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8 Things Nurses Should Never Say to Doctors
Marijke Durning | NursingLink
1. [On the phone] “Doctor, the patient you saw earlier is having chest pain again.”
Seriously? Could this statement be more vague? Turn the situation around and think about it this way: You receive a call from the dietitian who says, “You know that patient you had three weeks ago who wasn’t supposed to eat salt? I want to make sure he didn’t.”
You’d be surprised to learn how many times doctors get calls like this. You may have five or 10 patients (or sometimes more in long-term care), but the doctor likely has many more patients than that. She needs a bit more information than “the patient you saw earlier.”
Remember to be specific, not just in identifying the patient, but the case and diagnosis too. You know how easy it is for things to get mixed up, with all the patients you handle daily!
Try something like: “Doctor, earlier today, you saw Mr. ABC, with [diagnosis]. You ordered XYZ but he is now having chest pain again. His vitals are….”
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pswaide
over 2 years ago
2 comments
I just had a conversation with one of our NP's this weekend about how often this is happening. As a clinical instructor, I am sharing this with my students.
marina_dilbone1
over 2 years ago
26 comments
Some good points-but sometimes my "colleagues" have reported me to charge nurses and managers for asking for a second opinion at 6 in the morning-I always feel better asking and will always err on the side of caution but I should not have to wonder if I ask someone should I call if they will report me that I SHOULD KNOW TO CALL-am a travel nurse-enjoy for the most part except for power struggles like that
arcadia55
over 2 years ago
2 comments
I do not like calling the doctor late in the evening or early in the morning. But one thing this whole article is not recognizing is the fact that especially in long term care, because of the policies kiin place, the nurse must call no matter how trivial. I know that to be a fact especially in Michigan, we nurses had to call in any and all abnormal labs no matter how slight the difference in values were, and we could not allow anything at all go until the next morning, did not matter if all Mr Brown had a slight head cold or that Mrs. Smiths ua came back positive for a ua, and she was asymptomatic. It could have waited until the next morning, but no because the result was received at 1am, we still had to call the doc.
ccolburn
over 2 years ago
1704 comments
Sometimes as Nures we make mistakes this is some Great advice!
Inara
over 2 years ago
64 comments
good advice, especially for new nurses! It's true, people don't think much of nurses, but sometimes, we make mistakes too!