I lied to my chief resident

[agranulocytosis]

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Today the residents decided to do afternoon rounds early today. The junior on call asked us for help to update him on the patients and update the patient list, and by the time I was done, the chief walked in and began rounds.

So when he came to one of my patients, I lied about seeing him when in fact I only saw his updated labs. He kept asking me about the patient and I told him "no everything was fine when I saw him". Well, after the table rounds were over, I checked up on him, and lo and behold, he did have a massive bowel movement, prompting another resident to order a C diff screen. I didn't lie about not seeing my other patient.

Basically I got caught in a lie. I tried locating the chief after rounds to tell him that I was sorry I lied, but he was no where to be found. Right now I've got this sinking feeling that I'm going to bomb this rotation unless I approach him tomorrow and let him know it won't happen again.

This is the first time I've ever done something like this on any rotation. What do you guys think? Should I approach the chief tomorrow or not?

 

[DwyaneWade]

Today the residents decided to do afternoon rounds early today. The junior on call asked us for help to update him on the patients and update the patient list, and by the time I was done, the chief walked in and began rounds.

So when he came to one of my patients, I lied about seeing him when in fact I only saw his updated labs. He kept asking me about the patient and I told him "no everything was fine when I saw him". Well, after the table rounds were over, I checked up on him, and lo and behold, he did have a massive bowel movement, prompting another resident to order a C diff screen. I didn't lie about not seeing my other patient.

Basically I got caught in a lie. I tried locating the chief after rounds to tell him that I was sorry I lied, but he was no where to be found. Right now I've got this sinking feeling that I'm going to bomb this rotation unless I approach him tomorrow and let him know it won't happen again.

This is the first time I've ever done something like this on any rotation. What do you guys think? Should I approach the chief tomorrow or not?

Do you realize how dangerous what you did was in terms of your future career and development? I think you realize by now that lying is never acceptable in this field (or any professional field really). Lying is a major cause of residents getting booted from their programs and students getting suspended/booted from their schools. Eventually you will be caught.

I think you should minimize the damage done and come clean. It will look much worse if you pretend that nothing happened, most residents are not stupid.

 

[jojoshabadoo]

Today the residents decided to do afternoon rounds early today. The junior on call asked us for help to update him on the patients and update the patient list, and by the time I was done, the chief walked in and began rounds.

So when he came to one of my patients, I lied about seeing him when in fact I only saw his updated labs. He kept asking me about the patient and I told him "no everything was fine when I saw him". Well, after the table rounds were over, I checked up on him, and lo and behold, he did have a massive bowel movement, prompting another resident to order a C diff screen. I didn't lie about not seeing my other patient.

Basically I got caught in a lie. I tried locating the chief after rounds to tell him that I was sorry I lied, but he was no where to be found. Right now I've got this sinking feeling that I'm going to bomb this rotation unless I approach him tomorrow and let him know it won't happen again.

This is the first time I've ever done something like this on any rotation. What do you guys think? Should I approach the chief tomorrow or not?

Does he necessarily know you lied? maybe he thinks you missed in and then youre stupid and not a liar. Either way learn to take your lickings and never lie like that, this is a really disappointing thing to hear

 

[agranulocytosis]

Do you realize how dangerous what you did was in terms of your future career and development? I think you realize by now that lying is never acceptable in this field (or any professional field really). Lying is a major cause of residents getting booted from their programs and students getting suspended/booted from their schools. Eventually you will be caught.

I think you should minimize the damage done and come clean. It will look much worse if you pretend that nothing happened, most residents are not stupid.

I do. I just don't understand why I started down that path when he asked me whether I saw him or not in the first place. After nearly 3 months of this damned surgery rotation, I guess I just slipped. I knew that rule #1 was not to lie, period.

I think I will just approach him tomorrow and tell him about it. I genuinely feel ****ty about the fact I did this, as I see one of the residents routinely lying knowing that he's seen as a terrible person by the other residents.

 

[agranulocytosis]

Does he necessarily know you lied? maybe he thinks you missed in and then youre stupid and not a liar. Either way learn to take your lickings and never lie like that, this is a really disappointing thing to hear

Tell me about it. My heart skipped a beat when the words came out of my mouth. I definitely don't want to be perceived as untrustworthy as a future potential colleague.

 

[dilated]

I do. I just don't understand why I started down that path when he asked me whether I saw him or not in the first place.

It's always easier to just nod along when somebody asks whether you did something you should have done but forgot to do. It's usually something less obvious than whether you even saw the pt though ("Did you check peripheral pulses on that guy?"). You probably now realize it's actually easier to look like a ******* than stress out about whether anyone will realize you lied. So consider it a lesson learned and don't flagellate too much over it.

 

[surrender903]

I do. I just don't understand why I started down that path when he asked me whether I saw him or not in the first place. After nearly 3 months of this damned surgery rotation, I guess I just slipped. I knew that rule #1 was not to lie, period.

I think I will just approach him tomorrow and tell him about it. I genuinely feel ****ty about the fact I did this, as I see one of the residents routinely lying knowing that he's seen as a terrible person by the other residents.

Take a 1mg xanax and go to bed. Did anyone die? No? Good. Drive on and learn from it.

 

[Taurus]

One of the interns or junior residents should be shadowing the pts that medical students handle. I don't know why your chief resident would take a medical student's word at face value.

 

[thewebthsp]

Today the residents decided to do afternoon rounds early today. The junior on call asked us for help to update him on the patients and update the patient list, and by the time I was done, the chief walked in and began rounds.

So when he came to one of my patients, I lied about seeing him when in fact I only saw his updated labs. He kept asking me about the patient and I told him "no everything was fine when I saw him". Well, after the table rounds were over, I checked up on him, and lo and behold, he did have a massive bowel movement, prompting another resident to order a C diff screen. I didn't lie about not seeing my other patient.

Basically I got caught in a lie. I tried locating the chief after rounds to tell him that I was sorry I lied, but he was no where to be found. Right now I've got this sinking feeling that I'm going to bomb this rotation unless I approach him tomorrow and let him know it won't happen again.

This is the first time I've ever done something like this on any rotation. What do you guys think? Should I approach the chief tomorrow or not?

Yeah, would have been better to say "I looked at the labs, things looked good. Didn't see the patient"...

Agreed with everyone above, try and just say "I don't know" or "I didn't check that" unless you absolutely were sure you did so. Also if you slip and forget to tell your resident something important, just apologize for it, and if it's really important make sure you find a system (alarm, highlight,whatever) so you make sure the resident knows in the future.

Knowing and properly communicating details can be the hardest part of medicine for some people, esp. in cases where one hasn't slept in 30 hrs!!

 

[Jamers]

Today the residents decided to do afternoon rounds early today. The junior on call asked us for help to update him on the patients and update the patient list, and by the time I was done, the chief walked in and began rounds.

So when he came to one of my patients, I lied about seeing him when in fact I only saw his updated labs. He kept asking me about the patient and I told him "no everything was fine when I saw him". Well, after the table rounds were over, I checked up on him, and lo and behold, he did have a massive bowel movement, prompting another resident to order a C diff screen. I didn't lie about not seeing my other patient.

Basically I got caught in a lie. I tried locating the chief after rounds to tell him that I was sorry I lied, but he was no where to be found. Right now I've got this sinking feeling that I'm going to bomb this rotation unless I approach him tomorrow and let him know it won't happen again.

This is the first time I've ever done something like this on any rotation. What do you guys think? Should I approach the chief tomorrow or not?

If this were any rotation aside from surgery I would say, come clean. But being that it IS surgery I would say feign stupid. Your chief is just going to dice you up if you admit to lying. If you pretend like you were just stupid and missed it he will just treat you like a *****. Some surgeons are pricks, don't give them ammunition.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

One of the interns or junior residents should be shadowing the pts that medical students handle. I don't know why your chief resident would take a medical student's word at face value.

Sounded like a resident was following that patient, since they had already ordered the cdiff screen.

 

[MasterShakeDO]

Sounded like a resident was following that patient, since they had already ordered the cdiff screen.

This. The chief resident always knows more about the patient than the med student. When he asks about the patient it's really just an exercise in learning for the med student. You will have a very hard time telling him something he doesn't already know.
I came to this realization early in third year. I religiously checked the absolute most current labs and xrays and talk to nurses, and then proudly reported only to be shot down. I was baffled by how they would have known since they were talking to another patient's family or eating lunch or whatever. Then I figured out they get called/paged about everything.

So in my opinion, he knew the patient had diarrhea. He knew the C.diff screen was ordered. The reason he prodded about how the patient was doing was because he was wondering how you could have missed it. But med students miss things all the time and he may not necessarily come to the conclusion that you were lying.

 

[Pontifex Maximus]

While coming clean would be nice, it probably can only hurt you from this point on. It will pretty much do nothing but clear your conscience. You screwed up, but the patient is OK, and you now definitely know never to do this again. Learn from it.

 

[SLUser11]

Do you realize how dangerous what you did was in terms of your future career and development?

I do. I just don't understand why I started down that path...

Tell me about it. My heart skipped a beat when the words came out of my mouth.

this is a really disappointing thing to hear

You guys all act so horrified by this student's actions, but I bet that many of you are guilty of "white lies" on some level. Honestly, I think a lot of students and residents "stretch the facts" a little bit in the clinical arena. Maybe it's about seeing a patient, or a specific portion of the physical exam (did that patient have a bruit? etc), or actually looking at the CT scan instead of just reading the report.......

Every time I read a dictated H and P, I wonder how much of that they really did. Some of that stuff just rolls off the tongue, and I often see dictations of detailed PEs that didn't happen, or review of systems that didn't happen. I mean, dictating ROS is "negative except for the HPI" is often a big lie in itself.

Of course, that doesn't mean that you should lie. If you're unlucky enough to get caught in the lie, and the patient has a bad outcome, that really sucks for you (and your patient). Still, I don't know that what the OP did is so rare and condemnable. I mean, whose going to cast the first stone here? I know that I'm not......

Yeah, would have been better to say "I looked at the labs, things looked good. Didn't see the patient"...

Agreed with everyone above, try and just say "I don't know" or "I didn't check that" unless you absolutely were sure you did so.

The OP is basically done with 3rd year of med school. I don't know that this thread was asking for advice on how to act on the wards. I think he knows what would have been the better course of actions.



But now, the damage is done, so what should he/she do next? My honest opinion is to DO NOTHING. I know that as residents we say "don't ever lie" and act like we'll know immediately and strike you down for such a heinous offense, but really not all of us are that clever. Don't assume that your chief knows all and was testing you.

Also, by making some grand apology, you're just drawing more attention to your bad decision. If it's brought up again, and you can still salvage the lie, I 'd just apologize for missing the fact that he had a big BM.....



As a final word, if any of my med students are reading this: Don't you ever lie to me, because I'll know, and you will pay for it. 😀

 

[45408]

You guys all act so horrified by this student's actions, but I bet that many of you are guilty of "white lies" on some level. Honestly, I think a lot of students and residents "stretch the facts" a little bit in the clinical arena. Maybe it's about seeing a patient, or a specific portion of the physical exam (did that patient have a bruit? etc), or actually looking at the CT scan instead of just reading the report.......

Every time I read a dictated H and P, I wonder how much of that they really did. Some of that stuff just rolls off the tongue, and I often see dictations of detailed PEs that didn't happen, or review of systems that didn't happen. I mean, dictating ROS is "negative except for the HPI" is often a big lie in itself.

Maybe a lot of other people are comfortable fleshing out some details on things they didn't do, but I always envision myself sitting on the witness stand with the attorney asking "So did you listen to his heart and lungs or not?" I'm a terrible liar, and if I have never documented "RRR & CTAB" without having actually done it, then I know I won't be lying. So I'm not going to throw any rocks, but I don't report stuff if I haven't seen/done it. One of my classmates apparently lied about a patient's H&H (hadn't actually checked it), and a patient got a transfusion when he didn't need one. The resident was also at fault, and they both got worked over pretty good.

Yes, I often read dictated H&Ps and figure that half of that stuff wasn't done, but as for "ROS otherwise negative," it could well just mean "the rest of the stuff that I asked was negative." That's how I interpret it. A full ROS is like 3 pages long. The ENTIRE review of systems is never completely negative if you actually ask all of it, like I had to on medicine. Everyone tells you "Oh, I had diarrhea once last week, yes. I had trouble swallowing that walnut chunk, I had ringing in my ears after that loud rock concert, and I had a little cough last night."

Anyways, as far as I'm concerned, a "little white lie" is writing "alert and oriented x3" without actually asking them their name, location and date. Not actually seeing a patient = kind of a big deal.

 

[Tiger26]

Maybe a lot of other people are comfortable fleshing out some details on things they didn't do, but I always envision myself sitting on the witness stand with the attorney asking "So did you listen to his heart and lungs or not?" I'm a terrible liar, and if I have never documented "RRR & CTAB" without having actually done it, then I know I won't be lying. So I'm not going to throw any rocks, but I don't report stuff if I haven't seen/done it. One of my classmates apparently lied about a patient's H&H (hadn't actually checked it), and a patient got a transfusion when he didn't need one. The resident was also at fault, and they both got worked over pretty good.

Yes, I often read dictated H&Ps and figure that half of that stuff wasn't done, but as for "ROS otherwise negative," it could well just mean "the rest of the stuff that I asked was negative." That's how I interpret it. A full ROS is like 3 pages long. The ENTIRE review of systems is never completely negative if you actually ask all of it, like I had to on medicine. Everyone tells you "Oh, I had diarrhea once last week, yes. I had trouble swallowing that walnut chunk, I had ringing in my ears after that loud rock concert, and I had a little cough last night."

Anyways, as far as I'm concerned, a "little white lie" is writing "alert and oriented x3" without actually asking them their name, location and date. Not actually seeing a patient = kind of a big deal.

No ****, huh, now I'm trying to imagine who it is . . .

Was this on trauma?

 

[Winged Scapula]

I agree with SLUser that there is little to be gained to fessing up to the Chief.

1) we know that patients tell you, the residents and the attendings different stories

2) we know that you miss stuff and/or that people fudge stuff (I cannot tell you what a farce that VA progress note system was...it encouraged people to cut and paste exams from day to day)

3) he/she already knew the patient had a change in management and wondered if you had picked up on it

IF he/she asks you directly, "did you really see Mr. So and So yesterday", then go ahead and tell the truth. But at this point, without really knowing whether or not the Chief knew you lied about seeing the patient, I cannot see the advantage of telling him/her.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

Yah if theres no real proof you lied and you didn't specifically get called out, just move on and try not to do it again. You can get away with a lot on account of your inexperience. If its something serious enough they'll try to fail you for it, they'll have to let you know so you can defend yourself. Besides it's a lotta effort to fail a med student with all the justification and appeals process and such, I suspect most chiefs have better things to do unless you're being blatant about it or they dislike you for other reasons.

 

[silas2642]

Yah if theres no real proof you lied and you didn't specifically get called out, just move on and try not to do it again. You can get away with a lot on account of your inexperience. If its something serious enough they'll try to fail you for it, they'll have to let you know so you can defend yourself. Besides it's a lotta effort to fail a med student with all the justification and appeals process and such, I suspect most chiefs have better things to do unless you're being blatant about it or they dislike you for other reasons.

I wouldn't worry about failing so much as I would worry about something like this going in my dean's letter-- "student was unreliable and at one point was even dishonest with chief resident, stating that he had followed up with pt when he had not." or something to that effect.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

I wouldn't worry about failing so much as I would worry about something like this going in my dean's letter-- "student was unreliable and at one point was even dishonest with chief resident, stating that he had followed up with pt when he had not." or something to that effect.

I think this is a case of the student thinking something is a much bigger deal than the resident. The chief probably (at worst) thinks the student didn't have the most up-to-date information on the patient's bowel movements.

 

[Scaredshizzles]

Today the residents decided to do afternoon rounds early today. The junior on call asked us for help to update him on the patients and update the patient list, and by the time I was done, the chief walked in and began rounds.

So when he came to one of my patients, I lied about seeing him when in fact I only saw his updated labs. He kept asking me about the patient and I told him "no everything was fine when I saw him". Well, after the table rounds were over, I checked up on him, and lo and behold, he did have a massive bowel movement, prompting another resident to order a C diff screen. I didn't lie about not seeing my other patient.

Basically I got caught in a lie. I tried locating the chief after rounds to tell him that I was sorry I lied, but he was no where to be found. Right now I've got this sinking feeling that I'm going to bomb this rotation unless I approach him tomorrow and let him know it won't happen again.

This is the first time I've ever done something like this on any rotation. What do you guys think? Should I approach the chief tomorrow or not?

He probably just thinks you didn't do a great job investigating. If all you do is ask the patient, there is a good chance you can miss things like this, patients aren't exactly 100% reliable on their histories. They won't always remember the size of their bowel movement a few hours ago.

Second of all, is a big bowel movement an indication for c. diff testing?? Was it diarrhea like or have a particularly bad odor? This is off the topic, but c. diff gets waay too much play in hospital...Only 15% of antibiotic related diarrhea is c. diff...When we treat everyone who we suspect for c. diff with flagyl/vanco even before tests come back, we are probably making 85% of patients worse by further disrupting their GI flora. But since c. diff is considered iatrogenic and everyone is worried about medicolegal stuff, we probably overtreat---one loose bowel movement while on antibiotics---tx for c. diff.

 

[45408]

No ****, huh, now I'm trying to imagine who it is . . .

Was this on trauma?

I don't know who it was, actually. It was on trauma, I think, but I heard the story from the resident who was involved. He came out and admitted that before ordering giving blood, he should've double checked the H&H. Fortunately, nothing bad happened to the patient, but the student's grade took a beating.

 

[45408]

I agree with SLUser that there is little to be gained to fessing up to the Chief.

1) we know that patients tell you, the residents and the attendings different stories

Ugh, I hate it when they do that.

"Well, the patient told me he did cocaine for the first time yesterday."
"Dammit, that's what I meant when I asked 'Did you do anything differently in the past few days?'"

 

[Pinkertinkle]

I wouldn't worry about failing so much as I would worry about something like this going in my dean's letter-- "student was unreliable and at one point was even dishonest with chief resident, stating that he had followed up with pt when he had not." or something to that effect.

If he wants to make that kind of accusation in the comments he'll have to have some reasonably solid proof. Does that exist? Whose to say you didn't get that patient confused with someone else vs. you lied?

Otherwise you'll contest it and it'll go back and forth over and over. That's a lotta effort which as I said most residents don't want to get involved in.

 

[RxnMan]

I agree with SLUser that there is little to be gained to fessing up to the Chief...

SLUser is right. We all try hard, sometimes we screw up, but nobody should take what we students do as truth - everything should be verified at our level of training. Learn, move on, try not to do it again.

...1) we know that patients tell you, the residents and the attendings different stories...

I don't like it when this happens. I know when we do the H&P the first time, it can jog the pt
s memory on other things that they then bring up to the attending. Or there's a miscommunication and the timeline switched around, or whatever. I've learned just to bear with it and do the best H&P I can the first time around.

 

[TexasPhysician]

While you never should have lied in the first place and I think everyone on here has let you know this, admitting that you lied could be the "STUPIDEST" thing I've ever heard.

Taking an attorney stand point: There is no proof that you lied. Heck. The patient may have lied to you or just forgotten about the bowel movement at the time (hypothetically). Admitting fault and you deserve to get punished in my opinion.

 

[jonb12997]

so, agranulocytosis, what'd you end up doing?

I agree with most people that you seemed to have learned your lesson. Let it go, chalk it up to being a young med student, and don't ever do it again.

I just LOVE when patients tell me one thing, I go present the patient to the attending, we go back and see the patient, and they tell them something totally different. I always feel like sh**, but I think the attendings probably know. Seemed to happen mostly in the ER for some reason...

 

[agranulocytosis]

Thanks for the advice folks. Turns out that the chief was post-call the next day, so he left early after morning rounds, and this week he's on vacation. I never did get a chance to speak with him and tell him what I did, which is probably a good thing since most of you suspect he doesn't even know I lied.

I never did do anything, mostly because I didn't get the chance to. But now that I realize he may not have even thought I had lied, I may have just dodged a major bullet on the last week of our rotation.

You can bet your shiny dollar I won't be doing that again!

 

[Doctor Bob]

You can bet your shiny dollar I won't be doing that again!

And that is the best outcome.

 

[njbmd]

Today the residents decided to do afternoon rounds early today. The junior on call asked us for help to update him on the patients and update the patient list, and by the time I was done, the chief walked in and began rounds.

So when he came to one of my patients, I lied about seeing him when in fact I only saw his updated labs. He kept asking me about the patient and I told him "no everything was fine when I saw him". Well, after the table rounds were over, I checked up on him, and lo and behold, he did have a massive bowel movement, prompting another resident to order a C diff screen. I didn't lie about not seeing my other patient.

Basically I got caught in a lie. I tried locating the chief after rounds to tell him that I was sorry I lied, but he was no where to be found. Right now I've got this sinking feeling that I'm going to bomb this rotation unless I approach him tomorrow and let him know it won't happen again.

This is the first time I've ever done something like this on any rotation. What do you guys think? Should I approach the chief tomorrow or not?

Thanks for the advice folks. Turns out that the chief was post-call the next day, so he left early after morning rounds, and this week he's on vacation. I never did get a chance to speak with him and tell him what I did, which is probably a good thing since most of you suspect he doesn't even know I lied.

I never did do anything, mostly because I didn't get the chance to. But now that I realize he may not have even thought I had lied, I may have just dodged a major bullet on the last week of our rotation.

You can bet your shiny dollar I won't be doing that again!

And that is the best outcome.

To the OP:
I am happy that you had a good outcome here. I also want to thank you for putting this out on the message board because there were some good learning points.

Learning Points:

• Never, never lie under any circumstances period. This applies to intern, resident, chief resident or attending physician. The truth is the truth.
• As a chief resident and now attending physician, I can't afford to rely on the word of a medical student solely for patient management.
• Nothing "looks as bad" as a lie. Your word follows you from rotation to rotation.
• When you become an intern, resident, chief resident or attending, you will understand that medical students are there to learn period. They are not extra workers to make your life easier. Under the best of circumstances, they add tremendously to the team in terms of providing information and assisting with duties but they are not a substitute for doing YOUR work.

I totally appreciate a good medical student who is proactive about learning and doing the best job possible. The above is not to make light of the contributions that medical students make to the team but to point out that a medical student is there first and foremost to learn. I would rather have a medical student off reading and learning something as opposed to being ridiculed for missing a set of labs or doing a patient check that I should have checked for myself as the supervising physician.

I hope that people "get" what the OP went through. Again, I applaud this person for posting this. It's an important lesson that I hope no one has to learn the "hard" way.

 

[Tiger26]

To the OP:
I am happy that you had a good outcome here. I also want to thank you for putting this out on the message board because there were some good learning points.

Learning Points:

• Never, never lie under any circumstances period. This applies to intern, resident, chief resident or attending physician. The truth is the truth.
• As a chief resident and now attending physician, I can't afford to rely on the word of a medical student solely for patient management.
• Nothing "looks as bad" as a lie. Your word follows you from rotation to rotation.
• When you become an intern, resident, chief resident or attending, you will understand that medical students are there to learn period. They are not extra workers to make your life easier. Under the best of circumstances, they add tremendously to the team in terms of providing information and assisting with duties but they are not a substitute for doing YOUR work.

I totally appreciate a good medical student who is proactive about learning and doing the best job possible. The above is not to make light of the contributions that medical students make to the team but to point out that a medical student is there first and foremost to learn. I would rather have a medical student off reading and learning something as opposed to being ridiculed for missing a set of labs or doing a patient check that I should have checked for myself as the supervising physician.

I hope that people "get" what the OP went through. Again, I applaud this person for posting this. It's an important lesson that I hope no one has to learn the "hard" way.

Very well written--as always. I wish all residents/attendings acted this way

 

[Regnvejr]

Ugh, I hate it when they do that.

"Well, the patient told me he did cocaine for the first time yesterday."
"Dammit, that's what I meant when I asked 'Did you do anything differently in the past few days?'"

Even the same questions get answered different over time. This will never end. Note that patients will tell residents what they don't tell me, sometimes, confirmed when I go back and check. We all know it happens, and we all know that med students and residents will be told different stories. Never fell stupid or bad about it, you might as well feel guilty about the weather.

It's a learning experience. How was the question asked different to get the other answer, then try it next time.

 

[PenguinHead]

My medicine team has been making management decisions based on the fact that a patient has been telling us (both students and residents) that he no longer has diarrhea. In fact, he has outright denied having any diarrhea for several days in a row. We make it a point to relay this to the attending, cause we're trying to get this guy out of the hospital. So, the attending asks him on rounds if he's having any diarrhea. Pt: "Well.. Yes.. but only when I eat, so maybe 2-3 times a day.."

Seriously?

 

[45408]

Even the same questions get answered different over time. This will never end. Note that patients will tell residents what they don't tell me, sometimes, confirmed when I go back and check. We all know it happens, and we all know that med students and residents will be told different stories. Never fell stupid or bad about it, you might as well feel guilty about the weather.

It's a learning experience. How was the question asked different to get the other answer, then try it next time.

Ack, it happened yesterday. I'm at the VA, and I asked the pt "So you're on a lot of medications listed on our computer - are you taking these all as you're prescribed?" Yes.

Tells the attending he stopped taking everything a month ago, except the oxycodone. The attending was pretty sympathetic to my plight, as it seemed like the pt was telling us anything that came to mind.

 

[Regnvejr]

Ack, it happened yesterday. I'm at the VA, and I asked the pt "So you're on a lot of medications listed on our computer - are you taking these all as you're prescribed?" Yes.

Tells the attending he stopped taking everything a month ago, except the oxycodone. The attending was pretty sympathetic to my plight, as it seemed like the pt was telling us anything that came to mind.

And it will only happen about 100 times more for you in the next couple years 😉

 

[USArmyDoc]

Ack, it happened yesterday. I'm at the VA, and I asked the pt "So you're on a lot of medications listed on our computer - are you taking these all as you're prescribed?" Yes.

Tells the attending he stopped taking everything a month ago, except the oxycodone. The attending was pretty sympathetic to my plight, as it seemed like the pt was telling us anything that came to mind.

I can't stand this...I was once told by a patient she only wanted to be seen by the doctor so she wasn't seen 3x...one by me, resident, and attending. On rounds she decided to change her opinion and I was then accused of lying.

 

[Regnvejr]

I can't stand this...I was once told by a patient she only wanted to be seen by the doctor so she wasn't seen 3x...one by me, resident, and attending. On rounds she decided to change her opinion and I was then accused of lying.

By her? Hopefully not by attendings, or they suddenly became clueless. Patients change stories all thetime, even under the same questions.

 

[Mr hawkings]

And it will only happen about 100 times more for you in the next couple years 😉

I hear some attendings will use this to their advantage when they need to knock someone down a peg or two.

 

[Regnvejr]

I hear some attendings will use this to their advantage when they need to knock someone down a peg or two.

If they try, it is bogus.

You guys are in the wrong fields. 🙂

 

[USArmyDoc]

By her? Hopefully not by attendings, or they suddenly became clueless. Patients change stories all thetime, even under the same questions.

By the attending....I just stood my ground and said that is what the patient told me.

 

[Regnvejr]

By the attending....I just stood my ground and said that is what the patient told me.

Attending is full of it, then. We have all had this happen to us and have it keep happening to us. I still have patients give me a "complete" med list and then at 3rd visit, about 3 mths later, relating how their "zyprexa is running low." Nowhere in my notes is zyprexa ever mentioned 😕😕

Happens several times monthly, even after I have teased out the best way of asking the questions.

 

[USArmyDoc]

Attending is full of it, then. We have all had this happen to us and have it keep happening to us. I still have patients give me a "complete" med list and then at 3rd visit, about 3 mths later, relating how their "zyprexa is running low." Nowhere in my notes is zyprexa ever mentioned 😕😕

Happens several times monthly, even after I have teased out the best way of asking the questions.

Just part of the game I guess

 

[Regnvejr]

Probably. Because it is almost guaranteed that the attending has had the very same thing happen to them many times.😱