Hello, all in allnurses.com universe. It's me again. I have a concern that I would like to share with you all and ask for your opinion.
At my new job, I am seeing a whole different culture of nursing that I have ever been used to. I work night shift in a rural hospital. And as we all know, there are times when calling the doctor is easier said than done. We have doctors that, when you page them, just won't call back. I understand that we don't need to bother the doctor for things that can wait until morning, but some things just can't wait. And I don't think it's right to be subjected to disrespect just for calling about our patients. As we all know, sometimes a patient can be fine all day and take a turn for the worst at night.
For instance, the other night, I had a pt. with a Foley cath. When I came on shift, this pt. was draining dark yellow, clear urine. About 2 hours into my shift, I noticed that the urine became bloody. Since this was something new, I called the doctor on call. First of all, he's obviousy not too thrilled about being on call. When I told him about the blood, which by the time he called me back, had increased with clots apparent, he said, "Well, you'll have blood with foley cath insertion." Then he proceeded to give me orders for labs to be drawn in the am. Well, I disagree, I've never had a patient bleed on me just due to the foley insertion itself. Of course, if it hasn't been inserted correctly (like in the neck of the bladder) or if it's been pulled down, THEN I can understand bleeding. But for the pt. to just start bleeding wasn't a good sign to me.
So, after I got that order, I continued to observe the pt. At first, it appeared that the urine was clearing of blood. Then after a couple of hours, I noticed that there had not been an increase in output at all. And I didn't see any urine draining in the tubing. So, this is when I start thinking that this pt. needed his catheter irrigated because it may be a clot blocking the urethra. The pt. started complaining of a burning sensation, but nothing like pressure and I didn't palpate any distention of the bladder at that time. So, I, again, page the doctor on call. Well this time, he didn't call me back. So, I paged him again. Still didn't get a call back. So, I contacted the house supervisor for assistance. Well, when I talked to her, she said, "Why do you need to contact him (the doctor) ?" I told her about the situation and she replied, "well, we can just write an order for irrigation, we don't have to bother him." I was like, "but we need an order for that" and she said, "well, I'll just tell him I told you to write it". Well, as you know, I didn't write that order on my own. So, when the smoke cleared, the patient was irrigated by the supervisor and he clot was cleared. He started draining urine again and lived happily ever after.
Okay, so this is where I am concerned. This is not the first time I've been told to write an order instead of calling the doctor. I've never heard of this and it makes me uneasy. Where I have worked the past, we had standing orders. I don't know why this facility has none. But since they don't have any, then I feel I should call the doctor for all orders. But they don't do this at this hospital. And there's more.
First of all, the supervisor letting the doctor get away with not calling back bothers me. Why do we have doctors if we can't call them when we are concerned about a patient? Why do they take call or even become doctors if they don't want to be bothered? Why not have standing orders for the simple stuff if you don't want to be bothered?
Secondly, I am very standoffish about writing orders without actually speaking to the doctor. I won't even write an order for Tylenol without talking to the doctor. This is because, #1, I'm not a physician. It's not in my scope of practice to write orders. #2, I am covering my behind. The first time something happens from me taking it upon myself to write an order, I know I'm going to be the one going down. But it seems like, in my facility, it is the norm for the nurses to write orders themselves. I understand that some of them are used to the doctors and feel that it's okay to do this. I just want to know if this is the norm in other facilities.? Do you all think I'm overreacting and being obssessive for not doing this? I mean, I understand not to call the doctor for every little non-urgent situation. But when I feel uneasy about something, you better believe I will call him in a heartbeat. Even if it means getting chewed out. What do you all think?
I just want to know if I'm doing something wrong by not going along with this practice? Comments and opinions will be greatly appreciated. I appreciate every post. I'm wanting to be a good nurse. I just would like to do the right thing, that's all. Thanks in advance for your replies.
