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8 Things Nurses Should Never Say to Doctors
Marijke Durning | NursingLink
8. “I know you said to call you if there was a problem, but I wasn’t sure this was serious enough yet.”
It’s a dilemma: You think your patient is going sour, but you’re not sure if you should call the doctor yet. After all, what if you’re wrong and your patient is fine? Chances are, the doctor wants a call while the problem is manageable.
How can you work around this? Use your resources around you first. Ask your colleagues – maybe they know more about the patient’s health than you do, or they’ve experienced a similar situation. If your colleagues can’t help you, it’s time to try your nurse manager or nursing supervisor, depending on the shift and available resources. Then, if you’re still not sure, that’s when you may have to call the doctor.
pswaide
about 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
about 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
about 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
1634 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!