what do nurses hate about doctors?

Morettia2, BSN, RN · Jul 30, 2008

There are some new tele residents that started at my hosp. a few weeks ago. The majority of them would be lost with out us nurses, they have the deer in headlights look when they come to eval. a pt. you called them about, and when you are at their side it's like you are their support system, they ask questions and your opinion ect...

BUT some months ago, before the new tele residents that just started a few weeks ago, there is one new tele resident that was a witch, you paged her, she gave you a bunch of guff on the phone, and huff and puffs, and eventually came to eval. the pt. ONLY for her to bark orders at us, talk to us like we are "Stupid", which I heard her say to another resident one night, and when you ask her relevent questions she get's MAD, she's rude and very mean to us nurses.

I am 27 y.o., and she is maybe 28 y.o. and acts like she is above us. When I ask questions about her orders, general questions, she freaks out....she even went to the extent of saying one night, "what the (bleep) do nurses do anyway, and why would a NURSE question me and my orders, they don't have the same education as MD's, so what right do they have to question me?" YEAA obviously she already has the GOD complex and she was brand new, and a resident at the time.

I was ready to unleash the RN wrath on her b/c she was evaluating my pt. when she said this, BUT I calmly said, "Listen, I know you are a new resident, and may be unfamiliar with what nurses ACTUALLY DO, but we are here to provide care for the pt's ,act as a pt. advocate, carry out you(THE MD'S) orders, and if we feel something isn't right with the pt. we call you b/c we spend our time with the pt. providing care and we notice if something just isn't quite right with the pt. b/c of the amt. of time we spend providing care for the pt., and if we feel there is something in your doctors orders that we need to clarify or question we call you b/c we have the right to question an order if we feel there is a problem. ALSO, the nurses you deal with on a regular basis can save your butt in a code or times when you need them the most. Always remember as a new MD, treat the nurses taking care of your pt's with respect, diginity, and recriprocate ideas with the nurse, do not bark orders at us like we are sub-servant goffer getters that are uneducated. Nurses are very educated, just ask us questions, you may find that we know alot more then you think. If you treat us with the same diginity we treat you, you will notice things get done faster and there is no hostility. ALSO remember, you, yourself, may be a pt. one day and end up on a floor where you are/were an MD, and if you have a nurse that you belittled in the past, the nurse WILL remember and believe me that's not a good thing. I have heard it happen and I have SEEN it happen. So just as a future refrence, us nurses do not respond well to the, I am a new MD with a GOD complex and think nurses are worthless. We are worth more than you realize, we are here for your pt. to provide the care the pt. needs inorder to heal and believe it or not we are here for ,you, the MD. Another thing nurses can be your best friend or your worst enemy. So that little statement I heard you say to the other MD about nurses, you may want to rethink your opinion about nurses."

The resident stood there with her mouth wide open, and apologized to me and a few other nurses that overheard what she said. Her opinion changed that moment. In fact, I have told this story so manytimes to new residents b/c that same tele resident made me tell it to the new tele residents a few weeks ago. She said, "I never realized what the nurses did for the pt's and MD's. And if it wasn;t for Ang telling me this as I was a brand new resident, I would have heard it down the line from someone else. But I am greatful she caught me before I made a big mistake, making nurse enemies b/c of my ignorance. I DO appreciate everything nurses do, they are our foundation, and take my advice always ask your nurse and treat them with respect, most likely they know a heck of alot more about the pt. than you do."

This MD and I are now friends..but my god was she a total wench when she first started. I am just glad I got the chance to nip her in the bud before she turned out to be one of the mean MD's that think nurses are glorified bed makers.....

ok can you say rant.....

alfa-sierra, BSN, RN · Jul 30, 2008

very interesting

Roy Fokker, BSN, RN · Jul 30, 2008

do not renege on verbal orders! not only will i remember - the two other nurses who were within ear shot will also remember.

and the next time, no-one and i mean no-one; including the fresh as a pup new orientee on the unit - will take verbal orders from you.

this isn't because we are mean spirited and love to make your life miserable - it simply means we don't trust you anymore and are therefore unwilling to risk our patients health and our licenses just because you have a complex.

cheers,

kermitlady · Apr 25, 2009

Thought all of you would find this thread interesting:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=542853&highlight=nurses

It's from a student doctor message board and it's all about THIS thread! I got a great laugh out of it! I also found it amusing that they were trolling the nursing boards.

(BTW, sorry if someone else has already posted a link to this.)

LilPeonNo1 · Apr 25, 2009

ATTITUDE, they all seem to have it.

I used to hate having to call a doctor to get orders on patient, especially when I worked nights (they can be sooooo rude!). But older is sometimes wiser, and now I don't care if I interrupt their dinner, their sleep, or whatever else they might be doing at the time. My philosophy now is; That's why they get the big bucks. And, if you didn't want to take care of your patient's you shouldn't have gone to med school!

Dani3176 · Apr 25, 2009

Prevention is the best medicine. If you always remember to appreciate your nurses you won't have to worry about all the things that we gripe about. Nurses are the ones who are there on a day to day basis with patients, we get to really know them and sometimes because of this they are more comfortable telling us what is going on. They also know that we have more time (not much but a good nurse makes time somehow) for them. Since we get to know them so well especially in long term settings we notice more things that could be wrong than a doctor who just pops in for a few minutes to check in on them. Remember if it wasn't for us you wouldn't have all that great information to even know what to start treating! Appreciate nurses because we're the ones that have to clean up wonderful body products that most doctors don't have to even mess with! I'll get off my soap box now...lol.

Scrubby · Apr 25, 2009

I get along with a lot of doctors and surgeons at my work, especially the younger ones as they don't seem to have the same holier than thou attitude like the old school docs (no offence but in the past this sort of attitude was actively encouraged). In fact, we even joke about the stupidity of the old hierarchy system. They know I don't pander to them and I actively encourage new nurses and student not to either. You do get some who come in all arrogant but it doesn't last long.

One of the things I notice the most in my speciality area about SOME doctors is that they get so focused on the operation that they tend to forget the bigger picture. Here/s my little list of things I hate:

So many of them don't seem to understand the basics of asepsis. Where I work they are often the culprit of contaminating themselves or my sterile field. And not wearing masks when it is hospital policy.
Talking loudly when the patient is being put to sleep, often about other surgeries and other patients. I often have to tell them to shut it up.
Walking out of the room when we have to transfer patients and I have to chase them down for help. This is not just a nursing duty, everyone is expected to help with this, and it's your patient too.
Walking into the tea room with blood and gore all over your shoes. It's an eating area, you want to be a dirty pig? then go eat in the toilets.
Hogging the telephone. Yes your a busy person and so many people need you. But we're waiting for a call from pathology to determine what type of surgery this patient will have. While your on the phone, nobody else can get through and your delaying the surgery. So pretty please with cherries on top, hang up the ********* phone.
Here's the one thing I hate the most. Patient is put to sleep, surgeon rips off the blankets, prods and pokes the abdomen, and then walks out of the room to wash their hands leaving the patient unnecessarily exposed. Not only is this treating the patient with disrespect but it also contributes to hypothermia. Is it so hard to put the blanket back over the patient? You took those blankets off, why should nursing staff have to do it? The blanket is always thrown on the floor, it's against our infection control policy to use it again anyway. GRRRRRRR!!!

Anyway that's my little rant over with.

lamazeteacher · Apr 26, 2009

do not renege on verbal orders! not only will i remember - the two other nurses who were within ear shot will also remember.
and the next time, no-one and i mean no-one; including the fresh as a pup new orientee on the unit - will take verbal orders from you.
this isn't because we are mean spirited and love to make your life miserable - it simply means we don't trust you anymore and are therefore unwilling to risk our patients health and our licenses just because you have a complex.
cheers,

it is essential that all members of the healthcare team trust each other, and that includes the patients. lying to patients is a crime! we no longer withold the facts of their condition (like "you have cancer") from patients, and the results of lab tests should be included here. i was in a hospital as a patient until yesterday, and was discharged after having 2 transfusions for a gi bleed of unknown origin. my latest h&h of 9.3 and 26.7, isn't alarming, except that they were steadily heading downward. (i went into the nurses' station and took a gander at my chart in the wee hours, between q4h h&hs).

also, when patients come into hospital with their own meds (for your enlightenment), and the hospital pharmacy hasn't the medications that have worked well after trying all the other similar kinds, it would be nice to let that patient take the effective med they have, rather than substituting another, despite their protests. instead, the nurse was enlisted to plead the cause of the proven ineffective med, and said that if i took my own med, she'd lose her license! then i was told that since it was almost 5 am, i couldn't take my med, as that would mean that 2 doses would be given in a 24 hour period. :coollook:

in the morning, the hospitalist looked me right in the eyes and said, "your tests are much better, so you can go home and see your doctor in 2 weeks. and by the way, your k is low. do you want nasty liquid or a big capsule?"

i responded that a big capsule was acceptable, and he forgot to make the rx available at discharge. yes, i forgot to ask for it - but then i was fighting panic about the lie and my condition. then he said, "you should have gotten a bleeding scan done while you were bleeding (i wasn't now?), but since it stopped, that would be useless now........" so now lies were compounded with an admission of incompetence of the (other physician)

admitting hospitalist. i was told that "next time this happens, tell the admitting hospitalist to order a bleeding scan right away......." :idea:

leaving a gaping hole in treatment/diagnosis doesn't exactly engender confidence! next time i'll be miles from that hospital.

diane227, LPN, RN · Apr 26, 2009

The doctors that I don't like are the ones who don't seem to care and the ones that are totally incompetent at their jobs. I could care less when they act like *******. I can deal with that but when they are too stupid to take proper care of a patient, that is when I get angry and have to keep up with things to keep them from killing a patient.

allnurses Guide · Apr 26, 2009

Here's the one thing I hate the most. Patient is put to sleep, surgeon rips off the blankets, prods and pokes the abdomen, and then walks out of the room to wash their hands leaving the patient unnecessarily exposed. Not only is this treating the patient with disrespect but it also contributes to hypothermia. Is it so hard to put the blanket back over the patient? You took those blankets off, why should nursing staff have to do it? The blanket is always thrown on the floor, it's against our infection control policy to use it again anyway. GRRRRRRR!!!

Your docs actually wash their hands after poking someone's wound and before poking the next patient? Wow.

My pet peeve is that many doctors so RARELY wash their hands (or even sanitize) between patients, and then they have the nerve to get cranky at me if I remind them. Um, sorry, infection control is more important than your fragile ego. Plus, ew!

lamazeteacher · Apr 26, 2009

Having unrealistically short office hours, and signing out to hospitalists who are unknown to the patient or his/her condition!

RN1982 · Apr 26, 2009

My pet peeve is docs who come to write orders in the middle of the night and don't see the patient. We had a septic patient last week who was overflowed from the MICU. The patient's BP was low and required multiple fluid boluses, was on levophed but it was barely helping. They wouldn't come see the patient because they were busy but they came in the middle of the night to write orders but still didn't see the patient.