How 'bout it ya'll, it's brain pickin' time.

I always wanted to comment on this subject. I feel that new nurses need to know about how to deal with the pressure of working with physicians. I have heard stories of physicians have told some new nurses, that they were not ready or not competent enough to work as a nurse, that they needed to go back to school. You are so right cdnurse, I have heard it from other nurses, that nurses from the old school, they always felt or acted subservant to doctor's, and they felt scared to ask them any questions. Thank you cdnurse for giving us new nurses to be that information.

I have had problems with some doctors but you know some doctors want you to learn and suggest things to. I had one Doctor that took me by the hand and said come on i am learning you might as well to.

Even though I am not a nurse yet, and I am not "officially" in school yet, I have had a couple of doctors say that once I am in nursing school, that I could come and watch their surgeries. It meant alot to hear them say that since I haven't officially started nursing school yet. I do have a question though. Say if "Dr. X" prescribes a drug, e.g. 4 mg Morphine, and the patient passes away from a bad reaction, can the nurse be held responsible as well? Even if all documentation is accurate and precise?

I work in the Adolescent HIV/AIDS field and am in Nursing School for RN. I work with a wonderful NP and a Female doctor and they are always so receptive when I ask them a question and listen to my opinions about different things that are going on. I have heard stories from co-worker in other parts of the hospital about doctors who are just so mean and rude its a wonder how they keep any patients! They need to work together with their nurses, not work above them!!

I must be the weakling of the group because sometimes the older doctors intimidate me! Maybe it is because I am still in school so everyone seems to know more than I do...

I feel we as nurses are the eyes and ears for the Dr's, just as the CNA's are the nurses eyes and ears. (esp. in the LTC setting) The Drs have to have trust in there nurses. ASK ASK ASK if you don't know. The Dr's I use to work with would explain things to you. Yes its nice to have a NP or Dr. say well I've not seen that before and then research it with you. Its all in the relation ship you have with the Dr., or NP. I have worked with a Dr. that when one of her patients would recieve a skin tear, we would have to send them to her office or the ER for sutures. I always thought that was a waste of time money and paperwork. However that was what she expected. She also had you call her in the middle of the night if one of her pts would die she wanted to pronounce them dead. All the other Dr's would have you call the office in the AM. I have disagreed with a Dr. about insulin dosages we know our pts. and how thy act if to low or to high. He gave me a order I tried to explain that was to much he wouldn't change his mind so you got to do what you got to do. I called the daughter and she went into his office. Not much later we got the order changed. I knew if I would have given her that dose she would have went to low. So don't ever be afraid to speak up we are there eyes and ears.

what to do...what to do.......when the patient spends the first ten minutes of pt care telling me how much they adamantly dislike the doctor.........

Every thing is possible and a good working relation ship with th doctor or infact the whole team is an effort that we all need to make at some point of our life and career. Power Trips of doctors or very senior nurses are part and parcel of our line of work. I like TeanRN's comment when she says Teach your Residents Well.... Its my Experience What goes arround comes arround.

It is all about trust. If I see a doctor doing something wrong, I call him/her on it. I lose trust in that person. I also have to be trust worthy. The people that I work with have to see what "your made of" before you are trusted. After that.....It is a good working relationship. NEVER FORGET, it is ALWAYS ABOUT THE PATIENT. An older nurse told me once. " I can work with any crummy person, as long as my patient gets what they deserve and need." Here Here.

There are good doctors, and there are others. And having recently moved from one part of the country to another, I find nurses treat doctors/doctors treat nurses differently everywhere. I am not from the school that believes that just b/c there is an M.D. behind their name, that they can treat you with disrespect or demean you without concequences. I have actually worked with a nurse who will say "yes sir," while being screamed at. It's horrible.

I have had a fairly good experience with the physicians at the hospital where I work. I probably have an opposite approach though than most. I feel that I have the least to lose by asking the Dr.'s questions whether they are about a specific patients care or a topic in school I'd like a better explanation of. I am a techattending nursing school, whats the worst that could happen, get yelled at? I have never had a physican turn me away or reprimand me. They usually seem appreciative of my genuine concern. I HAVE however seen a handful of nurses get screamed at or talked down to in front of EVERYONE and their usual response is yes sir/yes mam. I believe that you earn respect, not command it.

vwoods said:

Even though I am not a nurse yet, and I am not "officially" in school yet, I have had a couple of doctors say that once I am in nursing school, that I could come and watch their surgeries. It meant alot to hear them say that since I haven't officially started nursing school yet. I do have a question though. Say if "Dr. X" prescribes a drug, e.g. 4 mg Morphine, and the patient passes away from a bad reaction, can the nurse be held responsible as well? Even if all documentation is accurate and precise?

As for difficult drs - We have a few in our clinic. We have one dr that loves to bark out orders to everyone. when he came into the office all the MAs would scatter. As long as you talk respectfully to them but show them you will not be bullied or intimidated, and you are not afraid of them, you should be fine. I am about the only one he dose not talk down to. As long as the dr know you are confident enough in yourself that youcan handle what ever they throw at you a lot of the time they will start treating you with atleast a little respect.

We have two hospitals in out town, and about three clinics. Sitka only has about 8,500 residents. I know most if not all of the docs. All I would work for, and one I would not apply for being his nurse if it was the last job in town. He was on-call the night I showed up as an advocatefor a SART call. He was beyond rude. The sad part is I said something to the police officer to the effect of "not followoing protocol" and just because he was called in at an obnoxious hour gave him no right to be rude and condesending to everyone present. Heck, even the police officer was intimidated and knew it was wrong, but did nothing about it at that time...sad.

ccook2 said:

vwoods said:

Even though I am not a nurse yet, and I am not "officially" in school yet, I have had a couple of doctors say that once I am in nursing school, that I could come and watch their surgeries. It meant alot to hear them say that since I haven't officially started nursing school yet. I do have a question though. Say if "Dr. X" prescribes a drug, e.g. 4 mg Morphine, and the patient passes away from a bad reaction, can the nurse be held responsible as well? Even if all documentation is accurate and precise?

VWoods - I am not a nurse yet either. I am a CMA that can't wait to get back to school. I was trying to think back to my MA school - we had a made up senario kinda like that. But if I remember right as long as everything was documented correctly and there was no documentation that the pt was allergic to the Morphine then I really don't think anybody would be responsible except the dr. I could be wrong but I think that is right.

As for difficult drs - We have a few in our clinic. We have one dr that loves to bark out orders to everyone. when he came into the office all the MAs would scatter. As long as you talk respectfully to them but show them you will not be bullied or intimidated, and you are not afraid of them, you should be fine. I am about the only one he dose not talk down to. As long as the dr know you are confident enough in yourself that youcan handle what ever they throw at you a lot of the time they will start treating you with atleast a little respect.