his liver enzymes are so high?" DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

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I followed the link to the SDN thread about Stupid Nurses, and scrolled down just a few (in which the nurse was an absolute moron, of course) to find this post by Kimberly Cox (admin):

"Do we REALLY have to start this topic, AGAIN, HERE?

First of all, there are tons of threads here already on the topic.

Secondly, the title is a bit insulting to our members who are nurses. After all, some of the stupidest pages I've gotten have been from other physicians. Perhaps the thread could be "the stupidest page I've ever gotten" - IF you REALLY felt it was necessary to start ANOTHER thread on the topic and watch it degenerate into people bashing nurses AGAIN.

Sorry to be such a drag about this and I do enjoy, and even participating in these discussions, but its beating a dead horse and really does run the risk of alienating other members of SDN."

I rather liked it :)

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Patient, who was about 90 years old with dentures, that he left at home, had a low sodium level, so what did the resident order??? Push two bags of potato chips - stat, no less.

I loved it, we all may say and do stupid things, but please don't make them part of the permenant record!!!

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