- Joined
- Oct 13, 2010
- Messages
- 11,020
- Reaction score
- 169
I'm about to unload a wall of text for those that have yet to experience the play stupid rule about working in the healthcare field. TL;DR at the bottom.
A while back now, I was working in the ED, doing my charting, sharing a chuckle with some colleagues and attendings/PAs/NPs etc. This happened to be a night shift, and it was still relatively early in the evening.
I'm going to be vague about some parts of the interaction that is causing me to write this out... so bear with me...
The charge nurse that evening is a younger nurse (<2 years out of nursing school), that does not have very much experience. She isn't really all that bad, sometimes she's very nice... but she thirsts for power and she got a taste with this charge nurse position.
The physician I was scribing for that evening went to consult on a patient for one of the PAs who was at the end of his shift, he said I could stay back and catch up on all of our charts/results, since the PA would be making the encounter note.
Well, turns out the PA didn't make a note, and the physician asked me to make the note. I usually finish the history portion of the note in the room when the doctor is examining the patient. Since I was not present in the room, I had to ask the doctor the questions he asked the patient, so that I could DO MY JOB. He answered every question I asked him and gave me his physical exam findings with no problems.
The charge nurse was lurking, and she laid in on me and said "CodeBlu, you're not a doctor, stop acting like you are. You need to back it up and stop being so unprofessional pretending like you know what is going on in here."
I'm floored... I get defensive at this point and say "O RLY?" She's furious that I'm not rolling over and taking the abuse. My attending was speechless at that point. She then goes on to say "I've received multiple complaints about you from everyone in the department..." (Not true, or so I've been assured by multiple people)
Anyways, I tell her off in a tactful way and basically say "I need to do my job, since that's what I'm here for." She starts in on me again in front of a room full of people about how it's her responsibility to run the department and bla bla bla.
Anyways, so I was concerned that she was going to try and get me fired (which she did, I later found out). I wrote an email to the head of the department outlining the situation, and my attending also corroborated my story. The department head was very nice to me and told me I had nothing to worry about and that my job was secure.
Only later did I find out that some nurses find particular pleasure in ruining pre-med/medical student/residents professional careers and lives. Some nurses have stickers on their badges and I was told that it signified how many residents/medical students they've gotten reprimanded/fired etc.
I'm very fortunate that the department head likes me and that my attending that evening was super cool. The hospital can be like Mean Girls on steroids, and the high school cafeteria scene doesn't change... the people are just wearing different colored scrubs now.
TL;DR - Play dumb when you have to, and bow your head and say yes sir/maam. Know when to blow, and make friends with people in positions of power. Medicine turns out to be about 10% science and 90% politics, or so it seems to me as an entering medical student.
A while back now, I was working in the ED, doing my charting, sharing a chuckle with some colleagues and attendings/PAs/NPs etc. This happened to be a night shift, and it was still relatively early in the evening.
I'm going to be vague about some parts of the interaction that is causing me to write this out... so bear with me...
The charge nurse that evening is a younger nurse (<2 years out of nursing school), that does not have very much experience. She isn't really all that bad, sometimes she's very nice... but she thirsts for power and she got a taste with this charge nurse position.
The physician I was scribing for that evening went to consult on a patient for one of the PAs who was at the end of his shift, he said I could stay back and catch up on all of our charts/results, since the PA would be making the encounter note.
Well, turns out the PA didn't make a note, and the physician asked me to make the note. I usually finish the history portion of the note in the room when the doctor is examining the patient. Since I was not present in the room, I had to ask the doctor the questions he asked the patient, so that I could DO MY JOB. He answered every question I asked him and gave me his physical exam findings with no problems.
The charge nurse was lurking, and she laid in on me and said "CodeBlu, you're not a doctor, stop acting like you are. You need to back it up and stop being so unprofessional pretending like you know what is going on in here."
I'm floored... I get defensive at this point and say "O RLY?" She's furious that I'm not rolling over and taking the abuse. My attending was speechless at that point. She then goes on to say "I've received multiple complaints about you from everyone in the department..." (Not true, or so I've been assured by multiple people)
Anyways, I tell her off in a tactful way and basically say "I need to do my job, since that's what I'm here for." She starts in on me again in front of a room full of people about how it's her responsibility to run the department and bla bla bla.
Anyways, so I was concerned that she was going to try and get me fired (which she did, I later found out). I wrote an email to the head of the department outlining the situation, and my attending also corroborated my story. The department head was very nice to me and told me I had nothing to worry about and that my job was secure.
Only later did I find out that some nurses find particular pleasure in ruining pre-med/medical student/residents professional careers and lives. Some nurses have stickers on their badges and I was told that it signified how many residents/medical students they've gotten reprimanded/fired etc.
I'm very fortunate that the department head likes me and that my attending that evening was super cool. The hospital can be like Mean Girls on steroids, and the high school cafeteria scene doesn't change... the people are just wearing different colored scrubs now.
TL;DR - Play dumb when you have to, and bow your head and say yes sir/maam. Know when to blow, and make friends with people in positions of power. Medicine turns out to be about 10% science and 90% politics, or so it seems to me as an entering medical student.