Tired of being quzzied by MDs

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Specializes in MICU, CVICU.

I'm so tired of being quizzed by MDs during rotations. I always feel like I have to pass a test before someone will talk to me as a person rather than an idiot student. The only specialty that hasn't done this to me is psych. Anyone else had this type of experience where you have to pass a test before the docs will talk to you?

I hear ya! I've run into a lot of that too. There's one particular doc that I've had to deal with during this last rotation that makes a point of trying to make all students look like BIG IDIOTS. He thrives on making us look stupid. For instance, he'll ask ya what you think you're looking at during a procedure and when you give him an intelligent answer he'll say "well, that's there too but that's not what I'm asking you.." and then proceeds to tell you that what you're looking at, and the answer he's looking for, is the scope or something like that. What a moron. I hate doctors like that. On the other hand, I had the opportunity to observe some procedures performed by another doc this week who was absolutely awesome. He made a point of explaining EVERYTHING that he was doing and it was obvious that he loved having students around. In fact, the entire staff had warned us that morning that we might have to say something to him if he got too involved with teaching!lol....I was quite pleased that he was like that though cuz so many of them aren't.

Specializes in L&D.

It hasn't happened to me by a physician, from other nurses - yes.

Specializes in Cath Lab, OR, CPHN/SN, ER.

I haven't personally, but have found myself quizzing doctors over conditions (why did you do it this way?). In the ER, one of the trauma surgeons was awesome with me. I was helping holding down a pts legs (to keep him from falling off the table while MD's did their assessment), and she was in the back writting notes and shouting orders, but was awesome in giving me tips, and letting me stuff.

One of the cardiac surgeons would quiz students, but b/c he wanted to make sure you knew stuff. He was a good one who liked teaching. He's moved on to Flordia. -Andrea

Specializes in Med-Surg, Psych.

I like it when a nice RN asks me questions and his/ her intention is to help me. As far as MDs go, very few of them seem to be asking to assist you. Only make you feel incompetent.

The residents I have worked with, on the other hand, are great, too. It's almost as though they are teaching you in order for it to make sense to them. :)

Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

This has only happened to me a couple times, but I've enjoyed it. I didn't get the impression they were trying to make me look stupid, but simply assess my level of understanding.

There are different ways of asking, but as a traveler I get quizzed at every new facility by the docs, etc..........they are just checking to see what you know and if you do know what you need to know. You are taking care of their patients..............look at it that way. And even when I was working staff and a new physician started, it was just the same....Once they realize that you know what you are talking about, you are given more freedom to make suggestions, etc. that will be listened to.

It just depends on how you lok at it, and how they approach it.

Specializes in MICU, CVICU.

To be more specific what happened to me today was one OB doc walked in the room for delivery and did not introduce himself to me, ask my name, anything. The first thing he said to me was when he started cutting an episiotomy he asked if I could name all the layers he was cutting through. I don't know about any other programs but my school has a strong physiology base and less of an anatomy focus. Additionally, in our OB classes they teach us stages of labor, pain management, etc., not layers that you cut through in an episiotomy. So I did not know the answer. Well after that he said well I'm just going to keep asking you questions then. I said ok ask whatever you would like. To that he replied "When I was in school we didn't say that. If we didn't know the answer we said I don't know but I will tomorrow...." So the next question he asked me was what percent a woman's cardiac "activity" increased in pregnancy. I was trying to clarify if he meant cardiac output rather than electrical activity or other things. So I said Do you mean cardiac output. He then said "that's what you do when you don't know, answer a question with a question" to which I replied "Well you said cardiac activity, I wanted to make sure you meant cardiac output rather than some other measure" So then he asked me what normal CO is in an adult I said 5-6 L/min. He then said "you think the heart pumps that much in a minute. Think about it." He did not give me the correct answer he was looking for, he did not clarify. When I got home I checked in my books and normal CO is 4-7 L/min. SO I was within the normal range. The impression I got from him was not that he was trying to teach, but that he was trying to quiz me and determine whether I was worth teaching. Then when the way he phrased things was unclear to me he wrote me off as not knowing the material. I have been around great doctors and nurses that enjoy teaching students, and I have also been around others that have to determine if it's worth their time to teach you. I'm not stupid, I have a 4.0 I know the material. I'm just tired of being treated that way because I'm a nursing student and not a nurse or med student or MD.

Sorry for the long post I just wanted to clarify what I meant.

I'm so tired of being quizzed by MDs during rotations. I always feel like I have to pass a test before someone will talk to me as a person rather than an idiot student. The only specialty that hasn't done this to me is psych. Anyone else had this type of experience where you have to pass a test before the docs will talk to you?

I have to say that when I was in nursing school, the docs never quizzed us.. we were simply non existent!!!! Now, when I grad. and went into NICU, all the resisents ask the NURSES, on orientation or not, what to do..... they were usually clueless, as most of them were scared to death of peds, let alone extremely premature babies.... but they had to get through the rotation.....Im lil jealous..... I would have loved communication from a doc once in a while that was not inititated by us!!!

I'm just tired of being treated that way because I'm a nursing student and not a nurse or med student or MD.

Sorry for the long post I just wanted to clarify what I meant.

Hehe - have you ever seen an attending/senior resident pimp a med student :uhoh21:

He could have mistaken you for a med student. OR (more likely) he knew you were a nursing student, but still tried to "teach" in the same fashion as he does to his medical students.

Some people are great teachers. Some think they are great teachers. And others are not meant to be teachers. This is true in all professions, be it medicine, nursing, education, etc

For some humor, check out this link - I think you will enjoy it :)

http://www.neonatology.org/pearls/pimping.html

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

I chose to view the quizzing as the positive opportunity to test what i knew.

The doctors talk to you???? In my experience, they act like nursing students don't exist. I have had perhaps two conversations with doctors in the last three semesters. Once I was mistaken for a medical student and the other time a doctor asked me to hand her a warm towel. That is the sum total of my interactions with doctors.

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