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- Aug 2, 2014
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I wrote the questions and my responses under them. I would appreciate any thoughts and feedback regarding how you would handle them and my responses.:
#1: "You are the 3rd year med student and a resident has diagnosed a patient with appendicitis but you were just in there comforting the patient and didn't notice symptoms of such. You know the resident never actually checked on this patient. The attending has 2 min. to make a decision on the situation and asks you whether surgery is needed. The resident says yes but you know they didn't see the patient and think the answer is no."
I would be very direct. There is a very limited amount of time to handle this situation and the results. Although, being direct will undermine the patient's trust (and rightfully so) in the resident, mistakes like this will lead to an unnecessary operation and potentially all sorts of consequences. I'd make sure that she received an actual physical exam, preferably under another resident or doctor that would follow through the test and definitely report him to the attending doctor. As a future doctor, it is my job to advocate for the patient's needs, which is why chose this option. This is not an easy situation and will most likely lead to a confrontation, but in the case of negligence, such as this it should be handled accordingly.
You are an intern, and your resident reports to his attending that he did rounds on a patient even though you know he did not. What would you do?
#2: "What do you do if you are in an elevator and a patient is there and 2 other physicians. The two physicians are badmouthing a patient. Not particularly the patient in the elevator but a patient in general."
The easiest way of handling this, in my mind, is to stay in the elevator with the patient until after the doctors leave and apologize for the doctors' comments to the patient and let them know that not every doctor is or thinks that way and that I'll do what I can to report the situation to their superiors (even if I don't it's better than doing nothing). Realistically, this probably happens a lot without others around, but making fun of another patient in front of patient depreciates the doctor patient relationship and trust. Not to mention HIPAA.
There's also the option of confronting them and asking them how they would like it if their doctors badmouthed them in front of other patients, which would most likely go nowhere, although look good to the patient, or reporting them (would that really go anywhere? it sounds like it'd devolve into my word vs theirs).
# 3: " how would you handle a situation where the resident and fellow were making a joke about a patient?"
There's the option of telling them to put themselves in the patient's shoes and what'd they think about a doctor making fun of them. The easier solution is to not acknowledge it and move on because this sort of stuff does and will always happen, but at the same time that's not fair to the patient. Other than that it's pretty much the same logic as question #2.
Thoughts? feedback? how would you handle these situations?
#1: "You are the 3rd year med student and a resident has diagnosed a patient with appendicitis but you were just in there comforting the patient and didn't notice symptoms of such. You know the resident never actually checked on this patient. The attending has 2 min. to make a decision on the situation and asks you whether surgery is needed. The resident says yes but you know they didn't see the patient and think the answer is no."
I would be very direct. There is a very limited amount of time to handle this situation and the results. Although, being direct will undermine the patient's trust (and rightfully so) in the resident, mistakes like this will lead to an unnecessary operation and potentially all sorts of consequences. I'd make sure that she received an actual physical exam, preferably under another resident or doctor that would follow through the test and definitely report him to the attending doctor. As a future doctor, it is my job to advocate for the patient's needs, which is why chose this option. This is not an easy situation and will most likely lead to a confrontation, but in the case of negligence, such as this it should be handled accordingly.
You are an intern, and your resident reports to his attending that he did rounds on a patient even though you know he did not. What would you do?
#2: "What do you do if you are in an elevator and a patient is there and 2 other physicians. The two physicians are badmouthing a patient. Not particularly the patient in the elevator but a patient in general."
The easiest way of handling this, in my mind, is to stay in the elevator with the patient until after the doctors leave and apologize for the doctors' comments to the patient and let them know that not every doctor is or thinks that way and that I'll do what I can to report the situation to their superiors (even if I don't it's better than doing nothing). Realistically, this probably happens a lot without others around, but making fun of another patient in front of patient depreciates the doctor patient relationship and trust. Not to mention HIPAA.
There's also the option of confronting them and asking them how they would like it if their doctors badmouthed them in front of other patients, which would most likely go nowhere, although look good to the patient, or reporting them (would that really go anywhere? it sounds like it'd devolve into my word vs theirs).
# 3: " how would you handle a situation where the resident and fellow were making a joke about a patient?"
There's the option of telling them to put themselves in the patient's shoes and what'd they think about a doctor making fun of them. The easier solution is to not acknowledge it and move on because this sort of stuff does and will always happen, but at the same time that's not fair to the patient. Other than that it's pretty much the same logic as question #2.
Thoughts? feedback? how would you handle these situations?
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