Worst doctors orders ever received

Specialties Emergency

Published

I have a two nursing degrees, going for a third and have a whole lotta common sense. When I see stupid or hear stupid orders I may or may not carry them out..here are my all time favorites:

1) Male patient with active lower GI bleed...HGB of 5...Hypotensive and tachycardic..has 2 large bore IVs running with NS wide open as fast as it will go...blood bank working as fast as possible to get me my units of PRBCs ASAP...BP barely 90 systolic.

Order from resident: "We need orthostatic vitals on this patient"

:smackingf

OMG! You're freakin kidding me! That cracks me up!!!!

"Holy crap! The patient keeps going into VT! I need a banana....STAT!... What do you mean the cafeteria is closed for the night! We have no choice! Get me a banana!"

:chuckle

:yeah:

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Specializes in Hospitalist.
:smackingf

OMG! You're freakin kidding me! That cracks me up!!!!

"Holy crap! The patient keeps going into VT! I need a banana....STAT!... What do you mean the cafeteria is closed for the night! We have no choice! Get me a banana!"

:chuckle

Better give him the whole freaking tree at that point. And we let these people reproduce...it's really frightening.

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Specializes in Hospitalist.

My all time favorite dumbest order ever written...We had this pt in ICU who had just expired when the doc walked in. As we were trying to explain to him what had just happened, this doc walks in, does his "assessment", compliments the pt on how cool his eyebrows look, and that he seems to be doing much better (this would be the dead guy). He proceeds to come up and write a whole bunch of orders including ABGs, US GB, etc. All the while, the nurses are trying to get a word in edgewise to this weirdo who is making grizzly bear and ambulances noises to tell him that the pt is dead! Finally, one of the other docs grabs him by the shoulders, and yells "Your patient is dead!". The doc looks up, says, "Well, I guess we don't need the ABGs then", leaves the rest of the orders as written, and takes off. Everyone just kind of stood there staring at the door after he left, unsure of what to do. He was the same doc who went into the dictation room when there were a bunch of student nurses standing in the nurses station. He let out this blood curdling scream, and then stepped out of the room and looked around trying to figure out who screamed. These poor kids were never right after that. We told them, "Don't worry. It's just Dr. So-and-So, and if you ever hear a bear behind you, don't worry. You're not going to get eaten. It's just him". True story, I swear!

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Pt came in with bs of 22. The scary one shouts out, amp of Dextrose IV..ok as Im about to push it, he starts yelling what are u doin? put it in the bag. Uh-you want me to spike the bag with the amp? he says yes and give the pt orange juice with 2 sugars in it. Uh-pt is unresponsive. As he walked away on his high horse, better believe that pt got 2 amps of D50 IVP.

He also likes to order "4 units of InsulinR IM" on bs higher than 400. And he actually gets mad when I question the order.

Gotta love the PO orders when the pt has NG to suction :banghead:

The list goes on and on with that one. needless to say, hes SCAAAARRRYYYY

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These are not ER orders, but here are some of the orders I read before:

"Cut patients fingernails and toenails today" ;)

"Elevate patient's scrotum while lying in bed" ;)

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Specializes in ED.

had a funny one reciently. We had a patient who had been in the ed twice in the last two days for dizzyness. No chest pain, sats were 97% on RA, HR was well into the 70's. The doc decided to send him for a pulmonary angio to rule out PE. When he came back I placed him back on a monitor and was explaining to the family that this is a precaution and we want to make sure its not something dangerous. Right then the doc practically runs back in the room and said we have found our answer. CT showed straddle embolis. Me only being in the ED for one year I have never seen one of these before and hopefully will not again. He showed me the ct and pointed it out. Just about completely occluding the pulmunary arteries. So my next question quickly...

"how much heparin do you want on him"

"well, go ahead and titrate it till he bleeds from his eyes and then back it down a bit" as he laughs.:yeah:

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there was no rectum, it was closed.

Ah, but you did not say this originally and some patients with colostimies do still very much have recta. (rectums? recti?) :yeah: :chuckle :jester:

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These are not ER orders, but here are some of the orders I read before:

"Cut patients fingernails and toenails today" ;)

"Elevate patient's scrotum while lying in bed" ;)

Why are these bad orders? :confused: :loveya:

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Pt came in with bs of 22. The scary one shouts out, amp of Dextrose IV..ok as Im about to push it, he starts yelling what are u doin? put it in the bag. Uh-you want me to spike the bag with the amp? he says yes and give the pt orange juice with 2 sugars in it. Uh-pt is unresponsive. As he walked away on his high horse, better believe that pt got 2 amps of D50 IVP.

He also likes to order "4 units of InsulinR IM" on bs higher than 400. And he actually gets mad when I question the order.

Gotta love the PO orders when the pt has NG to suction :banghead:

The list goes on and on with that one. needless to say, hes SCAAAARRRYYYY

Is this an attending? If so, he needs to be reported to the Chief of his service or Chief of ER. If he's a resident, he needs to be reported to his attending or to whoever is in charge of House Staff. He is indeed dangerous. And not funny. Did your BS of 22 seize and die or what?

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Oh I have a good one... surgical floor...Surgical Chief Resident writes "Turn patient's bed towards window" our rooms are not set up for that " Turn patient's lights off at 8pm and do not disturb until 8 am" is this the freakin Marriot or a hospital so don't do pm meds or vitals because we don't want to disturb the patient...lol mind you we have that one hour rounding stuff admin thought of

This is dangerous and you must get your bosses involved. The hospital is certainly the hotel. If the patient wants 12 hours of care only, he should be discharged. Otherwise, the nurse has liability for not knowing what's going on with the patient - or, at the very least, not getting the orders changed to stop all meds, VS, and treatments during 8p-8a. And there needs to be an order to not round on the patient. And what about answering the light if the patient calls out? Your Risk Management people need to be brought in on this, too.

As for turning toward the window - I can understand the patient wanting some sunshine and would do the best I could to accommodate that, although it might not be much, depending on the facility.

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"Please bathe patient. If nursing staff is too incompetent to do this, please inform me."

This order was written on a 26 year old young man, who walked all around the hospital at least 8 hours a day, and was perfectly capable of taking a shower. He just didn't want to. Were we supposed to restrain him? Haha.

This doctor should be reprimanded and he should apologize to the nurses. Furthermore, a guy who is capable of all you say does not need to be bathed. Maybe his feet or back, depending on his condition, but that's it. What did you do?

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An actively vomiting young male pt. Due to his long stay of 2 years we were very aware of this cycle of illness. He had wound care and every couple of months he would get sick and get vanc/fluconazole iv.

Well he ordered him to be NPO (pt non compliant though) and IV fluids DC'd all on the same order. It was NS.

I waited till that hospitalist left for the day and got a new order

from a different doc.

I am glad he was not on when the pt coded and passed.

THe same day of the order I got a new admit that had an order to be OOB. This is the same doc as the previous one.

AHA diet with all PO meds. Well found out the pt has a peg tube and has not had anything in over a month PO. Plus only responsive to pain.

Luckily the new doc was on and was able to change orders without getting ripped a new one by the original doc.

you did report this to your boss, right? And she took it to the doc's boss, right? This stuff isn't funny, guys, it's dangerous and a waste of the nurse's time. What does the other doctor have to say about the original doctor?

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