Laughing Innapropriately when Shadowing

[SanDiegoSOD]

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The doctor I was shadowing this evening had to give a patient a rectal exam to check the patients prostate and to also look for blood in his stool. I had no trouble keeping a straight face as the patients jaw dropped when the doctor explained he needed to stick his finger up the patients butt; as an aspiring physician, that level of professionalism shouldnt be tough at all. It was when the patient let out a hilarious squeal when the doctor slipped his finger in that I damn near lost it; the patient let out a squeaky shreak of discomfort and surprise and lunged his pelvis forward to avoid the penetration. Luckily, both the doctor and the patient's backs were towards me during the exam, or I would have looked like a real a**hole, quietly laughing at this poor guys unfortunate situation.

Anyone else have stories of their raging unprofessionalism? 🙂

 

[MoosePilot]

The doctor I was shadowing this evening had to give a patient a rectal exam to check the patients prostate and to also look for blood in his stool. I had no trouble keeping a straight face as the patients jaw dropped when the doctor explained he needed to stick his finger up the patients butt; as an aspiring physician, that level of professionalism shouldnt be tough at all. It was when the patient let out a hilarious squeal when the doctor slipped his finger in that I damn near lost it; the patient let out a squeaky shreak of discomfort and surprise and lunged his pelvis forward to avoid the penetration. Luckily, both the doctor and the patient's backs were towards me during the exam, or I would have looked like a real a**hole, quietly laughing at this poor guys unfortunate situation.

Anyone else have stories of their raging unprofessionalism? 🙂

No, I had similar incidents. Some cadets came in to get their flight physicals. They had the whole "cool pilot" thing going with aviator shades and uniforms and next thing I know they've got their pants around their ankles and are bent over. The room was a little too small at that point.

 

[Uegis]

I haven't done that before, but this other guy that was with me at the GI Lab did something similar.

So it was our first day there and one of the gastroenterologist let us observe a colonoscopy. We were both pretty stoked and scrubbed in to the procedure. The patient was laying there with his back to the ceiling, sedated. Then the doc starting lubing the scope and the patient's rectum and the other guy shadowing started giggling. The doc looked at him and went "shh!" Then he inserted the scope in the rectum and the patient had flatulence. It is then when the other guy started laughing so hard and uncontrolalbly that EVERYONE at the GI Clinic drew their attention at him. The doc got so mad that he kicked him out and told him never to come back. I guess the doc wasn't that nice after all, haha.

 

[IgweEmeka]

Bro, I have had so many moment were I was going to burst out laughing when shadowing....By the way, I consider myself to have a really huge sense of humour, and so I laugh at most things. Anyway, one day, this lady inthe ER was coughing her lungs out..literally...and the chief resident runs into her stall and asks her.."are you okay?" I almost burst out laughing at the face the lady gave the chief resident as if to say, how the hell did you become a physician, does the fact that I am about to cough my lungs out seem remotely normal to you?
This is the time for us to enjoy these hilarious moments, because when we do become physicians, we cant do much laughing, othewise expect a large brown envelope from the patient.

 

[tigress]

We can laugh plenty when we're doctors, just not in front of patients! Check out the EM forum, the stickies "What I Learn From My Patients" and "Medical Ebonics." Plenty of laughs there! In the end, we can be wonderfully compassionate and caring doctors and still go home and laugh.

 

[Andrew_Doan]

We all laugh. Professionalism, however, is essential when working with patients. This will come with experience and maturity.

 

[abraxas]

I must admit that i have laughed in front of patients lots of time but it was always with them not at them, usually its when they cut them selves doing something stupid or when i have to give an ecg on a hairy guy and he ends up with 2 tiny hairless spots and a long hairless line where i had to shave him.

 

[JustR]

I must admit that i have laughed in front of patients lots of time but it was always with them not at them, usually its when they cut them selves doing something stupid or when i have to give an ecg on a hairy guy and he ends up with 2 tiny hairless spots and a long hairless line where i had to shave him.

I agree, "laugh it was always with them not at them;" it is much more enjoyable then.
Everyone needs laugh...
I m thinking of a person's face who is never able to laugh and I go 😳 😳 😱 😱

🙂 😀

 

[laboholic]

I was watching a vasectomy and the guy looked extremely scared. The doctor kept making jokes about slipping and cutting peoples balls off. Even though it sounds funny now, all I could think while I was there was how much it must suck to be that guy.

 

[mustangsally65]

Wow, I can't imagine keeping a straight face if someone had a reaction to a rectal exam like that one, SanDiegoSOD! I haven't done any shadowing that's that intimate, but I think when I see my first rectal exam I will have to try very hard not to laugh because I will think of your description.

And the guy who does vasectomies and jokes about things like that to a nervous and scared patient shouldn't be doing vasectomies. That's just horrible.

I once had a gynecologist stop in the middle of his exam and come around the table and start tellling me gynecologist jokes while I was lying there with my feet still in the stirrups and the bright lighting getting warmer by the minute. It was very unprofessional and I haven't been back to see him since then. He also had posters over his examining tables ( I saw him a few times and was in different rooms) that were horrible. One I remember had a chimpanzee on it showing its teeth, and the phrase "grin and bear it" written beside him. How do people like that keep patients? there's no excuse for that kind of behavior, or for someone joking about slipping when doing a vasectomy.

Don't worry, SanDiego, you weren't unprofessional!

 

[abigail314]

So in the ER one night we had a schizo guy come in with severe abdominal pain. And he let everyone know about it. When the doctor I was shadowing went in to the exam room he yelled "I'm on the toilet, I keep on leaking!" The whole ER heard him. We also heard him scream during the rectal exam, during the following enema, and during the excretion process. (The best line was " That came out like a shotgun! These things are the size of baseballs.) The whole ER staff had huge smiles the rest of the night- and the doctor and I had a good laugh too.

 

[63768]

this thread is precisely why i cannot work with the GI tract. i laugh too easily when it comes to farting and poo poo.

 

[BaylorGuy]

this thread is precisely why i cannot work with the GI tract. i laugh too easily when it comes to farting and poo poo.

😀 😀 you said poo poo 😀 😀

 

[SpeedRacer]

i laughed inappropriately at work tonight. oh wait, no i didn't...because the patient DIED. oh i'm sorry, is that a conversation stopper?

 

[cfdavid]

Wow, I can't imagine keeping a straight face if someone had a reaction to a rectal exam like that one, SanDiegoSOD! I haven't done any shadowing that's that intimate, but I think when I see my first rectal exam I will have to try very hard not to laugh because I will think of your description.

And the guy who does vasectomies and jokes about things like that to a nervous and scared patient shouldn't be doing vasectomies. That's just horrible.

I once had a gynecologist stop in the middle of his exam and come around the table and start tellling me gynecologist jokes while I was lying there with my feet still in the stirrups and the bright lighting getting warmer by the minute. It was very unprofessional and I haven't been back to see him since then. He also had posters over his examining tables ( I saw him a few times and was in different rooms) that were horrible. One I remember had a chimpanzee on it showing its teeth, and the phrase "grin and bear it" written beside him. How do people like that keep patients? there's no excuse for that kind of behavior, or for someone joking about slipping when doing a vasectomy.

Don't worry, SanDiego, you weren't unprofessional!

Those were just well meaning docs that were trying to make their patients relax a bit. Humor can make people feel more comfortable. I don't think it's that out of line, really. Although he should have been aware of the hot light not being too pleasant a situation, as well as you lying there for longer than you needed to be.

But, perhaps you seemed really nervous or tense, and that was his way of trying to make you feel better.

 

[teedub]

there was a ketchup bottle situation...jack-knive position, plaster, and everything. the guy informed us that he and his wife were "experimenting". i think all professionalism just goes out the window when you see something like that. i don't think anybody in the world wouldn't laugh (the doctor had to leave the room).

 

[red dot]

usually what i do is smile REAL HARD when i'm trying not to laugh, say when i'm there for a kid who had a uti because he tried to stick the cannon on his battleship up his urethra while taking a bath.

 

[morgan]

This reminds me of Grey's Anatomy when Isabel gets to do all the rectal exams on her first day. 🙂 fun stuff

 

[disheveled_dave]

i laughed inappropriately at work tonight. oh wait, no i didn't...because the patient DIED. oh i'm sorry, is that a conversation stopper?

heh

/one-way ticket please

 

[71263]

usually what i do is smile REAL HARD when i'm trying not to laugh, say when i'm there for a kid who had a uti because he tried to stick the cannon on his battleship up his urethra while taking a bath.

UP HIS URETHRA???????? Damn, is that even physically possible???

 

[crazy_cavalier]

usually what i do is smile REAL HARD when i'm trying not to laugh, say when i'm there for a kid who had a uti because he tried to stick the cannon on his battleship up his urethra while taking a bath.

oooouuccchhh (I'm sure in retrospect he sees now how that was a bad idea.)

 

[fpr85]

UP HIS URETHRA???????? Damn, is that even physically possible???

Why wouldn't it be? The hole isn't that small.

 

[71263]

Why wouldn't it be? The hole isn't that small.

True, but I figured it wouldnt be so large that a kid would be able to stick a cannon in without feeling enough pain to get him to stop, let alone far enough for him to require medical attention for it