Funny doctor orders

Nurses Humor

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I worked at a teaching hospital for about a year. I really enjoyed closely interacting with the interns, residents and staff physicians. Many times hilarious orders were written by the newbies. One of my personal favorites was from an intern who only wrote "Vicodin" and that was it. No route, dosage, frequency, etc. Haha! We also had a doctor write "b4" in the chart. We assumed they meant "before." I guess they forgot that this wasn't text messaging. Lol! We also had an older doctor who would write things like, "please call help desk to get the printer fixed." Yes, in the chart. Good times. Please share any of your funny stories from charts!

Specializes in Cadiothoracic, psychiatric.
Had an order that said "4 mg. prn" the Dr. signed. Had another one nobody could read. I chased him into the parking lot with the chart and asked him what it said. He said, "How would I know? I can't read it." Have had quite a few that say "change wound drsg. daily" but the pt. has 6 wounds and they never say which one. The worst was one that said DNR. So we put a band on the patient and made her a no code. Three days later he came back from vacation and asked how the pt. was doing with the drug neb Rxs he ordered. That's what his "DNR" meant. Great.

wow... the DNR thing is pretty crazy. not really funny because what if there had been a code situation!!!

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Specializes in ER, ICU.
So, I'm guessing that TO=throughout, and LE=lower extremity, but what is WC?

Sorry I don't have any of my own to post.

Water closet? (toilet)

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Specializes in ICU/CCU.

We had a doc from another hospital write a note in which he referenced one of our doctors. The note was typed, and he consistently misspelled the name of our doctor as "McNasty." We had a great time imagining what sort of "Grey's Anatomy" character that would be.

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Specializes in Cadiothoracic, psychiatric.
We had a doc from another hospital write a note in which he referenced one of our doctors. The note was typed, and he consistently misspelled the name of our doctor as "McNasty." We had a great time imagining what sort of "Grey's Anatomy" character that would be.

What was the note for? That's pretty funny!! Dr. McNasty!!;)

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Specializes in Cadiothoracic, psychiatric.
Hilarious! :lol2:

Did you bring it to his attention? What did he say?

This is to reply to the "b4" comment.

The order was not for my patient so I'm not sure what went down after that. lol

Another funny one I had was when an intern printed up the discharge orders but did not formally write "d/c home" in the chart. I called the doctor on it and he said, "I have to do that?" I had to laugh out loud! Needless to say I took a telephone order for that. :)

Another one: I had a patient who was terribly nauseated. I kept hounding this same intern about getting some Zofran or anything! He finally said, "I'm just an intern! Whatever orders I give you, they are just going to change!!!" I was like sheesh! It's just Zofran!!!!! :uhoh3:

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Specializes in Peds, PACU, ICU, ER, OB, MED-Surg,.

Had a kid that consistently failed room air trials and could not get weaned from 02. Doctor wrote "Give next dose of prednisone to oximetry machine, as child is pink and without s/s of distress."

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had an order that said "4 mg. prn" the dr. signed. had another one nobody could read. i chased him into the parking lot with the chart and asked him what it said. he said, "how would i know? i can't read it." have had quite a few that say "change wound drsg. daily" but the pt. has 6 wounds and they never say which one. the worst was one that said dnr. so we put a band on the patient and made her a no code. three days later he came back from vacation and asked how the pt. was doing with the drug neb rxs he ordered. that's what his "dnr" meant. great.

:yeah::lol2::yeah::lol2::yeah::lol2::yeah:

that one had me cracking up. did he say that with a straight face?

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Specializes in Surgical, quality,management.

I had a grad come to me the other day and ask me do you think there is something wrong with this drug chart?

Clexanne 40mg TDS s/c and Flagal 500mg IV OD! Gack!

I knew the trauma resident who had wrote it and sent him a text page saying serious drug error!! He rang back to the GN and apologised and said "you know what I meant." Uh she did and I did but not everyone is on the ball.

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Specializes in CVICU, ED.
I have'nt seen any funny ones (bc there actually pretty sad) but I hate when a dr writes "WC TO LE" like.. can you be more specific please?

wound care to lower extremities?? Maybe?

One of the funniest things I have seen was by a unit secretary. At one of my first clinical rotations, I was sitting around with my classmates and instructor doing our "day before" patient information gathering when one of my classmates asked the instructor what her patient had been admitted for. The diagnosis: seeopeade. Say it out loud. Serious. Once we finally figuered out what it was, we all busted up laughing. COPD!! I hope she was still in training.

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Specializes in CVICU, ED.
I don't have any funny ones.

I do remember a Dr who was very upset with a nurse who did not give a med the Dr did NOT write an order for. He put it in his progress note but forgot to write an order. He let every nurse at the nurses station know that no matter where he wrote an order we had to find it and follow it. He said if he wrote it on the wall in the men's bathroom that we had to find it and follow it. So that day he carried a roll of toilet paper and wrote all his orders on toilet paper and placed them in the front of the chart. The nurse manager brought the Chief in to take a look, the Chief re-wrote all the orders while steam poured from his ears. What I would have given to be a fly on the wall and heard the discussion between the Chief and that Dr. That Dr. never repeated that behavior.

I like to think I would have said: "Oh, thanks for the tissue." Then use it to blow my nose!

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.
Clexanne 40mg TDS s/c and Flagal 500mg IV OD! Gack!

Translation?

The only thing I understand from that is Flagyl (maybe?).

Gack! totally has me cracking up, though.

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Specializes in PACU, CARDIAC ICU, TRAUMA, SICU, LTC.

"Please feed and water patient stat!"

This was an order written by an intern after he made rounds on a little old man who was constantly yelling "I'm hungry!"

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