Let me preface this, before there is the typical huge uproar from the nursing population, that the vast majority of nurses excel at what they do. This is not meant to be mean or condescending in any way, shape or form. That being said, I got a page last night at 345am that I have to share.

Pager goes off: 14520 (Constant Care floor)
Me (who was trying to close my eyes before the morning labs start coming back and the barrage of pages ensues) calls back.

Me: Hello?
Nurse: Yes, are you the orthopedic resident on call?
Me: Yes.
Nurse: Well, your patient in 523 is not eating.
Me: Why would he be eating at 3 in the morning?
Nurse: I woke him up because he didn't eat his dinner last night and asked him why. He said he hated our food, and also would not eat breakfast unless we had pancakes. I called the cafeteria and they said they don't have pancakes. What should I do?
Me (blood pressure rising): Let me get this straight. Are you calling me at 345AM . . . for pancakes?
Nurse: Yes.
Me: utter silence . . . and then hangs up in disbelief.

Looking at this now, I have to admit that it is pretty damn funny. I mean, seriously, f_c_in' pancakes? Unbelievable.

Anyways, I was hoping that you all would have some similar stories that we could laugh about. Just something to kill the time left on call

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: . . .

Let me preface this, before there is the typical huge uproar from the nursing population, that the vast majority of nurses excel at what they do. This is not meant to be mean or condescending in any way, shape or form. That being said, I got a page last night at 345am that I have to share.

Pager goes off: 14520 (Constant Care floor)
Me (who was trying to close my eyes before the morning labs start coming back and the barrage of pages ensues) calls back.

Me: Hello?
Nurse: Yes, are you the orthopedic resident on call?
Me: Yes.
Nurse: Well, your patient in 523 is not eating.
Me: Why would he be eating at 3 in the morning?
Nurse: I woke him up because he didn't eat his dinner last night and asked him why. He said he hated our food, and also would not eat breakfast unless we had pancakes. I called the cafeteria and they said they don't have pancakes. What should I do?
Me (blood pressure rising): Let me get this straight. Are you calling me at 345AM . . . for pancakes?
Nurse: Yes.
Me: utter silence . . . and then hangs up in disbelief.

Looking at this now, I have to admit that it is pretty damn funny. I mean, seriously, f_c_in' pancakes? Unbelievable.

Anyways, I was hoping that you all would have some similar stories that we could laugh about. Just something to kill the time left on call

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: . . .

That is hilarious. I have one but not nearly as dumb as yours.

I got a page at around 3AM the other night. :sleep:
Nurse: Hi sorry to bother you but I just wanted to let you know that the patient in room 300 has not had any urine output in the past six hours.

Me :scared: (a bit concerned): alright, let's start by checking to make sure the foley cath is in place, you can flush it once and see if there is any urine output. If that does not work then page me and we will do further workup.

Nurse: oh the patient doesn't have a foley cath.

Me: sooooo, is he complaining that he can't pee??

Nurse: no, he's been sleeping since 10pm.

Me: so you're calling me at 3AM to tell me that a patient who does not have a foley cath, who has been sleeping soundly all night, has not had any urine output for the past five hours!!

Nurse: umm yeah..

I felt like hanging up on her but I couldn't, without first asking her what her usual urine output is when she is sound asleep through the night. no answer ofcourse.

seriously, you've gotta be kiddin' me.

From my sub-I.

Time: Early in the morning in the middle of the night.

Me: Hello.
Nurse: Patient so-and-so's foley came out. What should I do?
Me: Put in another one.
End.

Scalpel, I think you pissed off the nurse and got that page just to disturb your sleep.

In all honesty, this thread was discussed before a few months ago and severely annoyed the nurses that peruse this board.

Please, let's end this discussion now and stop any heartaches. Keep it clean, or the mods will be forced to calm things down.

3:00 AM

Pager goes off....

"Hello"
"This is XXXX"
"Yes, Mr. Smith's morning labs came back and his creatinine is low. "
"Huh? "
"Yes, its 0.3 and the computer defines this as 'low.'"
"Are you kidding?'

Click.

Scalpel, I think you pissed off the nurse and got that page just to disturb your sleep.

In all honesty, this thread was discussed before a few months ago and severely annoyed the nurses that peruse this board.

Please, let's end this discussion now and stop any heartaches. Keep it clean, or the mods will be forced to calm things down.

I wish this was the case. I actually make it a point to establish a good rapport with each and every person I meet at the hospital, whether they be a nurse or janitor or x-ray tech, etc. My mentor in orthopedics told me a long time ago that a nurse can make your life the best its ever been or the worst you will ever see based upon your demeanor and your attitude. My parents raised me to treat all with respect, and I feel that I am a very laid back guy who really hasn't upset anybody in the hospital thus far. Maybe she was tired, maybe she wasn't, it doesn't really matter. It was ridiculous and pretty damn funny.

This is not meant at you southerndoc by any stretch of the imagination as I understand clearly what you are saying. However, I am tired of this be politically correct nonsense with the premise being "don't upset anybody." I did not start this thread to upset anybody. I started it to have some fun, and that is all. When you are on the floor, you can hear nurses making fun of both residents and attendings alike. Should I get in a huff and ask then to stop "making fun of my fellow residents?" Give me a break. That kind of action is destined to ensure a humorless enviornment, which makes for a crappy daily work day. We all know that nurses are underpaid and work their asses off, and those of us who are residents can attest to that. But they are just as capable of being dopes as we are as residents, and it is fun to sit down and laugh at each other now and then. Nobody is being malicious here. If any nurses want to post the idiotic things we residents do, by all means do so. I will laugh at that story as much as I will laugh at other stories.

Sorry to soapbox here, but I'm on my 79.75th hour this week ;), and I think I need a nap. Carry on . . .

:laugh:

Yes, I hear nurses making fun of attendings and residents... usually those people are insecure about their own abilities. Nurses and residents are often poking fun at one another for ill happenings, failure to recognize things, blowing things off, etc.

Maybe I'm a sourpuss, but I mind my own business, treat the patients, and don't belittle fellow residents or the nursing staff.

i'm sure the nurses have a network out there in cyberspace where they have "so the attending ordered for physical therapy, pt to ambulate...on a post bilateral AKA surgery patient" (actually one of my co-residents did...it was hilarious). so relax! funny stuff happens, and we're here to laugh at ourselves, the nurses, the students.

3:00 AM

Pager goes off....

"Hello"
"This is XXXX"
"Yes, Mr. Smith's morning labs came back and his creatinine is low. "
"Huh? "
"Yes, its 0.3 and the computer defines this as 'low.'"
"Are you kidding?'

Click.

About the same time from the ICU:

"Did you know your DKA patient has gained 9 liters of fluid?"
"Over what period of time?"
"I don't know."
"Can you find out?"
"Well, no, he's been here for three weeks and the chart's been thinned several times."
"You mean the diabetic ketoacidosis patient didn't gain the 9 liters since you started your shift at midnight?"
"No"
"g'night"

4:30AM in my first 10 minutes of sleep after all night of running around in a trauma heavy hospital.

Me: Hello, someone page surgery?
Nurse: Yes, doctor. Mrs. X's potassium just came back
Me: okay, what is it?
Nurse: It's 4.1
Me: Uh.....that's normal, right?
Nurse: I think so.
Me: Thank you.

Yes, I hear nurses making fun of attendings and residents... usually those people are insecure about their own abilities. Nurses and residents are often poking fun at one another for ill happenings, failure to recognize things, blowing things off, etc.

Maybe I'm a sourpuss, but I mind my own business, treat the patients, and don't belittle fellow residents or the nursing staff.


True, there are alot of reasons why nurses can RIGHTFULLY make fun of physicians/interns/residents since we screw up as well. However, there is a fundamental difference b/w nurses and us...it's called respondeat superior ("captain of the ship" doctrine, which is an antiquated term anyways). When we screw`up, there is oftentimes (literally) a huge price to pay, and when a nurse screws up, it's usually "well....just following doctor's orders...wasn't my fault!" Yeah...yeah, we can say what we want, and I am sure there are ALOT of counterarguments from what I am saying, but if you REALLY think about it and when the poo-poo hits the fan belt, every person is looking out for him/herself and when something like that happens, the first thing that often happens is the nurse uses the respondeat superior theory to shift liability....can't blame them since physicians do the same to shift liability away from them onto another group (the surgeons say the internists screwed up, but the internists say that the patient was fine until they went into surgery)...

In any regards, I have no problems with nurses, and I have ALWAYS been nice to all of them (especially since a nurse who doesn't like you can make your life miserable)...AND MY OWN MOTHER IN LAW IS A NURSE! HOWEVER, if you think about it OBJECTIVELY, it is the physician who get slammed at the end. Yes, there are nursing laws and such, but there are ALOT of loopholes in that...the main one being what I mentioned earlier (the "classic" defense). I have a couple of stories about nurses who didn't tell the intern about a GI bleed (or something) in the middle of the night b/c the nurse was sleeping, and the next thing you know, the patient is dying and its the intern's fault when the intern had NO IDEA that there was anything wrong with the patient in the 1st place. One could say that it is the intern's responsibility to make sure everything is ok with the patient AT ALL TIMES, but that is rediculous....who in their right mind rounds on their patients on the hour every hour....

So, yes....there is NO need to poo-poo on the nurses....the way I look at it, they do things that physicians refuse to do and they take a lot of abuse from many let's-just-say not-so-nice physicians and there is no need for that, but the law is the law!!! i didn't write the law....

I am familiar with respondeat superior, and I'm also familiar that it doesn't always hold up. Nurses have been ordered to give wrong medicines or wrong dosages before, and have been reprimanded when they failed to recognize the wrong drug/dosage prior to administration.

I am familiar with respondeat superior, and I'm also familiar that it doesn't always hold up. Nurses have been ordered to give wrong medicines or wrong dosages before, and have been reprimanded when they failed to recognize the wrong drug/dosage prior to administration.


I can so attest to this - and I would have killed the patient had I followed the order - granted, it was an NP who gave the order but you get my drift.

I have a couple of stories about nurses who didn't tell the intern about a GI bleed (or something) in the middle of the night b/c the nurse was sleeping, and the next thing you know, the patient is dying and its the intern's fault when the intern had NO IDEA that there was anything wrong with the patient in the 1st place. One could say that it is the intern's responsibility to make sure everything is ok with the patient AT ALL TIMES, but that is rediculous....who in their right mind rounds on their patients on the hour every hour....

....

Funny that you bring forth this concern in a thread that has an axe to grind with nurses who give you too much information. Maybe said nurse in this situation has been repeatedly chastised by grumpy interns for paging them with information that they deem unimportant.

The gist of the OP I think is good-natured. However, the nurses working third shift have just as much potential to be inexperienced and unsure of what info needs to be passed on and what info can wait until the AM as the Intern who doesn't know when to call the Senior Resident or Attending or when to wait. When in doubt you call the next person higher up. I'm not sure how well this post would go over if it were initiated by Attending doc's and titled "The Dumbest Question Ever Asked By an Intern", so I'm out of here before it inevitably gets ugly.

Uhm - not saying it happened in the OP's case, but if nurses are paging you at odd hours for things like pancakes, it is quite possible that you need to pay a little attention to building a better rapport with the nursing staff. If you have never brought donuts by the nursing station, or don't know the nurses names (and no, "nurse" is not their name) then don't complain.

Finally getting some sleep. Pager goes off:

"Can you write an order for a sleeping pill for Mr. Smith."

"Ok, what does he usually take at home."

"I don't know, he's asleep."

Maybe I am a little too uptight, but I actually prefer that a nurse or a med student or whoever asks me to clarify anything that they are unsure about. If out of every 50 pages, even 1 minor mistake is rectified or something is done differently which is better for the patient, then I don't mind the other 49 pages. I agree that when you are doing cross cover the pages can get annoying, but I still prefer the annoyance over the pt not getting the absolute best care.

I'm not sure how well this post would go over if it were initiated by Attending doc's and titled "The Dumbest Question Ever Asked By an Intern".


haha, that's funny. i am sure the attendings would have hell of time with that ... or residents starting a post "dumbest qs asked by med student" which i am def guilty of.

in all seriousness, i have alot of respect for nurses in general. but as a med student, i wish they would treat us better - they have a tendancy to roll their eyes at us. does that change when we become residents?

Maybe I'm a sourpuss.....

I'll confirm that for you. Wonder no more.



Great thread. Keep the funnies coming. :thumbup:

This is not meant at you southerndoc by any stretch of the imagination as I understand clearly what you are saying. However, I am tired of this be politically correct nonsense with the premise being "don't upset anybody." I did not start this thread to upset anybody. I started it to have some fun, and that is all. When you are on the floor, you can hear nurses making fun of both residents and attendings alike. Should I get in a huff and ask then to stop "making fun of my fellow residents?" Give me a break. That kind of action is destined to ensure a humorless enviornment, which makes for a crappy daily work day. We all know that nurses are underpaid and work their asses off, and those of us who are residents can attest to that. But they are just as capable of being dopes as we are as residents, and it is fun to sit down and laugh at each other now and then. Nobody is being malicious here. If any nurses want to post the idiotic things we residents do, by all means do so. I will laugh at that story as much as I will laugh at other stories.

:thumbup: :laugh:
Abso-f***ing-lutely right on target!!! Let's have some fun here.

Nurse: Patient in 3XXX is hot and needs a fan.
Me: Excuse me?
N: We need a doctors order for a fan.
Me: are they allergic to them?
N: (laughing) no
Me: any preferance to box or oscillating?
N: (still laughing), no
Me: Just verbal order one from me
Nurse: thanks!

Not really a nurse thing, more of a hospital wide policy thing I found hilarious at 3 am.

I have the utmost respect for nurses. Anyway, here is mine (observing this):

[11 PM, Pt X is soundly asleep]

Nurse: Pt X's fluids stopped 30 min ago!
Resident: That's fine. We will restart them in the AM.
Nurse: But he's NPO! He's not getting anything now and he will starve all night.
Resident: Most people are NPO all night while they sleep.

Most memorable intern mistake (again observed):

[2 AM, Anesthesia intern is calling staff cardiologist on call at BAMC (military hospital)]

Intern: I have this pt with x,y,z...
Cardiologist: What are the cardiac enzymes?
Intern: Uh... uh... That is an excellent question, sir, but I do not have that information on hand.
Cardiologist: What is the [test]?
Intern: I haven't ordered that yet, but I will, sir.
Cardiologist: [Another question]
Intern: [Doesn't know]
Cardiologist: [Another question]
Intern: [Did not order that study]
Cardiologist: [YELLING] Work this up BEFORE you wake me up! [A lot more yelling]

[Phone is hung up]
[Intern is trying to save face in front of me]

[Approx 10 min elapse...]

[Phone rings. It's the cardiologists again]
[Another 2 minutes of yelling at the intern]

I have never seen someone call back just to yell somemore. I guess he couldn't go back to sleep.

However, the nurses working third shift have just as much potential to be inexperienced and unsure of what info needs to be passed on and what info can wait until the AM as the Intern who doesn't know when to call the Senior Resident or Attending or when to wait. .
More to the point-
Q:Guess who is working that third shift?
A:That's right! It's the new grad. Most of these folks have <2years under their belt. In many cases, they may have been out of their respective programs for just a few months. There is no internship in nursing. The depth and breadth of undergraduate clinical training is highly variable. That idiotic page is part of the training.
Docs have residency. Nurses have their first 2-5 years of OTJ learning. Just like residency, that curve is steep!

Like every aspect of medicine, nursing has the scut/crappy slots going to the inexperienced. The tragic irony of this situation is that bad things happen at night during that shift no one else would take.

As a former nurse who has witnessed some of these witching hour calls I can tell ya that very few are actually malignant. As creepy/awful/scary, and sometimes hilarious as these queries are, most are genuine pleas asking "I don't know...please direct".

With a whiff of personality you can turn these irritating encounters into a pretty satisfying learning experience. As tempting as it is to end these encounters with a click, a little precious time and humor can create a relationship, and help a new nurse be a better health care provider.

With a whiff of personality you can turn these irritating encounters into a pretty satisfying learning experience. As tempting as it is to end these encounters with a click, a little precious time and humor can create a relationship, and help a new nurse be a better health care provider.

And also that inexperienced young nurse might not turn into a doctor hating malignant pager in the future thus perpetuating the cycle. :thumbup:

I'm not sure how well this post would go over if it were initiated by Attending doc's and titled "The Dumbest Question Ever Asked By an Intern", so I'm out of here before it inevitably gets ugly.

While that may be an equally funny thread, the big difference is that in this thread, us interns are getting paged IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT for silly questions. Attendings aren't usually getting paged by interns for silly things, nor are interns getting paged by med students (usually).

I think that's what irks some people here...getting their precious 20 minutes of sleep interrupted by pages involving pancakes, normal lab values, and the like.

Attendings aren't usually getting paged by interns for silly things

I wonder if you'll still feel this way five years from now.
its really easy to forget how much you didn't know as a pre-med vs. as a med student vs an intern vs a resident etc...

I'm only asking the posters on this thread to put themselves in a situation of the nurses they are ridiculing. In most cases, a nurse who is paging you with an irrelevant piece of information has genuine concern for the patient as a motive. In many cases the nurse may be unsure of the relevance of some info such as creatnine value, potassium value, urine output as i have seen posted about on this thread that is more apparent to someone who has completed four years of medical school. There are different areas of emphasis in nursing school, I'm sure, than in medical school.

I guarantee you that as an intern, at some point you will be waking up an Attending with a question that on some level the Attending will find incredibly basic and irritating in the middle of night but he/she will politely answer because they know that you as the intern have the best interest of the patient at heart. If you never have found yourself as an intern paging an Attending in the middle of the night with what may be "a ridiculous question" in the more experienced doctor's eyes then you are either the most brilliant doctor to come along the pike in the last 50 years or are in an incredibly weak program in terms of volume of work. (I doubt it is the former, that title is taken :laugh: ). You would not appreciate seeing humor derived at the expense of your inexperience in an open forum, especially when your motivation was noble and in the best interest of the patient.

I can laugh and commisserate with other interns and residents about some of the calls I rec'd in the middle of the night with the best of them. I do this in private, and never in earshot of nursing staff. The problem I have with this thread is that it is on a site that is perused by nurses and makes our profession look incredibly arrogant. I stay humble with the nurses new or old and trust that they will not take advantage of the gratitude that I direct at them for doing a difficult job. It's makes work more enjoyable and its why I don't get paged about pancakes.

(Again, I don't think the nature of the OP was malignant, but we need to be careful. Some subsequent posts bordered on arrogance IMHO).

in all seriousness, i have alot of respect for nurses in general. but as a med student, i wish they would treat us better - they have a tendancy to roll their eyes at us. does that change when we become residents?

Unforunantely, these nurses also exist. They fall into the arrogant category and I suspect are taking advantage of their one chance to feel superior to you. Don't sweat it, if they are rolling their eyes at you then they are probably also rolling their eyes at the residents, attendings, and patients but are just more discreet about it. I would not try to seek their approval at any point in your training.

me - hello.. night float

nurse - hi.. the primary team have the following orders written for the patient (cbc, cmp, pt, ptt, inr).. should i draw the labs?

me - yes *click*

me - hello.. night float

nurse - hi.. the primary team have the following orders written for the patient (cbc, cmp, pt, ptt, inr).. should i draw the labs?

me - yes *click*

I had a similar one the other day on a patient who was a direct admit for malnutrition:

Nurse - can the patient eat?
Me - what does the order say? (the order that I just wrote and is sitting in the chart with the rest of the routine admission orders)
Nurse - the order is for a low residue diet.
Me - then yes, the patient can eat.

I too think the vast majority of nurses are wonderful. One of the surgeon's I work with has been helpful in teaching us ways to avoid unnecessary pages and if a nurse pages him with an order a student wrote that he co-signed, he has them page the student.

Rounding this morning with a surgeon in the ICU-- nurse on a patient we are not seeing bemoans the fact that on a standard orders sheet the intern used she had selected she had indicated she wanted something, but hadn't checked a box needed to indicate dosage. Surgeon's reply to nurse, "Page her and make her come back-- she won't forget next time."

Another recent experience-- I was bemoaning the fact that when I order the BMP, if I want Mg+ level, I have to order that separately (hence I find it easy to forget). Experienced ICU nurse reply? "It's our job to make sure you don't forget." Bless her. My biggest fear as intern will be working with the nurses who are as inexperienced as I am.

On the other hand, this post is funny. I KNOW I've asked some pretty stupid questions (or provided pretty stupid answers to questions). Thankfully I'm in a program that is overall pretty kind. I'm going to try to remember to be that way when I'm on hour 29 post call. Don't know that I'll succeed though!

I got paged at three am for a hangnail.

Any notion that I was well liked by nursing went out the freaking window.

But, two years later, I took an intern call and didn't get any calls at all from the same floor - no admission, no one got sick, no orders to clarify.

Ahh, the beauty of experience!

this isnt a ridiculous question, but it does make me wonder. Why the HELL are you paging me normal vital signs...fyi at 3am? And yes, I am nice to the nurses :)

Pretty interesting stories so far. Here's two stories I find pretty amusing (of course one for each side to keep the karma gods happy):

Time: 0230
Nurse: You know how you ordered tylenol every 6 hours for pain?
Me: Uh huh
Nurse: Its been six hours since her last dose. Is it Ok for me to give her another dose?

Time 0450 (After an obvious long night)
Nurse: I have a question about a prescription you wrote for a patient
Intern: Yes?
Nurse: Are you sure you want to give Trichomonas 2 grams PO and not Flagyl?

Time 0450 (After an obvious long night)
Nurse: I have a question about a prescription you wrote for a patient
Intern: Yes?
Nurse: Are you sure you want to give Trichomonas 2 grams PO and not Flagyl?

That's funny.

I recently had a nurse catch one of my mistakes during a critical care shift. I wrote for 1 gram of ceftriaxone and 500 mg of doxycycline. Luckily she caught it. I'm so accustomed to writing for 500 mg of azithromycin, which we use at one of our sister hospitals, that I must have been thinking azithromycin when I wrote the doxy dose.

Most competent private duty night nurse ever: In the 70's these were mostly retired nurses who were called in for rich people admitted to the wards.

Elderly patient comes to nursing station at 4 am: "Could you come look at my nurse? I think she may be dead."

Sure enough, she was. But she had done her job, the 6am vital signs were recorded.

Elderly patient comes to nursing station at 4 am: "Could you come look at my nurse? I think she may be dead."

Sure enough, she was. But she had done her job, the 6am vital signs were recorded.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

My favorite 4 am call (just as I fall asleep after a miserable night on call),

Me: Doctor Happy answering a page
Nurse: Dacturrrr Happi?
Me: Yeeeeeesssss.
Nurse: The pachient in room 9 has a ceeebeeeeceeee reeeesoooolt
Me: Ooooookay ...
Nurse: white bluuud cells 10.1, hemoooglooobin 13.4, plaaaatlets 250,000
Me: Thank you nurse Ramalamadingdong
Nurse: Bye Dacturrrr Haaaaappppi

*falls asleep while gouging eyes out*

Most competent private duty night nurse ever: In the 70's these were mostly retired nurses who were called in for rich people admitted to the wards.

Elderly patient comes to nursing station at 4 am: "Could you come look at my nurse? I think she may be dead."

Sure enough, she was. But she had done her job, the 6am vital signs were recorded.

That's going on my all-time favorite stories list. :laugh: :laugh:

My two favorite calls were not really dumb nurse questions but definitely entertaining.

#1 - Nurse called me because my 7 yo patient had lost his IV and she claimed "mom" refused to let them put it back in (very common excuse made by nurses in peds, actually translates to "I don't want to put the IV back in so you should get out of bed and walk all the way down here to hear the mom say it's fine to stick the child again before I try again"). When I got to the room the patient had locked themselves in the bathroom and refused to come out. I left the nurse in charge of finding the key and putting the IV back in. Never heard back so either it worked out or he's still in there.

#2 Got paged by a nurse that an 16 yo patient with meningitis was wandering the halls and going in patients rooms to "look at the babies". Along the way she happened to wander into a room on droplet precautions for pertussis.

On the heme onc floor -

RN - Docta, critical lab result!
Me - drowsy, hating 4am lab draws - yu-huh?
RN - WBC's 0.9, ANC 150
Me - cool - yesterday she was 0.0 and 0
RN - But it's a critical value!
Me - MD notified, no action taken.
-click-

I dislike the float pool.

(And yes, I know that being a float nurse is incredibly tough, but that doesn't mean I have to like it at 3am. Polite, yes. Like, no.)

I think I wrote this in the old thread, but this is still my favorite so far:

Nurse: "My patient has an order for Ativan for anxiety."
Me: "Okay."
Nurse: "He's anxious, should I give it to him?"
Me: (in my head) "WTF do you think I ordered it for?"

And another one from the floor telling me that one of the pt's threw two PVC's per the monitor. I probably threw 2 PVC's during my conversation with her...

3:00 a.m.
Nurse: Hello doctor we have a patient that can't move his ankle and we are worried that he might be developing a compartment syndrome
Ortho Resident: Is this a recent surgical patient?
Nurse: Yes
Ortho Resident: What procedure did he have done?
Nurse: It says here "pantalar arthrodesis"
Ortho Resident:Yeah, he's not going to move that for a while. I'm not worried. Thanks (click)

3 a.m. early in my internship while I was on Ob/Gyn...and I was NOT on-call...this was early in my internship before I made it a habit to turn my pager off or silence it...live and learn.

Dr: This is Dr. X?
RN: Yes, I'm calling because I have a patient that hasn't had a PPD placed yet and I need an order for one.
Dr: Are you kidding?
RN: No.
Dr: Well, I'm at home asleep right now. I'm not on call and don't know why you called me.
RN: I saw your name in the chart.
Dr: (sighs) Well, please check the on-call list next time. Oh, and please don't call the on-call doctor for a PPD at 3a.m....I'm certain he or she is too busy and it can wait until morning.
RN: Sorry doctor.
Dr: Goodbye.

(I would love to call the nurse at home at 3a.m. in exactly 48 or 72 hours and say...what was the result of that PPD?)

My favorites from my 2 weeks on general medicine night float:

Pager goes off at 3 am
Nurse: yeah, john doe is sweating.
Me: When did that start?
Nurse: he says about 4 days ago.
Me: 4 days, huh?

Or this one:

Pager goes off at midnight
Nurse: I noticed Jane Doe had a fever of 100.5.
Me: oh yeah, when was that?
Nurse: oh, about 6pm.
Me: is that right? So that was like 6 hours ago, 2 hours before I even got here, and probably when the patient's primary team was still here; did you tell anyone at the time?
Nurse: No, I just got to the end of my shift and was reviewing things and wanted to let you know.
Me: Huh. What's her temp now?
Nurse: 98.2.
Me: Awesome.

Funny thread.

I had a nurse pick up a pericardial rub for me in a uremic patient, which lead to an echo, which disclosed impending tamponade. When she called me and said she heard the rub I kinda rolled my eyes to myself because she always seemed like a nurse who over-reacted to things. I didn't hear it but I paged my attending (it was during the day) It was obvious to him and to me after he pointed it out. He probably rolled his eyes to me when I paged him. I'll always remember that because it reminded me to be humble,value those "underneath" me who spend 100X more time with patients and therefore can be much better than I at interpreting how they are doing.

A intern I know once got paged in the middle of the night with the information that a patient's BUN was low. The intern sarcastically ordered a stat BUN transfusion, which the nurse dutifully attempted to order, and when the computer wouldn't accept the order she frantically called up the pharmacy, the lab, and anybody else who would listen. The intern was disciplined the next day.

At 3 am, during my medicine AI: we had a patient who had been on the floor for a week with renal failure. As usual, the patient was prn Tylenol for pain/fever...

Pager screams
I call
N: Hello, nursing station
Me: Yes, this is the Med AI, I received a page
N: Oh yes! I noticed Mr So and So is written for Tylenol.
Me: yes, it's for pain/fever.
N: Yes, but I'm concerned because of his renal failure.
Me: Okay, but Tylenol is metabolized by the liver and his liver is fine.
N: [Silence]
Me: Hello?
N: You're right.
Me: By the way, is he having pain or fever?
N: No, he's been asleep all night
Me: Alrighty then, good night.

No more calls after that.

here are a few I or one of my colleagues have had
#1
Doc: hello
nurse: we have a pt here on a drip at 1.5 g/hr. The orders says if his lab is too high to drop it by 30%. What's 30% of 1.5?
doc: #$^@%&!^#$%$@#%@#$%@#%$@!%$ not a @#$@#%#$!@%@ calculator!!! Figure it the !@#$@ out! *click*

#2
doc: hello
nurse: Hi doc! Uh I dropped the patient's food tray. can we make him NPO?
doc: what?! NO *click*

Funny thread.

I had a nurse pick up a pericardial rub for me in a uremic patient, which lead to an echo, which disclosed impending tamponade. When she called me and said she heard the rub I kinda rolled my eyes to myself because she always seemed like a nurse who over-reacted to things. I didn't hear it but I paged my attending (it was during the day) It was obvious to him and to me after he pointed it out. He probably rolled his eyes to me when I paged him. I'll always remember that because it reminded me to be humble,value those "underneath" me who spend 100X more time with patients and therefore can be much better than I at interpreting how they are doing.

Excellent story. I would kill to have a nurse like that. Our medical assistants spend more time with the patients than the nurses do, therefore I always listen when the MAs speak.

you woctors are so cool. everbody wants to be as smart as you woctors.

why write so many order woctor? fill whole woctor page with worthless woctor orders. woctor gets many call from dumb dumb nurse.

huh???? :confused:

Bell's post made me just want to re-emphasize that I do NOT feel nurses are dumb. I respect nurses very much and interns make many (hilarious) mistakes as well. To err is human after all.

No thread about RNs can exist without some retarded offensive comment from bell412. If we collectively ignore him, maybe he goes away. Arguing with him is futile and only leads to further expressions of his repressed anger.

you woctors are so cool. everbody wants to be as smart as you woctors.

why write so many order woctor? fill whole woctor page with worthless woctor orders. woctor gets many call from dumb dumb nurse.

Oh, not you again.

:thumbdown

Interesting how many nurses don't hesitate for a moment to treat med students and interns like worthless pieces of crap, but become offended when we share funny stories amongst ourselves.

you woctors are so cool. everbody wants to be as smart as you woctors.

why write so many order woctor? fill whole woctor page with worthless woctor orders. woctor gets many call from dumb dumb nurse.


HAHAHA! Just yesterday, my girlfriend (who also reads SDN) was making fun of me because I'm going to actually have to be a doctor come June, and she said "Hey, remember that lunatic nurse who used to post on SDN? The really angry, bitter one who said 'doctor woctor' a lot? That's what I'm going to call you: Doctor Woctor." And now here you are, in all your bitter glory! It's like we unintentionally summoned you. It's like you're the Candyman.

wow your going to be Wr. Sacramento!

Interesting how many nurses don't hesitate for a moment to treat med students and interns like worthless pieces of crap, but become offended when we share funny stories amongst ourselves.

I am a nurse, and in 6 weeks I will be a doctor, so I guess that makes me a woctor and a murse (i.e. Gaylord Fokker). I want to state for the record that I have enjoyed this thread. It has been the most even handed thread of this sort I have ever seen. Of course it has the standard, BUN is low, resident ordered a BUN transfusion story, but it has also been interspersed with nurses saved my butt stories. Bell is a troll, and he is a nurse thread specific troll. He is doing nothing for nurse-doctor relationships, but then again neither are many of you. Toxic's comments above are perfect examples of the problem. When I was a floor nurse, I HATED doctors as a whole, because I was routinely abused, threatened and mistreated by them (and I was a very good nurse). I was not exposed to med students and residents, but had I been, I might have been tempted to vent my frustration on doctors that held little power over me. The point of my rant is this: Nurses mistreat interns/students because they are mistreated. Doctors mistreat nurses because they were mistreated as interns/students. Who is going to break the cycle people? If not you, then don't whine about it.

wow your going to be Wr. Sacramento!

Bell, do all of the nurses in the world a favor, and shut up!!!!

sorry friend I don't want to shut up. It sounds like you know what I'm talking about though. Congrats graduating from medical school.

Bell, do all of the nurses in the world a favor, and shut up!!!!

Any advice for us new interns?

My favorite 4 am call (just as I fall asleep after a miserable night on call),

Me: Doctor Happy answering a page
Nurse: Dacturrrr Happi?
Me: Yeeeeeesssss.
Nurse: The pachient in room 9 has a ceeebeeeeceeee reeeesoooolt
Me: Ooooookay ...
Nurse: white bluuud cells 10.1, hemoooglooobin 13.4, plaaaatlets 250,000
Me: Thank you nurse Ramalamadingdong
Nurse: Bye Dacturrrr Haaaaappppi

*falls asleep while gouging eyes out*

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

On the heme onc floor -

RN - Docta, critical lab result!
Me - drowsy, hating 4am lab draws - yu-huh?
RN - WBC's 0.9, ANC 150
Me - cool - yesterday she was 0.0 and 0
RN - But it's a critical value!
Me - MD notified, no action taken.
-click-

I dislike the float pool.

(And yes, I know that being a float nurse is incredibly tough, but that doesn't mean I have to like it at 3am. Polite, yes. Like, no.)

Where's the policy about historically low results? :laugh:
"No callback required"

Where's the policy about historically low results? :laugh:
"No callback required"

Being a lab guy I seriously have seen some funny $h!t come from both Doctors and Nurses.

Just the other day a research nurse called the stat lab to tell me that she accidentally drew up some blood in a (yellow top) SST clot tube for a CBC, but was wondering if she could just take the top off and pour the partially clotted blood in a correct color tube. I told her no, it would plug up our machine. :laugh:

How about a doctor (new resident) calling a the lab to add a CBC onto some serum that used for the Cardiopanel because he suspects the Hb to be low. My response: Yeah, serum really doesn't carry that many whole blood cells. :meanie:

Everyday I see the normal CBC w/out diff ordered along with a separate Hb. Or just the other night, a new doctor ordered stat blood cultures along with a Cardiopanel + Troponin T + CKMB on three different patients on the same floor.

Now this is memorable story comming from a guy who was working with me over a year ago:

My lab partner "john" took a call down to CC1 ER for a stat ABG using an ISTAT machine. Once he arrived and was able to mingle around the 15 or more docs standing around the male patient, "john" took out a long needle and was prepared to do a femoral artery stick. But then comes along doctor X who said overconfidently "let me do this." DocX takes the needle, plunges it into the patient, but gets nothing. He again pulls out the needle and places it even deeper while pulling on the plunger, suddenly he pulls back a syringe full of urine and awed with sudden shock hands it back to "john". His reply: Ummm, do you want me to do a pregnancy test on this? :eek:

Hello,

Funny how so many of the pages posted here are at 3 am..hmmmm

At 1 am, after getting under the scratchy blankets:
Nurse: Patient so and so cant sleep.
Me: Well neither can I.
Nurse: (silence)
Me: Allergies?
Nurse: None
Me: So give him some so and so med with a prn repeat.

Now, that wasnt supposed to be funny, but just to show some people who will remain nameless that instead of thinking we should write fewer orders, we should actually write tons of PRN orders to alleviate aggravation on other residents who are cross covering and dont know the other teams patients very well.

Also, my bridesmaid is a nurse and has been my friend for over 20 years. We talk about this nurse/resident dynamic. She didnt even know we were on for 30 hours in a row. She also said she has a low threshold for calling a resident b/c they dont have any power anyway.

There is also a huge nursing shortage so it is almost impossible to get anywhere complaining about a nurse to their superiors. No one wants to do all that work for that pay. They do bust their a** alot of the time.

ORBITAL

Knowledge is power. All of you that have gone through the rigors of medical school have gained a tremendous amount of medical knowledge. Use your knowledge wisely. Don't be so full of yourself. It is easy to do when you are physicians. People will hate you.

Don't be so full of yourself.

Then don't page us at 3am asking if you should put in another IV, b/c Mr. X's came out while he was sleeping. Soudns like a fair deal.

I'M ONLY KIDDING :laugh:

Don't mean to start anything...

Check with your in-patient pharmacy before writing tons of prn meds. Oft times the med is sent to the floor whether or not the patient needs it. This is an assinine process that many hospitals institute and this drives up the cost of hospitalization depending on the medication.

gotta chime in here.. I think that while many physicians are probably "full of themselves" the vast majority are not, are concerned with caring for there patients and are very busy. THey don't have time to massage every nurse who has an ax to grind. THe problem is that physicians have athority over nurses and people, epecially in our culture, hate having others tell them what to do. Some people, like bell, obviously have more trouble than others. My guess is that bell's own attitude makes his/her relationship with physicians worse, perpetuating the cycle. Its a two way street. We're all professionals. Work together, let the small stuff go and remember the patients are #1.

[step off soapbox]

... I think that while many physicians are probably "full of themselves" the vast majority are not, are concerned with caring for there patients and are very busy. THey don't have time to massage every nurse who has an ax to grind...
[step off soapbox]


Well said!!

:clap: :clap:

Very good point. I do hate people telling me what to do, that is why I especially hate bossy nurses that think they know everything when in fact they know nothing. Well that's not entirely true, they know how to hand out meds and make bed assignments. They can't wipe arses, start iv's, help the patient to the restroom, turn off a beeping iv pole, trouble shoot an iv occlusion, draw blood, or find a freaking bed pan when the patient needs one. Many of the nurses I work with are just plain lazy. If they didn't have a fleet of medical assistants (and ancillary staff such as RTs, phlebotomists, x-ray techs, social workers, case managers, and pharmacists) to do their work, I don't know how they would survive a shift. Now they have random nurse practitioners running around and writing random orders on patient charts, but alas, at 2 am when pharmacy gets around to filling the order, who do they call? The sleeping resident who isn't even on call. Why? Because NPs work a 9 to 5er and leave the rest of us "full of ourselves" doctors to do the work.

I freaking hate nurses with a passion!!!! The healthcare system is doomed. I hope they replace all residents with NPs and PAs and eliminate inpatient medicine. Let the hospitals foot the cost of patients dying left and right due to no continuity of care.

Ah, I feel so much better now.

I have always tended to believe in the theory that 30 plus year old RNs (especially the ones with all the fancy other little initials attached) just can't stand that mid-twenties little MD/DO giving them orders-when, gd it, these little snot-nosed little kids telling them what do.

Geez, I thought the intent of the OP and other contributors was humor, I am so glad so many people felt the need to defend nurses yet once again, etc.

I am happy there are nurses that do that manual disimpaction instead of me. And I must add, being an anesthesiology resident sure has cut down on those retarded floor calls from the RNs! hehe

Very good point. I do hate people telling me what to do, that is why I especially hate bossy nurses that think they know everything when in fact they know nothing. Well that's not entirely true, they know how to hand out meds and make bed assignments. They can't wipe arses, start iv's, help the patient to the restroom, turn off a beeping iv pole, trouble shoot an iv occlusion, draw blood, or find a freaking bed pan when the patient needs one. Many of the nurses I work with are just plain lazy. If they didn't have a fleet of medical assistants (and ancillary staff such as RTs, phlebotomists, x-ray techs, social workers, case managers, and pharmacists) to do their work, I don't know how they would survive a shift. Now they have random nurse practitioners running around and writing random orders on patient charts, but alas, at 2 am when pharmacy gets around to filling the order, who do they call? The sleeping resident who isn't even on call. Why? Because NPs work a 9 to 5er and leave the rest of us "full of ourselves" doctors to do the work.

I freaking hate nurses with a passion!!!! The healthcare system is doomed. I hope they replace all residents with NPs and PAs and eliminate inpatient medicine. Let the hospitals foot the cost of patients dying left and right due to no continuity of care.

Ah, I feel so much better now.

Ohhhh boy. I tell you, sometimes I wonder about the seriously afflicted axis II crazy people our profession attracts. Honestly, I hope this post is a joke.

Ohhhh boy. I tell you, sometimes I wonder about the seriously afflicted axis II crazy people our profession attracts. Honestly, I hope this post is a joke.

You are obviously not a resident, and if you are, you must be in psych. Pot calling the kettle black if you ask me. Wait till you are in residency, then talk to me, skippy.

Hello,

Funny how so many of the pages posted here are at 3 am..hmmmm

At 1 am, after getting under the scratchy blankets:
Nurse: Patient so and so cant sleep.
Me: Well neither can I.
Nurse: (silence)
Me: Allergies?
Nurse: None
Me: So give him some so and so med with a prn repeat.

Now, that wasnt supposed to be funny, but just to show some people who will remain nameless that instead of thinking we should write fewer orders, we should actually write tons of PRN orders to alleviate aggravation on other residents who are cross covering and dont know the other teams patients very well.

Also, my bridesmaid is a nurse and has been my friend for over 20 years. We talk about this nurse/resident dynamic. She didnt even know we were on for 30 hours in a row. She also said she has a low threshold for calling a resident b/c they dont have any power anyway.

There is also a huge nursing shortage so it is almost impossible to get anywhere complaining about a nurse to their superiors. No one wants to do all that work for that pay. They do bust their a** alot of the time.

ORBITAL

Okay...I hate to start trouble but I have to say it. What does the average nurse make? $45000-50000? Also, big sign-on bonuses? The work can be trying at times and they are often underappreciated...BUT, how many jobs that require nothing more than two years of community college level training (associates degree) pay that much money? Cops risk their lives for maybe that much, if not less. Teachers have to go to four years of college and only make about that much. I know engineers and chemists with BS degrees that come out of college making $40,000. Heck, I have a friend who has a masters in engineering and he's only making 50,000 after five years of being out of grad school.

It's all relative...and, frankly, I can't think of any other job that pays that kind of money for relatively little education.

Again, I'll repeat...they often work hard and help us out and keep things moving smoothly...and I appreciate that...but let's stop complaining about the pay, it's more than appropriate for the work involved.

You are obviously not a resident, and if you are, you must be in psych. Pot calling the kettle black if you ask me. Wait till you are in residency, then talk to me, skippy.
I'm not a resident, I will give you that. I do have some axis II issues, but mine are cluster C and yours sound alot like cluster B, and that is scary. Drop the "I'm a resident, so I can bash nurses, and you know nothing" crap. I guarantee I have been in this game alot longer than you.
I don't know why I feel the need to get into pissing matches with trolls on this website. I can't help myself I guess. Years of pent up anger at getting crapped on by MD's rearing its ugly head. I just have to remember that this is an anonymous website, and that people like MD'05 are not really like the personas that they put forward. The underlying insecurity is real but the bravado if false. I guarantee he would never say those things about nurses to a nurse's face. That would take balls. Loopo Henle, out!!!

I guarantee I have been in this game alot longer than you.

how does that statement disprove anything he said?

OK, I have to chime in finally. This one really annoyed me.

I saw a psych patient two days ago in the ED. I get a call last night from a nurse on the psych floor.

Nurse: "Hello, Dr. southerndoc?"
Me: "Yes."
Nurse: "You documented on your H&P that patient so and so was on klonopin when in fact she was on clonidine. You need to file an addendum to that. That confused us up here."
Me: "What does the psych H&P say?"
Nurse: "He hasn't done one yet."
Me: "My documentation is not a H&P, so maybe you should tell the psych resident to give you the correct meds. Thank you for calling."

Ok, I guess I stand corrected on the pay scale but if it is such great pay for the work and education, why is there still such a massive shortage? You would think people would line up for this job.

Very good point. I do hate people telling me what to do, that is why I especially hate bossy nurses that think they know everything when in fact they know nothing. Well that's not entirely true, they know how to hand out meds and make bed assignments. They can't wipe arses, start iv's, help the patient to the restroom, turn off a beeping iv pole, trouble shoot an iv occlusion, draw blood, or find a freaking bed pan when the patient needs one. Many of the nurses I work with are just plain lazy. If they didn't have a fleet of medical assistants (and ancillary staff such as RTs, phlebotomists, x-ray techs, social workers, case managers, and pharmacists) to do their work, I don't know how they would survive a shift. Now they have random nurse practitioners running around and writing random orders on patient charts, but alas, at 2 am when pharmacy gets around to filling the order, who do they call? The sleeping resident who isn't even on call. Why? Because NPs work a 9 to 5er and leave the rest of us "full of ourselves" doctors to do the work.

I freaking hate nurses with a passion!!!! The healthcare system is doomed. I hope they replace all residents with NPs and PAs and eliminate inpatient medicine. Let the hospitals foot the cost of patients dying left and right due to no continuity of care.

Ah, I feel so much better now.


I was with you up until the end of the first paragraph. :confused:

Loopo Henle, out!!!

Now that's GAY! :laugh:

I have been busy for last couple of days, and I happen to have a second to see that this thread has gone from humerous and lighthearted to frustrated and defensive. You have got to be kidding me.

I started this just to have a few laughs guys and gals. That's all. What has happened to us as a profession where even the simplest joke that has no creul or mean or vicious intention becomes such a big deal. We all need to step back a bit, lay off the provigil and Mountain Dew, and just chill. That said, I have a great one from last night that still has me laughing outloud.

Pager goes off (about 9pm)
Me: Hello?
Nurse on ortho floor: Are you on call for orthopedics?
Me: Yes.
Nurse: I have problem with hip fracture you just admitted.
Me: What's up?
Nurse: Well . . . are you aware that this man has had a full erection since he came up to the floor?
Me: Are you shi_t'in me?
Nurse: No, I'm not.
Me: Be down in a second.

Walk downstairs to find that guy lying in bed, asleep (after a total of 4 of dilauded courtsey of the ER), with a full freakin' erection. I'm thinkin' . . . what the hell? Call his much younger wife from the cafeteria, who comes up to the floor giggling. Turns out he has an inflatable internal penis prostheses, and she thought it would be hilarous to inflate it and go gets some dinner.

Unbelievable. Her husband (or should I say suger daddy) is lying in bed with a displaced hip fracture, and she gives him a boner and walks away? I don't even have the words . . .

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Boinggg! :laugh:

I have been busy for last couple of days, and I happen to have a second to see that this thread has gone from humerous and lighthearted to frustrated and defensive. You have got to be kidding me.

I started this just to have a few laughs guys and gals. That's all. What has happened to us as a profession where even the simplest joke that has no creul or mean or vicious intention becomes such a big deal. We all need to step back a bit, lay off the provigil and Mountain Dew, and just chill. That said, I have a great one from last night that still has me laughing outloud.

Pager goes off (about 9pm)
Me: Hello?
Nurse on ortho floor: Are you on call for orthopedics?
Me: Yes.
Nurse: I have problem with hip fracture you just admitted.
Me: What's up?
Nurse: Well . . . are you aware that this man has had a full erection since he came up to the floor?
Me: Are you shi_t'in me?
Nurse: No, I'm not.
Me: Be down in a second.

Walk downstairs to find that guy lying in bed, asleep (after a total of 4 of dilauded courtsey of the ER), with a full freakin' erection. I'm thinkin' . . . what the hell? Call his much younger wife from the cafeteria, who comes up to the floor giggling. Turns out he has an inflatable internal penis prostheses, and she thought it would be hilarous to inflate it and go gets some dinner.

Unbelievable. Her husband (or should I say suger daddy) is lying in bed with a displaced hip fracture, and she gives him a boner and walks away? I don't even have the words . . .

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

That made my day :laugh: !!! Kinda makes you guys think twice about getting a mucher younger trophy wife later in life :laugh:

nurse: doctor, is there anything i can give for hiccups?
me: uh i dunno, let me ask my colleagues (pause, ask the other four residents in the room)
me: uh. why dont you try scaring him?
nurse: haha

we had a good laugh about that one.

nurse: doctor, is there anything i can give for hiccups?
me: uh i dunno, let me ask my colleagues (pause, ask the other four residents in the room)
me: uh. why dont you try scaring him?
nurse: haha

we had a good laugh about that one.

actually that's a pretty common complaint...anecdotally 25-50 mg of Thorazine usually does the trick :thumbup:

I just put my head down and about to drift into sleep, hoping for a couple of hours before round.
3am in the morning, pager goes off.
"Hi, are you the Ortho resident on call"
Yes
"Good, This Dr.XXXX from the ED, I have a 16 yr old woman who fell off her horse this afternoon and complaints of left hip pain."
Do you have any films?
"yes, no fracture on X ray, and I even got a CT scan of the left hip."
Great, what does the CT show? (thinking, maybe she had a labrum tear or some kind of hair line fx)"
"CT is negative"
:mad: , So why are you consulting Ortho?
"Well, she has hip pain and I just wanted to be sure"
To be sure of what????!!!
OK, never mind, I will come down to see the consult. Thanks.


2:30am
"Hi are you covering General Surgery?"
Yes..
"Do you know Mr. XXXXXX?"
Ahh....yes, (flipping through my list of 50 or so surgical patients that I have no idea who they are except for a line that says the post op day and the procedure)
"Well, his blood pressure is 90s over 50s, what are you going to do!"
Wait, 90s/50s, what do you mean what am I going to do?
"He is for sure bleeding out somewhere, you need to come see this patient NOW!!"
Bleeding out?? What has his B/P been running?
"umm... I don't know, let me get his chart....."
wait.....wait....
"here is the chart... umm, he is been running kinda low.... 90s/60s"
Did he get any blood pressure meds?
"Let me check..... oh, yes, he had his B/P meds right before going to bed"
Ok, thanks... click. :mad:

4:00 am

me: blue surgery returning a page
n: is Mr. X staying the night?
me: call me in an hour *click*

actually that's a pretty common complaint...anecdotally 25-50 mg of Thorazine usually does the trick :thumbup:
Baclofen also works nicely.

0200
RN: Mrs X cant go to the bathroom
me: It's 2 am
RN:We'll can we give her an enema or or suppository
me: sure, is she awake?
RN: Oh no she has been sleeping all evening.
me:And the concern is?
RN: The patient commented how she usually has a BM every day and I just wanted her to have one.
me:Let's wait until the morning OK and ask the patient. If she is sleeping I don't think we should wake her up.

No knocks on the ER guys most of the call come from people rotating there or MS4's

0230
ER: I have a trauma patient whose 1 mo pregnant in an 80mph crash
Me: Is she conscious.
ER no
Me: Rh+,
ER Yes but we are concerned about her pregnancy and doing Xrays
Me: There is not much I can do for her now. She's 20 weeks from viabilty the trauma team should do everything needed to stabalize the patient.
ER: Are you sure we don;t need a consult.
Me Yes I'll see her in the am and write a short note then

0245
ER: I have a 18 yo who is vaginal bleeding
Me:Is she pregnant, CBC, vitals
ER no not pregnant, Hgb 13, 120/80's no fever. Pelvic is normal. Just blood coming out from the cervix on speculum exam
Me: when was her last menstral period
ER: pause... um let me go check. Last month. She's every 4 weeks for 5 days
Me: Dx menses

0300
ER: I have a 18 yo with abdominal pain she's been sitting here 3 hours. I just lifted up her shirt and her fundal height is at the Xiphoid. No PNC. and U/S vertex and FHT in to 50's. Oh and BTW the patient denies she is pregnant. Her mom's with her
Me: Send her up
Patient arrives 8 cm gets epidural delivers 30min later... I ask the patient haven't you felt the baby more. Yes she responds. Why didn't you tell you mom? Her response. I thought it would go away. In the background I hear her mom on the phone "John our daughter is having a baby..No a baby...I'm serious...No I don't know how it happened...."

Okay...I hate to start trouble but I have to say it. What does the average nurse make? $45000-50000? Also, big sign-on bonuses? The work can be trying at times and they are often underappreciated...BUT, how many jobs that require nothing more than two years of community college level training (associates degree) pay that much money? Cops risk their lives for maybe that much, if not less. Teachers have to go to four years of college and only make about that much. I know engineers and chemists with BS degrees that come out of college making $40,000. Heck, I have a friend who has a masters in engineering and he's only making 50,000 after five years of being out of grad school.

It's all relative...and, frankly, I can't think of any other job that pays that kind of money for relatively little education.

Again, I'll repeat...they often work hard and help us out and keep things moving smoothly...and I appreciate that...but let's stop complaining about the pay, it's more than appropriate for the work involved.

Well, let's see the shortage somewhat speaks for itself.

Part of it is the misnomer that there is a Two-year nursing degree. The vast majority of Associate Degree programs are actually three years, minimum, not two. Yes, it says associate's but that is somewhat like the old physical therapy 5 year bachelor's.

Again, it doesn't matter how little/much education one has IF NO ONE WANTS TO DO THE JOB.

To a certain extent, no matter how much education we have, if we are going to benefit the patient population, we will be working around spit, vomit, pee, poop, germs and very very bad tempered people., who seem to think that because we are nurses, that they can slap us, scream at us, call us names, threaten us....MDs/visitors/patients.

For some reason, there are a lot of people that don't find this attractive as an occupation.

The comparison with police is not valid. Police get to wear guns, and bullet proof vests. If someone mistreats them, they are going to jail or charged with a crime. If a nurse is mistreated, too often hospitals sweep it under the table or tell her to "just deal" with it, or that s/he must have done something to deserve it.

Those of us that are good, will rarely be able to leave work on time, will miss most of our breaks, and have lousy dietary habits from eating that crap that gets served in the cafeteria...if there is even a cafeteria open. We do a great deal of work /pay for a lot of course work in our off time that we do not get reimbursed for to be even better nurses. We do not get to choose our partners (unlike you), frequently know little about the skills of those unlicensed caregivers we may have delegate to ( unlike you who pick out your staff). We can be low censused or mandated at the drop of a hat, and if we refuse mandation, we will be threatened with loss of our license. We have very little control of our schedules, surroundings, coworkers.

If I call you with normal results, it is because some d&*%head wrote and order stating "Call with results". And I have had said d^&*head chew me over, because he was up "all night" waiting for results (as to why he couldn't call his/herself?????). Or someone whined to the unit director that some result was not called.

Do you not think that I have much better things to do than, page, wait for pages, and crap like that.

I have also had interns (in Oncology) that called me to find out what to do about a low uric acid in a leukemic. Or write orders for O2 - 12.5%, and get nasty when respiratory called to question.

But my favorite is getting stuck in the middle of p%^&ing matches between the PharmD and the MD, or between radiology and the MD. Some dip decides that the MD has to write the reason for ordering Lovenox/IV Vitamin K/etc. on a patient that falls out of the usual norm and will not dispense it. Do they call the MD,,,nooooo, call the nurse and make her enforce pharmacy policy. Would the Rad ever call the MD directly to question the need for a test,, no relay it to the nurse...who callls the MD and takes the heat. Not to mention it is the nurse's fault if radiology hasn't read the film in a timely matter.

Chances are if a nurse is calling you about trivial stuff, it because s/he has dealt with a micromanaging MD, complaining MD, or someone is requiring it him/her on these things.

I have been busy for last couple of days, and I happen to have a second to see that this thread has gone from humerous and lighthearted to frustrated and defensive. You have got to be kidding me.

I started this just to have a few laughs guys and gals. That's all. What has happened to us as a profession where even the simplest joke that has no creul or mean or vicious intention becomes such a big deal. We all need to step back a bit, lay off the provigil and Mountain Dew, and just chill. That said, I have a great one from last night that still has me laughing outloud.

Pager goes off (about 9pm)
Me: Hello?
Nurse on ortho floor: Are you on call for orthopedics?
Me: Yes.
Nurse: I have problem with hip fracture you just admitted.
Me: What's up?
Nurse: Well . . . are you aware that this man has had a full erection since he came up to the floor?
Me: Are you shi_t'in me?
Nurse: No, I'm not.
Me: Be down in a second.

Walk downstairs to find that guy lying in bed, asleep (after a total of 4 of dilauded courtsey of the ER), with a full freakin' erection. I'm thinkin' . . . what the hell? Call his much younger wife from the cafeteria, who comes up to the floor giggling. Turns out he has an inflatable internal penis prostheses, and she thought it would be hilarous to inflate it and go gets some dinner.

Unbelievable. Her husband (or should I say suger daddy) is lying in bed with a displaced hip fracture, and she gives him a boner and walks away? I don't even have the words . . .

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

:laugh:

Time to get a divorce! And of course retell that story in court just to show how cruel the wife was :)

If I call you with normal results, it is because some d&*%head wrote and order stating "Call with results". And I have had said d^&*head chew me over, because he was up "all night" waiting for results (as to why he couldn't call his/herself?????). Or someone whined to the unit director that some result was not called.

please. nurses says stuff like this all the time. and yet theyll bug you all night with normal vitals and then forget to tell you about the guy who spiked a temp and was newly tachycardic whoopsie. and if you complain theyre like 'hey, you always say you dont want to be called.' how much sense does that make? you mean you put that little though t into your job that you can only process 'always call' or 'always no call'. and still manage to break that same rule intermittently? its hilarious. you cant use that defense of 'you told me not to call' if youre at the same time calling in normal values.

Chances are if a nurse is calling you about trivial stuff, it because s/he has dealt with a micromanaging MD, complaining MD, or someone is requiring it him/her on these things.

false. thats a convenient shift the blame tactic again. anyone know docs who tell nurses to call them with fingersticks on a regular basis? or bps? or 90% of the other stuff? anyeone? and if so then why arent the nurses callig with all that stuff for every patient every shift every day?

No knocks on the ER guys most of the call come from people rotating there or MS4's
I've gotten some bozo calls from general surgery. Including the consult to the trauma bay for an "unstable maxilla".....I reached into the guys mouth and pulled out a denture.

If I call you with normal results, it is because some d&*%head wrote and order stating "Call with results". And I have had said d^&*head chew me over, because he was up "all night" waiting for results (as to why he couldn't call his/herself?????). Or someone whined to the unit director that some result was not called.

But my favorite is getting stuck in the middle of p%^&ing matches between the PharmD and the MD, or between radiology and the MD. Some dip decides that the MD has to write the reason for ordering Lovenox/IV Vitamin K/etc. on a patient that falls out of the usual norm and will not dispense it. Do they call the MD,,,nooooo, call the nurse and make her enforce pharmacy policy. Would the Rad ever call the MD directly to question the need for a test,, no relay it to the nurse...who callls the MD and takes the heat. Not to mention it is the nurse's fault if radiology hasn't read the film in a timely matter.

Chances are if a nurse is calling you about trivial stuff, it because s/he has dealt with a micromanaging MD, complaining MD, or someone is requiring it him/her on these things.

I experienced these situations on multiple occasions as an intern (esp. at the county hospital). I've even been guilty of writing some of those orders to call with lab result (sometimes I was worried it would be abnormal, sometimes my attending or resident insisted it be called regardless, etc.). Lots of crosscover pain is created by the poor order writing of interns (at least in my experience, and yes, I was also a guilty party). I really dislike getting micromanaging calls about tests or medicine orders, but I try to realize when the nurse is being caught in the middle. I usually handle this by calling pharmacy or radiology directly to discuss the problem. I realize this is off the original topic, and it is in no way meant as a criticism of this thread (which I think is hilarious). I just thought I'd point out that the proximal cause of many of the funny/annoying calls (but certainly not all of them) was another intern. Not that I didn't generate plenty of funny/annoying calls myself (both to nurses, other departments, residents, attendings, etc.). That's what happens when you're learning on the job.

I've gotten some bozo calls from general surgery. Including the consult to the trauma bay for an "unstable maxilla".....I reached into the guys mouth and pulled out a denture.
Classic

please. nurses says stuff like this all the time.

false. thats a convenient shift the blame tactic again. anyone know docs who tell nurses to call them with fingersticks on a regular basis? or bps? or 90% of the other stuff? anyeone? and if so then why arent the nurses callig with all that stuff for every patient every shift every day?

Why do you think that we say? Because it is true.

Last assignment. Dr. S (winter park - florida) - endocrinology - Requested every fingerstick called to him that was over 200....which meant EVERY FINGERSTICK got called. For virtually on the floor while I was there. Even the AC, HS and two hour postprandals. This guy was a private MD.

For every specialty in most facilities, there will be at least one.

If you write an order saying you want to be called with the results, you have to expect , that you will get called. Don't write it if you don't mean it.

But then you are an expert, since you have worked for so many years as a nurse and as an MD?

FYI, cops and firefighters start in the low 30's.

A good nurse is your best ally on the floor. A bad one is your worst enemy. Hospitals seem to be moving away from LPN's which means you get at least an extra year of education. The last ICU I worked in was employing only BSNs -- that's a real college degree and it very much showed in the quality of the nurses. So I'm optimistic.

Why do you think that we say? Because it is true.

its called rationalization sweetheart. its the same reason every nurse says if you get a bad phonecall its because youre a crap doctor and thats nurses getting back at you and the truth is that you need to be nicer and really the bad calls are your own fault and not because nurses arent putting any thought into their work. any other explanation possible? no.

A bad one is your worst enemy.

you know how people constantly say to treat nurses nicely or they will be your worst enemy or your life will be a living hell or you will never sleep or somethig? do nurses say to treat doctors nicely or your life will be a living hell? and if nurses are mistreated by doctors do nurses say to each other well that must be because you were mean to the doctor and the solution is to treat lightly around doctors and be nicer to them and try to befriend them. i wonder why not.

It's probably because doctors get all the attention, respect, and most importantly, the successes. No one thanks the nurse for a good job done on a patient.

Because doctors have larger rewards to reap, they should be held to higher standards in terms of treating nurses and patients well.

I'm not saying this gives free reign for nurses to be arrogan and disrespectful. But I can understand how underappreciated they can be and how that can translate into an unhappy attitude.

youre right that nurses dont get thanked enough but on the other hand just like you said that certainly doesnt excuse the pathetic behavior that so many of them exhibit.

Well, let's see the shortage somewhat speaks for itself.

The comparison with police is not valid. Police get to wear guns, and bullet proof vests. If someone mistreats them, they are going to jail or charged with a crime. If a nurse is mistreated, too often hospitals sweep it under the table or tell her to "just deal" with it, or that s/he must have done something to deserve it.

Uh...police risk their lives...they can be shot at, stabbed, etc...every day they go to work, their families worry if they will be back safe that evening. How can you possibly say you face that kind of "mistreatment" or danger. Nobody is physically assaulting you.
Look, when you're an employee, you have to take orders, and, crazy as it may sound, sometimes you're reprimanded...maybe you did something wrong and maybe the boss was just in a bad mood...but it comes with the territory. It's no different than working in an office/store/restaurant and you have people telling you what to do or yelling at you....as an employee, you HAVE to take orders....you are NOT the boss.
If you don't want to take orders from people...nobody is stopping you from applying yourself, going to school for many more years and working your butt off to reach a higher position in employment.

Having worked in nursing, I can tell you that nurses do recognize residents and physicians who are nice, smart, hard-working, and good with patients. It's not difficult and for the most part these physicians get a lot of respect even if the nurses don't always show it.

As a med student I had a nurse compliment me on my bedside manner with a challenging patient and it was one of the nicest compliments I've ever had in my medical career.

My point is that you maximize your chances of having a good experience by being a nice and reasonable person. Yes, you will not win every nurse, attending, patient, etc. you you will do better than average.

its called rationalization sweetheart. its the same reason every nurse says if you get a bad phonecall its because youre a crap doctor and thats nurses getting back at you and the truth is that you need to be nicer and really the bad calls are your own fault and not because nurses arent putting any thought into their work. any other explanation possible? no.

you know how people constantly say to treat nurses nicely or they will be your worst enemy or your life will be a living hell or you will never sleep or somethig? do nurses say to treat doctors nicely or your life will be a living hell? and if nurses are mistreated by doctors do nurses say to each other well that must be because you were mean to the doctor and the solution is to treat lightly around doctors and be nicer to them and try to befriend them. i wonder why not.

youre right that nurses dont get thanked enough but on the other hand just like you said that certainly doesnt excuse the pathetic behavior that so many of them exhibit.

You really need to learn to use a comma. And I'm not being the grammar police, I'm out of breath just reading your posts.

3:00 AM

Pager goes off....

"Hello"
"This is XXXX"
"Yes, Mr. Smith's morning labs came back and his creatinine is low. "
"Huh? "
"Yes, its 0.3 and the computer defines this as 'low.'"
"Are you kidding?'

Click.
Same thing happened to me but it was a student nurse and during the day. I told her to get IV Creatinine stat from the pharmacy and call me before she infused. I think she got it because she didn't call back

Uh...police risk their lives...they can be shot at, stabbed, etc...every day they go to work, their families worry if they will be back safe that evening. How can you possibly say you face that kind of "mistreatment" or danger. Nobody is physically assaulting you.
Look, when you're an employee, you have to take orders, and, crazy as it may sound, sometimes you're reprimanded...maybe you did something wrong and maybe the boss was just in a bad mood...but it comes with the territory. It's no different than working in an office/store/restaurant and you have people telling you what to do or yelling at you....as an employee, you HAVE to take orders....you are NOT the boss.
If you don't want to take orders from people...nobody is stopping you from applying yourself, going to school for many more years and working your butt off to reach a higher position in employment.

Sweety,

I have seen nurses stabbed with needles, threatened with knives and guns, and known at least one that a psycho (excuse me, "client") corner a nurse in the bathroom and attempted to rape her. When she finally manage to hit the Code button and get help, one of the upper management got upset that she summoned the Code team for no reason.

An eldrly maced three staff members, one of whom had to be hospitalized from the results (Florida)

I have been stabbed with a contaminated (from a bloodbourne disease) needle. I have also had to have IV antibiotics from a human bite - Georgia. Gamma globulin/and HIV prophylaxis is no cake walk. I have been present when some dip of an armed security guard let a schizophrenic patient TAKE HIS GUN AWAY - in Winter Haven, Florida. I was also taking one of my few, well earned breaks, when some idiot drives up to the side door of the hospital, gunshots ring out, and drops a body out the side door- Florida.

Was on the floor assisting with an MD who came in after hours to do an LP on a confused patient. The other nurse assisting was pregnant. The MD was getting ticked that the patient could not be kept still enough. The patient reached over, grabbed the other nurses hand and fractured 3 of her fingers - you could hear them break. The MD still continued to berate us for not keeping the patient (>300 lbs) still. He stormed out and left the floor, without saying that he was leaving, leaving us with the patient in position, and contaminated sharps all over the bed. Two days later, the patient was put on precautions for meningitis. He just "forgot" to let anyone know. (Georgia)

A coworker of mine was choked with her stethoscope. A "grieving" family member showed up, found that their loved one has passed, earlier. He grabbed her by the neck, demanded that she try to resuscitate the deceased, and started choking her with the scope - Georgia. She has continuing neck problems.

And except for the rape, all of these happened on medsurg/stepdown/onco units. Not psych, not ER.

It is no way acceptable to do this to healthcare workers - there is no acceptable excuses for this - and it is most definitely physical abuse.

Do not tell me what we do is not dangerous, and we have little recourse. And as we work much closer to the patient, we are much more likely to be injured than you ever will be.

Several surveys have noted that nurses have a much higher rate of back injuries than anyone, other than construction workers. And that we are at incredible high risk of assault.

We also have to continue to treat those that have bitten us, slapped us, or for that matter, broken our fingers.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Where you came up with the bogus, you have to take orders from those higher up issue, I don't know. But as far as that matters, I take my directions from my nurse manager and that is my higher up. That and G-d. And have yet to have had her need to order me to do anything. Because I do my job. And have not needed to be reprimanded, as I do my job quite well.

I think the good nurses are overworked, sometimes underpaid, and are the biggest asset to patient care.
The bad nurses are the most dangerous members of the healthcare team, lazy and overpaid.

Some nurses have BSN degrees and others have just an associates. There is no way to differentiate between them and that is unfortunate. There are some great assoc degree nurses but it is too bad that there is no way to recognize those who worked harder and longer in school and usually have a greater grasp of medicine from the others. The nurses I know (all BSN)express great frustration that they is no way to convey their "title" because it has become so politically incorrect. There is very little pay difference as well so little incentive to achieve a higher level of knowledge.

My mother, 2 best friends and a close cousin are all nurses. Obviously, I think they are the good ones but they have horror stories of the bad ones. They also have their own shocking stories of docs throwing charts at them, etc.

I have no doubt that some nurses are in danger, aren't they supposed to have one of the highest incidences of assult while in uniform?
However, I think that physical risk is somewhat related to where you are and it what type of facility. I would venture to say that the PTs, RTs, etc are all at greater risk there as well.

This is part of every profession. The bad ones are bad and give the rest a bad name. Oh, well.

you know how people constantly say to treat nurses nicely or they will be your worst enemy or your life will be a living hell or you will never sleep or somethig? do nurses say to treat doctors nicely or your life will be a living hell? and if nurses are mistreated by doctors do nurses say to each other well that must be because you were mean to the doctor and the solution is to treat lightly around doctors and be nicer to them and try to befriend them. i wonder why not.

My mom always warned me to be nice to the nurses because her co-workers would call the "icky" ones for tylenol at 3am all the time. We laughed about it.... :laugh:
As a med student, I was nothing but nice and respectful. It was an uphill battle. It was like they all assumed that we were all terrible people and we had to prove we were human. I also think it is harder for female med students/interns to get any respect from nurses.
My mom is much more sympathetic to the med students and residents now! She never realized all of our responsibility or hours on call, etc, etc. She didn't call them at 3 am even back then but she did/does still call the jerk doctors for little things. She says she will only get yelled at once for not calling with a lab. HOWEVER, she doesn't call all of them, she is smart enough to remember which one deserves it!

My mom is much more sympathetic to the med students and residents now! She never realized all of our responsibility or hours on call, etc, etc.

Yeah, I'm always amazed by how most nurses have no concept of how much interns and residents work. I know nursing is a tough job, but 36 hours per week is a lot different than 80 + research + reading.

I was wondering how long it would take for nurses to come to this thread, all offended.

Very good point. I do hate people telling me what to do, that is why I especially hate bossy nurses that think they know everything when in fact they know nothing. Well that's not entirely true, they know how to hand out meds and make bed assignments. They can't wipe arses, start iv's, help the patient to the restroom, turn off a beeping iv pole, trouble shoot an iv occlusion, draw blood, or find a freaking bed pan when the patient needs one. Many of the nurses I work with are just plain lazy. If they didn't have a fleet of medical assistants (and ancillary staff such as RTs, phlebotomists, x-ray techs, social workers, case managers, and pharmacists) to do their work, I don't know how they would survive a shift. Now they have random nurse practitioners running around and writing random orders on patient charts, but alas, at 2 am when pharmacy gets around to filling the order, who do they call? The sleeping resident who isn't even on call. Why? Because NPs work a 9 to 5er and leave the rest of us "full of ourselves" doctors to do the work.

I freaking hate nurses with a passion!!!! The healthcare system is doomed. I hope they replace all residents with NPs and PAs and eliminate inpatient medicine. Let the hospitals foot the cost of patients dying left and right due to no continuity of care.

Ah, I feel so much better now.


I am too tired to even write a full response, but I had to let you know what a freakin' *****hole you are. Keep up that attitude and you will get really far. Blame others for your incompetence. Thank god you don't work at my hospital, the nurses would have you out on your ass. When nobody will work with you and you have numerous complaints against you for your sucky attitude and abusive ways, you will be booted. By the way, the nurses do not work for you. We work for the facility. Whether you like it or not, you have no power over us, and as a resident, are equal employees in the hospital.

To all the posters who don't share his attitude: Keep up the good work, I know how hard all of you guys/girls have it, and I give you all the credit. My best friends are residents, and I am right there with them, seeing what they go through and giving them the support they need to get through it. A good doctor needs to have good interpersonal skills, and from what I have seen on this board, you are all good, friendly people, a few bad apples in the bunch don't make me think that all of you are like this. There are bad nurses out there just like there are bad doctors, but I hope most of you still have faith in us. Good luck to you all.

Sweety,

I have seen nurses stabbed with needles, threatened with knives and guns, and known at least one that a psycho (excuse me, "client") corner a nurse in the bathroom and attempted to rape her. When she finally manage to hit the Code button and get help, one of the upper management got upset that she summoned the Code team for no reason.

An eldrly maced three staff members, one of whom had to be hospitalized from the results (Florida)

I have been stabbed with a contaminated (from a bloodbourne disease) needle. I have also had to have IV antibiotics from a human bite - Georgia. Gamma globulin/and HIV prophylaxis is no cake walk. I have been present when some dip of an armed security guard let a schizophrenic patient TAKE HIS GUN AWAY - in Winter Haven, Florida. I was also taking one of my few, well earned breaks, when some idiot drives up to the side door of the hospital, gunshots ring out, and drops a body out the side door- Florida.

Was on the floor assisting with an MD who came in after hours to do an LP on a confused patient. The other nurse assisting was pregnant. The MD was getting ticked that the patient could not be kept still enough. The patient reached over, grabbed the other nurses hand and fractured 3 of her fingers - you could hear them break. The MD still continued to berate us for not keeping the patient (>300 lbs) still. He stormed out and left the floor, without saying that he was leaving, leaving us with the patient in position, and contaminated sharps all over the bed. Two days later, the patient was put on precautions for meningitis. He just "forgot" to let anyone know. (Georgia)

A coworker of mine was choked with her stethoscope. A "grieving" family member showed up, found that their loved one has passed, earlier. He grabbed her by the neck, demanded that she try to resuscitate the deceased, and started choking her with the scope - Georgia. She has continuing neck problems.

And except for the rape, all of these happened on medsurg/stepdown/onco units. Not psych, not ER.

It is no way acceptable to do this to healthcare workers - there is no acceptable excuses for this - and it is most definitely physical abuse.

Do not tell me what we do is not dangerous, and we have little recourse. And as we work much closer to the patient, we are much more likely to be injured than you ever will be.

Several surveys have noted that nurses have a much higher rate of back injuries than anyone, other than construction workers. And that we are at incredible high risk of assault.

We also have to continue to treat those that have bitten us, slapped us, or for that matter, broken our fingers.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Where you came up with the bogus, you have to take orders from those higher up issue, I don't know. But as far as that matters, I take my directions from my nurse manager and that is my higher up. That and G-d. And have yet to have had her need to order me to do anything. Because I do my job. And have not needed to be reprimanded, as I do my job quite well.

Where do you work?...Iraq?...Bosnia? Okay, my experiences in medicine in LA county, with all the crime and scum, do not give me any sort of impression even remotely like this. I could give you the benefit of the doubt though, and even so this is an extreme exception and an example that is likely not reproducible elsewhere. Or you could be embellishing for the sake of drama and vainly trying to make an exaggerated point.
It seems strange to me that some physician would break a nurse's fingers without any consequences...you're saying he just walked away and she did nothing about it? You're saying that a nurse was reprimanded for alerting someone while she was being assaulted? I mean, give me a break...do I seem like I was born yesterday?
Some of your stories sound credible...and some don't. And of course, these are not day to day events...but exceptions....just like postal worker shootings, bank robbery holdups and shootings, convenient store clerk assaults and shootings, teachers being assaulted at school, and many other situations. Heck, even as a medical student I was assaulted by a agitated patient a couple of years ago. I was also stuck with a needle (accidentally)couple of years ago and had to do the testing/prophylaxis deal.
So, what's my point? I don't agree with you that nursing is as dangerous as you would like to have it portrayed. I will concede that hostile situations occur in hospitals that can put hospital employees in difficult situations...and sometimes (not as often as you make it seem) someone can get hurt...be it nurse, physician, technician, security guard, etc...And, I repeat, that I absolutely do not think nurses don't have a hard job or do help us residents/interns/physicians out tremendously...they are also often underappreciated. That being said, before this got all blown out of proportion, I was simply trying to make a point about nurses' earnings and the fact that they're not as low as everyone tries to make them out to be, especially when you factor in the time and level of training involved.
I still believe you don't have a leg to stand on if you are trying to imply that nursing is as dangerous as police work...give me a break.
Oh yeah...nurses with back pain....how about physicians and suicide rates? And really, you don't need to tell me about back pain...we're the ones who do the 30 hour overnight shifts q4 for quite a few years.

Sorry guys, this was supposed to be a light-hearted/funny thread...I apologize if I've corrupted it.

Interesting how many nurses don't hesitate for a moment to treat med students and interns like worthless pieces of crap, but become offended when we share funny stories amongst ourselves.

I am never mean to the med students or interns unless they are mean to me first. I go out of my way for the med students especially, because even if they are not mistreated, many of them feel like they are unimportant. Most of them are bright, enthusiastic individuals, and I really like working with them. I enjoy teaching them what I know, and learning from them in the process.

My mom always warned me to be nice to the nurses because her co-workers would call the "icky" ones for tylenol at 3am all the time. We laughed about it.... :laugh:

so you laughed about so-called health care professionals acting like there were babies? and you didnt answer the question. did she ever say that when she was mistreated by a doc that was because she had probably caused it and the solution was for her to make sure she acted nicer to the docs?

It was like they all assumed that we were all terrible people and we had to prove we were human.

oh so you laughed about their behavior with your mommy until you were the one being hit by it and now you say that they treated you like you werent human. goood one.

My mom is much more sympathetic to the med students and residents now!

oh so your mommy laughed about the behavior of nurses until you were the one being hit by it and now she says that shes more sympathetic. wow.

she is smart enough to remember which one deserves it!

let me take a wild guess: anyone related to her would never deserve it coincidentally. :rolleyes:

I was wondering how long it would take for nurses to come to this thread, all offended.

hey theyre working three days a week. give them a break. its not liek they have a lot of time on their hands.

Thank god you don't work at my hospital, the nurses would have you out on your ass.

see how repetitive nurses sound? they act like theyre five years old and yet demand to be treated like adults. everything is all about how everyone needs to be nice to them and why cant we be thanked more and the world is so mean to us. then they turn around and say hey everyone who we dont like lets try to make their life miserable and then we'll sit around on our breaks and laugh about it and talk about what else to do. and then they act like 'oh yeah every time i bug you its because you wrote me an order to'. hey, you really buy that stuff after reading this thread and seeing every ****in' nurse write about how its her duty to try to make someones life miserable because she decided they werent "good people'?

like i said, its a load of rationalization

so you laughed about so-called health care professionals acting like there were babies? and you didnt answer the question. did she ever say that when she was mistreated by a doc that was because she had probably caused it and the solution was for her to make sure she acted nicer to the docs?


oh so you laughed about their behavior with your mommy until you were the one being hit by it and now you say that they treated you like you werent human. goood one.
We laughed about it because it was a funny way for her to warn me to be nice to the nurses. (Notice I said her "co-workers") Silly boy! No, I don't think she ever deserved the treatment she got from the bad docs. I worked with them as well and they were mean to everyone. The point was that she is smart enough to know to call the doc that demands that all labs be called in and not call the ones that didn't with all lab results. I am sure she has been tempted to call some at 3am for tylenol but I don't think she would do it. It is a running verbal joke with us.
Besides, it doesn't matter what you do - no one deserves to have a chart thrown at them, or be cursed at, etc. No excuse for that type of behavior.


oh so your mommy laughed about the behavior of nurses until you were the one being hit by it and now she says that shes more sympathetic. wow.

My mother didn't laugh about it. Again, you misunderstood my intention and took it all way to seriously. Chill out! She is more sympathetic to med students and residents now because she never knew how many hours they worked, that they really do spend more than 15 minutes with the patient because a lot is behind the scenes. The majority of the attendings that she worked with had an understanding with her - if she needed an order at 3am, she wrote it out herself and called in the morning or they signed it on morning rounds. That is the difference between a good and bad nurse. When they can be trusted and can take some initiative.


let me take a wild guess: anyone related to her would never deserve it coincidentally. :rolleyes:

I don't really know what you mean by that! My years as a nurses aid while in grad school drove in the idea of being a team player.

You aren't very nice! :cool:

We laughed about it because it was a funny way for her to warn me to be nice to the nurses.

ok but my point is did she warn your female relatives and friends who are also nurses to be nice to the doctors? and yes i deliberately say warn because thats the word you used. and if her colleagues were complaining about a doctor who mistreated them did she say oh you know that just means that you were probably a jerk and the solution is to be nicer to them? becuase thats what nurses say to everyone else.

This thread has unfortunately degenerated and now sucks.

see how repetitive nurses sound? they act like theyre five years old and yet demand to be treated like adults. everything is all about how everyone needs to be nice to them and why cant we be thanked more and the world is so mean to us. then they turn around and say hey everyone who we dont like lets try to make their life miserable and then we'll sit around on our breaks and laugh about it and talk about what else to do. and then they act like 'oh yeah every time i bug you its because you wrote me an order to'. hey, you really buy that stuff after reading this thread and seeing every ****in' nurse write about how its her duty to try to make someones life miserable because she decided they werent "good people'?

like i said, its a load of rationalization


Yeah *****wipe, I have nothing better to do when I'm at work than sit around and come up with ways to make your life miserable! Are you listening to yourself and how stupid you sound? If you stayed current with the latest news, you would read that hospitals are NO LONGER TOLERATING physican to nurse abuse. There are hospitals that are revoking admission privledges to physicians that abuse staff, because it has been proven that patient care is effected when the doctor is abusive. That is the bottom line. Now that is just talking about attendings. You are a resident. The hospital holds no love for you my friend, you are replaceable and you keep that attitude up trust me you will have a long list of people who will have you kicked out of your program. I have seen it happen a few times in my hospital, dont think it cant happen to you. The last one I am aware of shared your attitude, and finally after enduring a year of this clown's behavior, a petition was given to the chairman by the entire nursing staff that they all refuse to work with him due to his abusive behavior, with documentation of attempts to remedy the situation before. Guess what, the guy was gone the next day. We have the right to work in an environment where we are not talked down to, verbally and physically abused.

So, as usual... this thread has been turned into a Pi*&^%ing contest instead of just letting it remain what it was initially intended to be... a funny read. Can't we just all tell/hear some funny stories and laugh about it... and ourselves? We've all done really, really dumb things and we've all seen people of all professions do really, really dumb things. We work in medicine, so we tell funny stories about people in medicine. There are stories about nurses on this thread as well as interns, residents & attendings... so can all those that feel the need to get all defensive & get up on their soapbox just start another thread so we can get back to the funnies?