| Spoke Up |
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Those of you who have worked in a hospital or nursing home, know of some
of the doctors you hate to call no matter what time of day or night. We
had several but this doctor was a beast to talk to or to call. You did
not dare question about diagnosis etc. He would tell you go to the
library on the first floor and I will expect a correct answer from you
tomorrow. I had rather have triplets or a root canal without sedation
that make rounds with him let alone call him for orders. You had better
know everything about that patient. I don't mean the temp or b/p either.
One night I was on the 12 m/n to 8 a m shift. At 5 a m one of my
patients,( in a coma ) was running a temp of 106 rectually, that would
be the equivalent of 105 orally. She was a NCB patient ( do not
resusitate ). Her family was beside themselves with the declining
condition of their loved one. I did not have any order for pain and/or
for elevated temp. I double checked the chart to see if maybe an order
for pain or temp had been over looked. No such luck. Well you have guessed by now it was one of Dr. T's patient. So I put in a page with the answering service. A few minutes later he called. I explained the situaion. He said "Glenda ( my 1st name ) you know that she is a NCB." " Yes sir but couldn't I at least give her a suppository for the temp. " He said " Go ahead if you want to give it." He then said the dreaded question, " Why did you bother me with such a useless situation?" I was shaking in my boots by then. I said " it will make the family feel better. If I had not called you about the temp, you would have chewed my ass off when you got here to make rounds , you would have seen where the patient had a very high temp and I had not called you." I told him " I am in a no win situtation whether I called you or not." In an hour he was here to make rounds. He came over to me and said " I am proud of you for standing up to me this morning. I don't need to wonder about my patients with you here. Not one nurse has ever stood up to me before, not even your head nurse" After that situation, he never gave me any back talk. What surprised me more was that he knew my first name. The head nurse said that by saying my first name, meant that he has respect for me. I hope this does not come across as a statement that I knew more that the doctor or anything like that or that I am a super nurse. I have made my share of mistakes like any other nurse. I am not that special. It is just like in the case of Jack in another story. Lee |
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