Do doctors have any idea what we nurses do? lol

[missladyrn]

As a pregnant nurse, the 12 hour shift is taking its toll on my body. My doctor looked at me with a straight face and said "can't you just put your feet up for 30 minutes every 3 hours or so?" Um, you have been to the hospital before right? I barely have time to pee never mind having a leisurely sit with my feet up every few hours. Kind of makes me wonder what they THINK we do at work. Just got a good laugh out of that, though you all might enjoy it as well!

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

I don't think most physicians understand the nursing workflow, just like most nurses don't understand the physician workflow.

I do think most physicians appreciate the patient-asssessment and triage capabilities of nurses.

I do agree with that statement. I feel that is especially true in my current role as a home health nurse... My relationship with MDs feels much different now than it did when I worked in the hospital. I am the eyes and ears in the community.

For example- one of my patients is on service because there is concern of family non-compliance with his care plan. His caregivers appear to have some cognitive limitations and require very concrete instructions. The patient is fed exclusively through a G-tube. He used to be on overnight feeds of 500 mL and due to slow weight gain, the volume was increased to 600 mL. Despite the increase in feeds, he still was not gaining weight. One morning, I got to his house before his morning bolus feed was started and was able to review the settings on the pump... the family had stopped the overnight feed and believed that it was "done" because the bag had run dry but when I checked the volume, I found that the patient had only received something like 490 mL. The formula cans are 240 mL each and the family did not realize that to give 600 mL, they had to put more than 2 cans in the bag. I am in frequent contact with this patient's physician and when I discussed this with her, she said "I never would have thought to ask that!"

[AWanderingMinstral]

To the first bolded, maybe him asking these kinds of questions is his way of making you feel included...

I see so many posts from nurses who complain that the physicians don't take them seriously or couldn't care less about what they say. Maybe your hospital phyicians do care. Just a thought.

For the second bolded, I'm curious what he rambled on and on about...was he explaining his concern over the order? If so he may have felt it was a learning experience for you, and thought you were worth the time to educate.

Of course he could just be bitter, I have no idea. But then again, maybe he isn't.

Anything is possible. The reality is that I'm neither interested in nor do I care about the adverse effects of intravenous vitamin K (not enough to memorize them when I can look them up). I provided the doctor with the probable reason why the patient was receiving it. If it was a matter of administering something else or nothing at all, well, that's between him and the $1 million-earning orthopedic surgeon. I earned a diploma RN, a BSN, and a master's degree in infectious diseases and microbiology. I'm quite capable of attending medical school, but I enjoy having a life.

[nervousnurse, ASN]

No. they. do. not.

......and, sorry you are having a hard time with the twelves----

I cannot IMAGINE how hard running for 12 hours would

be while pregnant....((( hugs ))) to you!

"eatmysox"....WOW! That is awesome!!! I have NEVER seen a doctor willing to help like that! I used to work with a nurse practitioner, who LOVED to come out of a room and tell us "ummm......your patient just had a CODE BROWN" and sneer. I felt like they LOVED to tell us that, as if to imply "back when I was a lowly FLOOR nurse like YOU, I would've had to clean them, but now I don't HAVE to!".... (and yes, I realize that's MY interpretation of their sneer and maybe they weren't thinking that at all.....LOL!)