Published Jan 1, 2017
Avid reader
175 Posts
I pretend to suddenly develop a hearing problem. Sorry, what did you say " What...what, can't hear you? Can you speak up? â€
Has to be done with a straight face!
I also mimic whatever they are doing. That depends on the Dr of course. Some idiots simply haven't got a sense of humor.
Psych consults are the best. They're intimidated by medical jargon and think medical nurses are crazy anyway, so you can get away with murder sometimes. Ask them a good cardiology or metabolic D/O question or autoimmune and watch them flounder. You don't even have to know the answer.
Ask them about hearing voices and pretend you've just heard one. Did you hear that ?"
Got to have fun sometimes!
What do others do?
nursej22, MSN, RN
4,449 Posts
No, just, no.
Off to pop some corn.
Here's two other things.
Pretend there is a bad odor by wrinkling your nose and acting like there is a bad smell.
Or, start humming a popular tune and pretend that you can't get it out of your head. Stop.. and then start humming again. Sometimes louder or really low.
Don't forget kick-me signs and wet willies.
Emergent, RN
4,278 Posts
This sounds immature.
sallyrnrrt, ADN, RN
2,398 Posts
Yes, but sometimes for the sake of sanity
roser13, ASN, RN
6,504 Posts
Sometimes we have to treat immature in kind:cheeky:
When faced with a surgeon who is throwing a tantrum because anesthesia cancelled his case based upon the pre-op EKG, I like to hand the EKG to the surgeon and ask them to weigh in as to why they consider the current rhythm to be medically appropriate for a 5 hour general anesthesia. I have yet to have a surgeon actually take possession of the EKG.
Exactly, Emergent.
Describes me frequently. Immature and holding on to sanity.
Here's another. I ask if I can have a quick word. Then I say, Brisk or rapid or fast" Then I walk away. Use whatever quick word comes to mind for yourself.
sevensonnets
975 Posts
For the life of me I can't see why you would even want to pull stunts like this. Sounds like a great way to get your head ripped off. First, I've never actually worked with a doctor who was an idiot, and not having a sense of humor doesn't make one an idiot. I don't read anything in your post that is actually amusing. Not sure why you want to come across as "immature" or "hanging onto sanity."
With all due respect, sevensonnets, have you ever met orthopedic surgeons? Or, come to think of it, neuro, ENT, general...
But especially orthopedic.
anesthesia vs. orthopedic - Yahoo Search Results
KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN
1 Article; 2,675 Posts
Dear Avid reader,
If by any chance you ever contemplate going back to grad school, I would strongly suggest changing job well before it or finding a program which provide preceptors. Otherwise, you'll have a hard time. Nurses who like to make fun with doctors are getting known way around - not in a good way.
The behaviors you describe and apparently do are not the last of the reasons why nurses are still seen by physicians as silly pompous creatures with no brains to speak of and not worthy of trust or moneys, not as professionals and partners. While I agree that sometimes docs, like we all humans, have to be taken back to the reality, making fun of them is neither professional nor even effective way to do so.
For one time, try to help the said psych consult by providing exact symptoms description, get familiar with drugs, allergies, etc. You will greatly help your colleagues and your patients as well, because your forever sundowning LDOLs suddenly get well-controlled, compliant and rested instead of making you running for 12 hours like a chicken with its head just cut off.
And, BTW, stop doing other people's job for free. All quarreling between docs should be resolved by docs, or at least by nurses who know what and whom they are playing with. Good familiarity with midlevels and specialty nurses/coordinators is the way to manage it; also, at least for me, it is fine to tell physician that I am not familiar with the subject and do not fully understand consultant's note, and so will appreciate if he either tells me precisely what to tell another doctor or calls him himself. Most of time I actually do understand everything and I suspect they know it, but they buy it often enough nevertheless, and that's what matters :)
Sour Lemon
5,016 Posts
Words don't do much for me. When I'm irritated, I'm either going for a punch to the face or just getting on with my day.