What doctors do that bugs you...

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

1. in our nursery, the charge nurse assists the pedi while rounding. there's this one pedi who will ask questions about a baby (was mom's gbs neg., etc.) as she is looking through his/her chart.

'uh....well....um... you've got the chart.'

i actually said this to her once. she said, in a somewhat irritated voice 'that's ok, i can look it up', i replied 'i don't mind looking it up, but you've got the chart.' :banghead:

2. obs who manhandle women's bottoms and then get mad at them when they aren't effective at pushing their babies out. you know, it's not just about pushing well, it's about being able to relax the muscles in your bottom at the same time. the woman relaxes in between, then as soon as another contraction comes, he begins poking, prodding and pulling - you can watch her tense and pull away from him, all the while trying her best to push, poor woman. i just want to shove him out of the way and apply a warm compress instead - way more effective. how about working with her body instead of against her.

is it just me, or does it seem like everything is going great, and then (some) obs gets there and mess it all up?

3. ob's who induce/section for no medical reason. :angryfire

4. obs who complain about the apgar scores. :nono:

(this especially bugs me when they fuss out loud to everyone in the room. just give the family a heads-up to sue why don't ya! :banghead: )

you want to give 'em, doc? then you sign your name to them!

5. doctors who are so macho that they will do the opposite of what a nurse suggests just because they can - regardless of what is best for the patient.

some of us get wise to this and use reverse psychology to get what we want. :rotfl:

Specializes in L&D,Wound Care, SNC.

Doc's that just cut you off midsentence when you are trying to talk to them. It is so rude!

Residents who use the reason I was making rounds to not return a page. We don't page you for fun.

Specializes in L&D, Postpartum/nursery, high risk antep.

After reading just one page of all of these nightmare docs, I'm wondering... isn't it the role of the nurse to act as patient advocate? Why were these terrible practices allowed to occur without question? Why is it that we can complain to each other at the desk afterward or go to our director/manager to deal with it? These crabby "God complex" doctors need to be dealt with directly and immediatly by the nurse present at the time! We, as nurses, are just as responsible for outcomes as the doctors are, we need to speak up and defend our patients from what could be considered battery. Failure to act or failure to initiate chain of command are also reasons for lawsuits...

In my unit, we have a code word to get the doctor out into the hallway, immediatly, to let him know we disagree with his decisions... it is "Doctor, I need you to come look at the red monitor!" This is his cue that something isn't right, sometimes it's all it takes for him to realize he's over the edge! Doctors are just people, like the rest of us, and DO make mistakes, some more often than others. If we present ourselves to them as educated, intelligent professionals, deserving of respect, they WILL listen if we provide evidence based arguements. If they don't, you need to institue chain of command to try to prevent these terrible outcomes for these poor women who don't know what's appropriate and what's not. They look to us to take GOOD care of them and assist is decision making that gets them to the best possible outcome.

IF we treat these doctors like the end all and be all of OB care, they will act that way. DON'T give them that amount of power! We are not doormats, we are not slaves, we are nurses... hold your head high and do what's right, do what you wanted to do the day you decided to become a nurse!!:pumpiron: Then leave at the end of your shift knowing you really made a difference!

(Wow, kind of got on my soapbox there...)

Specializes in EMS, ortho/post-op.
I've been wondering how midwives are compared with MD's. Many nurses on my unit are pregnant and go to an OB group that has a midwife on staff. None of them want to see her or have her deliver their babies. I don't think it's anything personal, but they all feel more comfortable with the MD's. I think it would be great. Would you, or have you, had a midwife previously? Just curious.

I used a midwife with both of my pregnancies and I would prefer to always use a midwife for both maternity and well-woman care. If I couldn't see a midwife (they are so rare in my area!), I would prefer a female doctor who had a philosophy similar to my own. If my choices were a female doctor who had a rather negative attitude towards natural birth or a male doctor who was willing to listen to me, I'd go with the male doctor. Really it boils down to the doc's attitude and how quick he/she wants to do a c-section. The OB at the practice I went to with my son asked me "when are you going to let me interfere?" at 36 weeks! I went to the 38 week appt and never went back. Scary. My son was delivered by the midwife on call and she was great. I gave birth in a semi-squatting position, leaning over the bed. I don't think many OBs would go for that! LOL

CG

Specializes in midwifery, gen surgical, community.

Just qualified docs who palpate a 36 week pregnant woman and say cephalic presentation. When palped by midwife (many years qualified) who disagrees with his finding young doc makes fun of midwife in front of patient.

Midwife only has one recourse - gets consultant in who agrees with her palp, mum is a breech.

Don't worry girls and boys, midwife got young doc in the coffee room. He won't be speaking to her like that ever again.

Don't know if this happens at other places.....

Docs that sleep in the chair in the corner of the room waiting while mom pushes. We had one doc that did this all the time. Frequently the nurse delivered the baby with him in the room or he did without gloves on. One time I had a multip cytotec induction go complete. Doc was 30 min out, had mom on her side coaching her not to push while waiting for doc. Doc comes in, sits his fat a$$ down in the corner of room and asks me to set her up. I said "no, not til you get your gloves on", cause I knew the baby was like +3-4 station. Doc did as he was told, scooted his chair over between patients legs so he could sit his lazy a$$ down during the delivery. Told mom to push and WOOPS.... DIARRHEA ALL OVER THE PLACE!!! Including his lap.:rotfl: I was trying so hard not to laugh out loud. It wasn't something that could have been helped but it was kind of sweet revenge cause none of us are fans of that doc.:yeah:

Specializes in L&D,- Mother/Baby.

We have a couple of docs. that practice 9-5 OB. When they come in and check a patient mid-day, they over state dilataion by 2-3 cm. When they come back after their office is closed and recheck, the patient is really just now what they said they were several hours ago. This way, they can say they haven't changed, thus the CS. The nurses have been rechecking the patient and charting the 'correct' cm after the doc. does his check. (Does this make sense?)

Hello all - we have a doctor here that walks into a room to see the patient (never without a nurse to follow behind him) and if the tv is on, he will stop what he is doing and watch the tv for a few minutes!! How embarassing for the nurses to just be expected to stand there! I have gotten to the point that I now turn the tv off as soon as I get into the room so as to avoid this!

I work in a small southern minnesota hospital (42 beds) and the doctors here expect us to baby sit them all the time! I get so sick of it!

We have a couple of docs. that practice 9-5 OB. When they come in and check a patient mid-day, they over state dilataion by 2-3 cm. When they come back after their office is closed and recheck, the patient is really just now what they said they were several hours ago. This way, they can say they haven't changed, thus the CS. The nurses have been rechecking the patient and charting the 'correct' cm after the doc. does his check. (Does this make sense?)

OOOOHHHHHHHhhhhh, How does that turn out?? I admit i've been suspicious of one of my clients docs doing this...

Specializes in NA, Stepdown, L&D, Trauma ICU, ER.
i find that the powers that be will hardly do anything to offend a doc. we need them because we need their patients. (at least in the smaller hospitals)

i can understand that at little hospitals, but mine is huge and my unit manager still won't confront a doc who continues to leave sharps out on the delivery tables in rooms with the nurses who haven't yet learned to ask him about it

Not so much what they say, but what they do....

1. Have a MD who insists anyone under 5ft 3 can't deliver lady partslly. must be a c/s, without the benefit of a trial of labor (needless to say, his c/s rate is about 75%).

2. If MD calls to send in induction, but there's no room at the end, magically this patient has all kinds of problems (PIH w/ a blood pressure of 100/60)

or macrosomia (would 1 more day in utero be that much of a weight gain?).

3. MD's who want us to crank the Pit up faster than q15minutes. After all, they are in house, doesn't that baby know it?

Sometimes, I think they forget the basics of labor. Babies come when it's there time. We can try to prevent it or encourage it, but they come when they want to.

Cardinal Rule: Never trust a pregnant woman.

The list would be long.........but just a few things. Scheduling inductions because the mom is tired, can't sleep, uncomfortable, etc. etc. even tho she is only 37 weeks. Caving in to C-section demands of patients ( primips ) One doc even wrote on a chart........"to preserve the integrity of the perineum, as seen on the Today show " !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One doc plunges her hand in the lady parts with the same drippy, goopy glove for hours for EVERY CONTRACTION. She is unable to determine station......given her section rate for failure to descend, she can't determine the presentation of the baby given her section rate for breeches after the OB is called in to evaluate, she can't determine if the baby is OP, so we know she is not feeling for fontaneles or sutures etc. It is nauseating and frustrating and no one ever has done this so none of us nurses know what to do about it. I casually ask her if the patient is making progress pushing and I get an answer in the most annoying sing-songy voice " there's a baby in there " I really want to ask her just why she plunges her hand in there........she is not massaging the perineum, not facilitating delivery, and not gathering info. It makes me want to puke !!!!!!!!!!!!!! HELP !!!!!!!!!!!

Specializes in L&D,Wound Care, SNC.

2. If MD calls to send in induction, but there's no room at the end, magically this patient has all kinds of problems (PIH w/ a blood pressure of 100/60)

or macrosomia (would 1 more day in utero be that much of a weight gain?).

3. MD's who want us to crank the Pit up faster than q15minutes. After all, they are in house, doesn't that baby know it?

Ahh, the "sneak in" inductions. Our doc's play that way too. We had one doc go so far as to say that we have a conspiracy against him that his induction patients are the only ones called to stay home when we need to have our beds for laboring patients! :idea:

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