What do you say when pts ask your opinion of docs??

Specialties Ob/Gyn

Published

So we all work with doctors that i'm sure we have questioned their judgement from time to time. And we all probably work with that doctor that we would never have as a doctor for ourselves. So what do you say when the patients ask your opinion of the docs?

Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

I say that is a very personal matter and everyone's needs differ. I try to be as unbiased as possible. Also, be careful about body language. That may tell a lot too.

If it's my personal friend or family member asking and I have something less than wonderful to say, I'll be straight with them.

If it's not, I just say that I really am not quite sure what to say. I might say that, for such and such a field of Medicine, I have heard lots of good things about Dr. So and So. I NEVER, NEVER, EVER say anything negative about anyone, including docs. It is bound to come back to cause me no end of grief if I do. It's like giving any nursing advice to anyone. It will get misinterpreted, it will be ignored, it will be misconstrued, it can destroy you. Close family - yes, I'm straight with them.

There are ways to say things without saying them, of course.

Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Even as an APN, I always tell my patients they have a right to a second opinion and they should call the nurse triage line of the hospital that they use and see about another practice.

Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

If I like the doc, I say so. If I don't, I just say "I don't really know him that well because we haven't worked together very long" which is usually true if it's resident they're talking about.

Specializes in cardiac/critical care/ informatics.

If it is good I will sing praises. But negative, I just say I really dont know. I know of a nurse that was fired for saying something negative about a doc, it was true, but didn't matter. It is called slander and you could be sued. Of course she actually gave the patient info in writing. ooppsss

" lots of people like her/him" which is usually a true statement.

Specializes in Only the O.R. and proud of it!.

I must agree with all the above statements!! I've done them all! Sometimes I also tell a person that it would be unprofessional of me to judge and/or recommend one doc over another.

I must repeat the above statement by TRAUMA. A second opinion is always the right of a patient, especially if they have a gut feeling about themselves.

Specializes in Med/Surg.

If I love them I tell them so, if not I say "Lots of people really seem to like him/her." Of course, my family knows my true feelings about most of them; including the ones that the mere mention of letting them operate on me would be enough to bring me out of a coma!

Like them, I'll sing their praises. Don't like them, my usual line is something like, "We have a lot of really great doctors at this hospital, we're really lucky."

Specializes in CVICU, MICU, CCRN-CSC.
I must agree with all the above statements!! I've done them all! Sometimes I also tell a person that it would be unprofessional of me to judge and/or recommend one doc over another.

I must repeat the above statement by TRAUMA. A second opinion is always the right of a patient, especially if they have a gut feeling about themselves.

I will sometimes say, "my MD is so and so and that's who my mother uses also." Usually, who the nurses in a hospital go to is very telling. There are a select few that "most" of the nurses I work with go to. If I will send my mom to him, I trust him. Period. But I would never say anything negative about a doc. Just a "I don't know him that well, I really could not tell you"

Our hospitalists are IDIOTS:angryfire :angryfire . And even as many times as I want to say...Run run run...get a second opinion!!! I stay very neutral. I have followed the chain of command when I felt an order was harmful to a patient and I had no intention of doing it. But, the family/patient would never know. I do try to encourage these docs to bring in a specialist. Hopefully, our Pulmonary/Critical Care docs, who we then call for our needs.

Specializes in ortho/neuro/general surgery.

I had a distant family friend ask me what I thought of a particular doc, who happened to be the primary doc of her husband who had just passed away. She started telling me how she didn't think he had done enough or X would still be alive. :uhoh3: :trout:

Can you see the deer in the headlights look? I was thinking "Oh, feces", why is she doing this? :uhoh3: I do come across this doc frequently and do like him, so I told her something to the effect of that he's always nice when I call him in the middle of the night, which I have to do a lot, then I quick got busy with my hyper 7 year old who was busy destroying things (kids provide a great 'out' sometimes, don't they?)

+ Add a Comment