What is your most memorable interaction with a Doctor

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in psych. rehab nursing, float pool.

Years ago while working acute care psychiatry. A patient had a consult order for IM ( internal medicine) This consult doctor was the one of the best. He was always kind and respectful with our patients we all just loved him as did his patient.

He had rushed over to our unit, grabbed the patient's chart off to the pt's room. I saw him enter the patient's room and followed.

He asked all of the usual questions, it was when he started asking the usual questions about when was last menses and such I had to start holding my breathe.The patient answered all questions as best they could.

The doctor then began his physical examination of the patient. Within moments he asked me to step outside so we could discuss further care of the patient.

Once alone he said" why didn't you tell me she was a he? etc. etc." To which in between my laughing at this point I said " Doctor so and so, I assumed you read the history and physcial"

We both ended up laughing. Went into the black humor as a means of coping with what was potentially a very uncomfortable situation.

I could tell he was embarassed that he had not taken the time to read the H & P which he most often always did. I will say he went back into that room and continued to treat this patient with the up most respect.

Never a time that I think back on this don't I bust out laughing remembering " what the heck are you doing asking about menses and such, this is a guy who looks like female and not a pretty one at that"

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Most of our doctors (save one or two) are very very good, both with patients and employees.

I was working the floor by myself with 27 patients, it was my first week, and I had 7 orthos to take care of. I was beyond stressed! A dr asked for my help rolling a patient so I went in to help her. Upon rolling, we discovered she was incontinent of both bowel and bladder. I told the dr that I would find help and get her cleaned up and turned. The dr turned to me and said "you will do no such thing. Gather the supplies and I will help you." She cleaned the pt, rubbed her back with lotion, and we turned her. I was quite impressed that a dr would help an aide do such 'low' work.

Her and her associates talk to me (still an aide) as if we were friends. They ask about school, life in general, my nieces, etc. This dr was also featured in the paper after she walked 5 miles in a blizzard to deliver a baby. No one in this group has ever yelled at a nurse, aide, pt or other human being. If they don't like something, they very calmly ask that it be remedied. And at Christmas, they pool their money and buy all the nurses in the hospital a gift card. There's only 4 dr's in the group so that's quite a feat.

But don't get me started on the psychotic dr who screamed at me for not knowing what the pt was running on tele and who calls in advance wanting her charts laid out for her complete with I & O's no matter if it's only 2 hours into the shift. She wants I & O's for those 2 hours.

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Specializes in Cardiac, ER.

When I was a new grad, part of our 16wk orientation included allowing us to choose area's in the hospital to shadow for a week.

One of the areas I shadowed was OR and as I was to be working on a cardiac unit, I spent several days with the Cardio/thoracic docs. I saw several pacers placed, several ablations, carotid endarterectomies, and several CABG's. One day during a CABG this particular doc said "hey RN-Cardiac you want to feel the most amazing feeling in the world?" I was game,.he had me come over and place my hands under this man's heart just as they switched off the by pass equipment. This guys heart started beating again in my hands! Was way cool and I will never forget the doc who allowed me to experience it!

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Great posts -- so nice to hear positive experiences recalled!!!

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Can't wait to read more....

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

Well, a doctor got angry at a phlebotomist on Friday and threw his blood orders in her face; but I don't think that is what the OP meant...

Anyway, here is a nicer one. I just took a course in EKG interpetation and had to do one on a patient in my clinic. I am still quite new to this, but I saw raised ST segments and got nervous. I went and showed it to the doctor immediately, and at first, she really wasn't sure of what she was looking at (and I am not, either), but I said "I just took this course and I heard that raised ST segments are not good" and she immediately sent the person to the ER. She came to me later, gave me a hug and said "Great catch! I just called the ER and she is having an MI. Thank God for you, because I didn't recognize it". This doctor is such a sweet, humble woman. She is not egotistical, and will admit privately in a New York Minute when she isn't sure about something. She really made me feel that I was worth my salt that day by coming back and acknowledging it.

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My most memorable experience was as a patient. The doctor was taking care of me following a PE thought to be caused by BC pills. I knew how serious this was and they wanted me to go to ICU. I knew I would not get any rest there so I practically begged him not to send me there. He agreed as long as my husband stayed with me and I promised to let them know if I changed my mind or my condition changed.

The most memorable part was that he sat at my bed and held my hand and promised we would get through this together. That simple act of holding my hand and honoring my wishes has made me remember him as a kind and gentle human being more the the busy MD I knew him to be.:redpinkhe

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

A couple of years ago, I was in the MDs office with Fever of Unknown Origin. (happen to have been a nursing student at the time and worked with this Doc at the hospital).

Temp of 103...stupid me-went to the office with an elevated temp so that he would know I was sick. Well, he came in the room, so sweet and asked how I was feeling, because I didn't look so well. I burst into tears, because I was feeling so awful!

This sweety of a Doc saw my flushed face-read my VS then patted my hand and asked me if I wanted some Tylenol. I said yes and he proceeded to go get it himself instead of sending his nurse, who was standing right there. He came back, gave it to me and went on with the rest of my exam.

I'll take a caring Doc like that any day!!!

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Specializes in LTC.

I have a couple awesome docs at my LTC facility. One in particular. We had a man come in to our skilled unit. He had been with the facility oh Id say 4 days or so. I was reading his diagnosis list and noticed h/o internal bleeding and acute kidney failure. NO LABS ORDERED. I immed. called lab for stat BMP and CBC. Well the MD happened to come in like an hour later. Instead of giving me the 3rd degree about calling and getting the order first (like some other docs at our facility) He was very pleased and kind. He said good catch kiddo, keep up the good work. As a new nurse I couldnt of been more proud :)

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

I have many nice interactions with doctors but my most memorable was awful! Rather not recall that one.

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Specializes in Peds,ER,FP,Med/surg/oncol, Hospice.

I have been in the medical field for 15 plus years but my most memorable experience with a Dr happened just in my last semester of nursing school and there was a very young patient on the oncology floor that was gravely ill with a very rare form of cancer. The well known Dr had to come in and tell her that nothing else could be done and that she needed to decide if she wanted to be coded or to be a DNR. As we went into the room he held this girls hand as he gently told her he had done everything he could do and the rest was up to God. The young lady told him to make her a DNA and let her go if something were to happen and with tears streaming down this Dr.s face he told her that she made the right decision and that he would stay right there with her. He stayed and held her hand for a good 20 minutes cried with her, laughed with her and just talked. This young girl lived another month and when she finally passed this Dr. was in the front row at her funeral. I have NEVER seen such a caring compassionate Dr as this one. You could literally ask him about a pt from 20 years ago and he would remember EVERYTHING about them. Now thats a GREAT Dr. I am proud and honored to beable to work on this floor with him.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

one sunday afternoon, the engineering department of my hospital was going to change out the emergency generator. the plan involved removing the roof from the building and pulling out the old generator with a crane after which they'd lower the new one into place. the plan was great and it should have worked. unfortunately, the crane dropped the new generator on top of the main generator, and wrecked all three: the new, the old and the main generator. just like that, the lights went out in our ccu.

these were the days before cell phones. we had a fancy phone system that required power -- so no lights and no phone. also no monitors . . . and we had several eps patients. the dialysis machines didn't have battery back-up, nor did the ventilators, and the balloon pumps had less than an hour. staff was spread mighty thin, handpumping the iabps and handcranking the blood back into the patients when the dialysis machines went down, bagging ventilator patients, switching out imed pumps as their batteries died, and running around with flashlights trying to do basic care and reassure patients and families.

i went to the hospital lobby with a handful of quarters to use the pay phones to try to call in some more staff. (only the icus, er, or and cath lab were affected by the power outage.) as i was trying to call in staff, one of our cardiologists happened by. he asked me what was going on, and when i explained he said "don't worry. i'll take care of it. you go back and take care of the patients."

that man emptied his own pockets, going down our phone list and calling staff in to help us. the first call he made was to his wife who called his partners and every other physician she knew and asked them to come in and help out. then she brought her children and came in to hold flashlights, bag patients on ventilators and help move other patients to areas of the hospital that had power. other physicians showed up as well -- they were bagging ventilator patients, helping to clean up poop, holding flashlights, moving beds -- whatever was needed. and after the crisis was resolved, they ordered a big stack of pizzas for everyone who was there to help out!

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