doctab

Right strategy ... wrong tactics. Nurses and doctors are a team. Particularly in the emergency department, this team works under stressful conditions where mutual trust and respect are critical. The reader should consider ... how would an article sound if the title was "Confronting Nurses With Wrong Plans?" Crew resource management is a process where everyone on the team is empowered to speak up if a potential hazard is observed. Anyone -- doctors, nurses or techs -- can call a time out if something seems amiss. The focus needs to be on the action that is possibly incorrect -- not on the superiority of one career field over another that was suggested by the comment, "Be kind to nurses. We keep doctors from accidentally killing you." We can all make mistakes, and we all should be watching out for and supporting each other.

Disclaimer -- I'm not a nurse. I have 33 years experience as a paramedic and an Emergency Physician. I, like a lot of my nursing colleagues, have seen hundreds of dreadful things during my career. From time to time throughout my career I have had intrusive thoughts -- where I just keep thinking about the distressing nature of a case even though I don't want to. What I always promised myself is that I would let intrusive thoughts last for a maximum of seven days. If I kept thinking about a case after 7 days, I promised myself that I would go and talk to a counselor about it. I don't know what the correct threshold is, but if you are still having intrusive thoughts after a week, you might want to think about visiting a counselor. It might save you a lot of grief or even your career.