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

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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

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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.

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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!

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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."

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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.

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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?)

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