"You put me and my unborn child's life at risk"

[TigerGalLE, BSN, RN]

This is what a Dr. told me today..

When assessing my patient this AM I noticed that the patient had a scaly rash on his abdomen. The patient was admitted from the ER last night. I asked him when he developed the rash and he said it was about a week ago. When I came out into the nurse's station his MD was sitting there. I told the MD that I had noticed a rash on his abdomen and no one mentioned it in report so I wanted to make her aware.... She is a very rude doctor anyways and she just looked and me and didn't say anything.

About an hour later I heard her paging me over the intercom system to come to the nurses station. I went and asked her what she needed... (By the way she is pregnant)..... She said in a very snide voice... "You need to go back into that pt's room.... look at that rash... when you've figured out what it is you need to come back and report your findings to me." I said... Well I've already seen it, i'm not sure what it is... She repeated the exact same thing again... I just kind of stood there and looked at her.. she then said... "Well then, take another, more experienced nurse with you, when y'all can figure out what the rash is.. come back and report it to me."

I was very confused at this point but kind of started to get what she meant....... I got another nurse and we looked again.. The experienced nurse told me she was sure it was shingles.. So I went back and said.. "I guess it is shingles." She then said... "I want you to know... that you personally.. put me and my unborn child's life at risk.. You, as a nurse should be able to recognize shingles.. But since you didn't know what the rash was.. My life was put at risk."

I was completely floored..... I just said... "well I am a nurse and I don't diagnose people." And I walked away dumbfounded and angry.... I can't believe she said that to me.. and in front of everyone! Ohhh I was soooo mad and my DON was mad too. If she doesn't want to be put at risk she doesn't need to be a MD in the hospital and if she used standard precautions she's fine. AND she's lucky I even saw the rash.. otherwise I doubt she would of lifted up the pt's gown to look and she'd never of known!!!!!!!!!

Angry

Tiger

[mom2michael, MSN, RN, NP]

Wow.

What a rude......blank blank blank BLANK person (you can decide what you want to place in those blanks to best describe her).

I'm glad your DON stood up for you as well.

Geez, some people just amaze me more and more every day I work.

[Lovely_RN, MSN]

I can't blame you for being mad what a total B.

What did she expect you to do, she's the doctor.

[GingerSue]

no, you did not put her life at risk; it is her responsibility to diagnose.

[ohmeowzer RN, RN]

she sounds like a queen of blankety blank blank.. what nerve that dr has... it is her job to dx not yours.. i would of said the same thing to her...

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Shingles DOES NOT put either the physician or her unborn child at risk provided she uses universal precautions.

[nursingisworkRN]

Am I wrong to assume that when the pt md was rounding she should have seen the pt? If she hadn't yet, then you gave her a heads up. If so, then she was already exposed and probably should have done a better pt assessment the first time. Either way, she is the doctor and any risks she takes in her occupation are 100% her risk. So ugly it makes me shudder.

[TazziRN, RN]

No one knows what kind of rash a rash is without ever having seen the types before. If you've never seen shingles there is no reason to assume you would know a case when you see one, unless someone tells you it's shingles. Good grief, she needs to go back to school and take a class in "How to treat your nurses 1-A"

[TigerGalLE, BSN, RN]

Am I wrong to assume that when the pt md was rounding she should have seen the pt? If she hadn't yet, then you gave her a heads up. If so, then she was already exposed and probably should have done a better pt assessment the first time. Either way, she is the doctor and any risks she takes in her occupation are 100% her risk. So ugly it makes me shudder.

I agree 100%... I told her he had a rash that was on his abd... he is a r/o cancer pt who is immunocompromised.. HELLO???? some bells should of been ringing in her head... I honestly just forgot that she was pregnant.. and I wasn't 100% sure it was shingles. She is one of those people that you can't suggest things too.. it has to be HER idea or she doesn't even consider it.. So I wasn't going to go telling her what I thought it was!

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

Ooooh. Honey. She was absolutely 100% in the wrong. Kudos to you for insisting that she go see the patient. And if she was that worried about it, SHE could have found a non-pregnant colleague to see him instead of asking you do practice outside your scope. You did good!

[donsterRN, ASN, BSN]

What a nasty woman that doc is!

I would have been half tempted, after she said her life was at risk, to say something like, "Oh. Well, good luck with that!" and walked away. But that's my not-so-nice sarcasm coming through!

Really, though, it's her problem. She's the MD, she makes diagnosis, and if she doesn't know enough to take proper precautions, then she has only herself to blame. Don't let her belittle you.

[TigerGalLE, BSN, RN]

Oh I forgot to mention that the MD went into the pt's room after I told her he had a rash.. After seeing the rash and knowing it was shingles, she confronted me.