I made a doctor mad at me.

[arelle68]

I'm a new nurse. I had a resident tonight who I assessed to have swollen, red eyes with red, angry sclera. There was yellow material matted around them. (Really bad, ok, with an eye swollen half shut) She was scratching at them, and said that they itched. (This lady is gone with Alzheimer's, BTW). I called the doctor to get her an ABO. He get really mad at me. He asked to speak to my manager, who wasn't there. He said that this was not an emergency, and I should learn to triage so as not to interupt his weekend. I asked him to spell the name of the medicine for me, but he did it so fast, I couldn't follow him. I read back to verify the rest of his order, and then asked him to spell the name of the medicine again. Just then, wouldn't you know, an alarm started going off, and I couldn't hear him for anything. I apoligized to him, and explained that I was new, and finally got the order. He talked to me like he thought I was really stupid.

I'm not upset about it. I was doing the best I could for my rsdt. At least I got her an ABO, even if I had to take abuse to get it. I'm glad I got it. I didn't even cry about being chewed out.

[rachelgeorgina]

Is the residents health and comfort more important than the doctor's undisturbed weekend? I don't think so. I would have, politely, told him to go shove it.

[RNperdiem, RN]

If you had not called about a legitimate problem, then you would have been yelled at for not informing the doctor about a change in patient condition.

The oncoming nurse would have been unhappy with a real problem unaddressed which is now her problem.

I am glad you are not upset. You were a patient advocate for a helpless patient, and you got the treatment she needed.

The doctor's irritation is his own problem, and he will get over it.

[nyteshade, BSN]

Honey, this won't be the last time...

You know what needed to be done, and got the job done...that's it! Screw his golf weekends!

[libbyjeanne]

You did the right thing....Your a good, prudent nurse and your residents are lucky to have you. :)

[SweetLemon]

You did not MAKE the doctor become mad at you, the doctor all on their own CHOOSE to be. You did what you thought was best for your patient and that's what makes you a good nurse, the rest is out of your hands. They may feel like you need to learn to triage better but they may need to instead come up with a better system for their patients on the weekends (Hire a PA/NP to deal with the calls on the weekend if you can't be disturbed). Good for you for not being rattled by it, sometimes its hard even when we know we made the right choice not to feel a bit shaken when we get some attitude from the doc but sounds like your taking it well.

[David13, MSN, RN]

When you reported the eye infection, you were targeted for "disturbing" the all-important physician. Had you not informed the doctor, you would have been in trouble for not reporting a change in condition. It is a typical nurse-in-the-middle, lose-lose situation.

I truly hope that you bring this physician's behavior to the attention of management. If you have a good manager, he or she will support your actions and address this doctor's lack of professionalism.

Thank you for making the well-being of your patient your primary objective.

[bill4745, RN]

You were right to call the doctor for this. And I'm glad you didn't let it get you down.

[casper1]

You did the right thing. It only took a few minutes out of the Doctors weekend to give you the order. Should the patient suffer all evening. That Doctor was obviously the one on call. If he didn't want to be bothered he should found someone else to take his calls. Nurses should not be abused because we are looking out for the welfare of the patients.

[Tait, MSN, RN]

Report the a$%...

You get the point.

Tait

[Lacie, BSN, RN]

I recently had to call the doc for a K level of 6.2!! Of course I was working in chronic dialysis and he hit the roof stating "these are dialysis patients, they can live with high K". I further informed him in response, "I would be negligent in not notifying you Doctor ***, therefore do you have any new orders?" When he said no I just stated "thank you" and hung up. I then informed the supervisor and documented well. These type responses from docs will happen all through your career so dont let it offend you as he was the one being neglectful! Good for you for sticking up for your patient and being the advocate we are meant to be :)

[StNeotser, ASN, RN]

As others have posted, this won't be the last time, but if we as nurses report each incident like this, hopefully they will become fewer and far between.