let me teach you, even if you'll think me a snob
sometimes i try not to let the nurses to get me to review a patient too easily. i keep them on the phone a bit longer and try to teach them something, hoping that they'll do more on their side before picking up the phone to page me in the future.- "dr, can you chart the variable dose of nocte insulin?", "um, the last BSL i can find is from 10am."
- "the patient is asking for a cream for his abdominal pain, can you come and chart something?" [nurse about to hang up the phone] "wait, wait, wait, is this pain new? how much pain are they in?" Hospitalised patients can develop new problems/complications. they should be assessed and investigated, before being treated.
- "dr, can you come and review this patient with a temperature of 38C?" [nurse about to hang up the phone] "wait nurse, why are they in hospital?....... right, they have a chest infection... right, they've been having a temperature for the last 3 days... right, they're already on antibiotics and the culture are still pending ..."
- but i regretted this one:
"hi it's zhinger, someone paged?" "yes dr, your patient Mr B's back from the procedure. He was fasted a few hours for the precedure. Can he eat now?" "Yes.".... 5 minutes later, "hi it's zhinger, someone paged?" "yes dr, so your patient Mr B can eat now, does he still need the drip?" "what do you reckon?" ... "could u come and document that?" (I'm so bad, so bad. now the nurses, while on their tea breaks, would together agree that i'm a mean intern, one to avoid in the future.)
You can almost hear the sign of relief from the nurses each time we say "alright, i'll come and review them." and as soon as you put down the phone, you can almost hear the nurse start writing down in the notes, "RMO informed & will review patient." THEN AGAIN, to be fair, it's the same with us when we want the medical/surgical registra to come and review a patient we are worried about.
posted by zhinger @ 8:30 pm
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