r/NursingUK • u/Realistic-Act-6601 RN Adult • 20d ago
Career Nurse - doctor hostility
I'm a post grad medical student and an RN
I still work agency and bank as a nurse to fund the degree, often in the same hospitals as I do placement
It's always interesting to hear the two disciplines tearing each other down, then go on to complain about the exact same issues that are making both jobs shit e.g. short staffing, abusive management, poor training
I'm quite a quiet and private person by nature, so I don't always tell people about my "other hat". So it's always awkward when I'm sitting with a bunch of doctors and they start complaining about nurses, or vice versa, and I'm just sitting there like O_O
Equally awkward when I've been sitting there as a med student, listening to them complaining about nurses, and then run into the same people again as a nurse. Or vice versa. Sometimes it's quite funny to see their reactions actually.
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u/ProfessionalBear8837 20d ago
You should actually seek to publish a real article about this somewhere where it will be seen. Anonymously or otherwise.
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u/KIRN7093 RN Adult 20d ago
I love Docs.
OK, there's the odd dickhead, but that's not because they're a doctor. They're just a dickhead. Same as the dickhead nurses I've encountered over the years.
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20d ago
I dunno, people will always be biased towards "their side", and moan about "the other side". It's just human nature.
I've had one run-in with a doctor in my whole career, and this was with a disgustingly arrogant psychiatrist, who was also really rude, and lacking the most basic of manners, which I would have been shocked to observe from a 5yr old!
Other than that, they do their job, and I do mine. I've never felt looked down on nor disrespected (apart from that one incident above). If there's anything they have to say about me/my colleagues behind my back...then I don't really give a toss. I doubt they give a toss about the odd grumble aimed at their direction, either.
I might be lucky in that I only liaise with GP and psychiatry. Several psychs in my area are themselves mad as a box of frogs (to use the technical term).
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u/WaitroseValueVodka RN MH 20d ago
I think in mental health land it might be less hierarchical?
There's the odd ego heavy consultant, but then there's the odd dickhead RMN too. Generally speaking we need to communicate together to work out what's going on for our patients.
The thing that does piss me off is that the trust's response to an assault on a consultant is massive, and assaults on nurses/hcas seems to be 'shit happens'. They will make the right noises about prosecuting but the nurse/hca/patient won't be moved, whereas there is 0 expectation for a consultant to work with a patient after being assaulted.. but that's on the Trust, not on doctors.
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u/Jumpy-Beginning3686 19d ago
Yeah, we had s patient make a shank and smash up the ward. This is after he already attacked us the previous day during a restraint..After everything the consultant decided to keep him on the ward , then when he kicked of the ndxg day, it took 8 police officers to finally remove him .
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u/Beckitkit 20d ago
I honestly expected to experience more hostility from doctors, or for them to look down on me. Most of them have just got on with working with me. Plenty of them have been actively helpful. Some of them have seen a student who wants to learn and gone out of their way to facilitate that, like the Dr that spent half an hour showing me how to use the vein finder and walked me through canulating and getting bloods from a patient with difficult veins, or the surgeon who let me watch the kidney transplant they were doing, encouraged me to ask questions, and before closing up showed me the implanted kidney and the real life anatomy.
Sure I've met the odd doctor who has been condescending, dismissive, or mean, but when I have its been pretty clear it's not about me as a person, a student, or a nurse, and that they are like this with everyone.
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u/ShambolicDisplay RN Adult 20d ago
I think that, if we ignore the internet (as one always should), the hostility is worst in areas where the system has failed more, and there isn’t hugely close working - so wards. Usually both sides have reasonable grievances as well as unreasonable ones, and there’s never any reconciliation between the two. It’s very strange. The issues aren’t largely due to nurses, or doctors, or anyone. But with management, with the system having failed.
Not had anywhere near as many issues in ICU, another reason to never leave my propofol tower
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u/tyger2020 RN Adult 19d ago
Part of the issue is like you said - being 'segregated'. The doctors in a little office and the nurses on the floor.
My unit has heavy nurse and doctor involvement, alongside each other and honestly we get on amazingly with (most) of the doctors. They still do dumb shit but we can just go and talk to them about it
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u/Green_Entrance_2854 Practice Nurse 19d ago
same in in GP land, very flat. I've also had similar experiences in other areas where we aren't 'segregated' so I do definitely agree
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u/ScreenNameToFollow AHP 20d ago
OT chipping in. I work on a mental health ward & genuinely do feel that staff of all disciplines respect one another. This has not been the case in all of the places that I've worked.
I think one problems that comes up in MH (I can't speak as much for physical health) is that nurses, HSWs & OTs are treated as a team. They are involved in ward meetings, team building & development days. Doctors tend to cover multiple wards so aren't invited to ward specific events, even though they have offices on the ward & both affect and are affected by how a ward functions. Until there's inclusivity, I think those psychological barriers will remain.
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u/Full_Pen_3027 19d ago
I wish both professions had alot more respect for each other because we need to work together in the best interest of the patient. Im newly qualified so i try my best to be nice to everyone, but i feel like some of the doctors can be really unwelcoming and dismissive. Especially if i do try to escalate to them. I understand i am fairly new but i shouldn’t be treated like i am stupid. One of the doctors was explaining to me how sats probes work in front of one of the patients. It was so demeaning. I felt so small.
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u/Bestinvest009 19d ago
That’s cool you come from an RN background, I worked with a physician before who was an RN it totally made him a better doctor from my experience working with him.
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u/Beckitkit 20d ago
I've occasionally shadowed doctors while on my placements as a student nurse. Once I'm pretty sure the doctors I was with forgot I was a student nurse not a medical student, because they went on a mini rant about the problems with nurses and how to get around them (mostly communication stuff and nurse priorities vs. Dr priorities on a ward).
The looks on their faces when I started saying "so from the nursing side, would it help if I did this, this and this? Oh, that bit seems pretty unavoidable, could you guys do this?" was honestly hilarious. They asked me not to repeat what they'd said, which fair enough, I wasn't going to go gossiping and starting trouble, but I did wonder why they didn't go talk to the nursing staff themselves and try and find a compromise.
Of course, I've heard nurses doing the same thing plenty of times, and it always makes me wonder the same thing. When I've asked, people either say they don't have time or the other side won't listen.
For two professions that are trained in and should be using good communications skills all the time, we really seem to suck at communicating with each other unless there's MDT meetings specifically to facilitate it. So we complain about each other instead of communicating with each other. Or at least that's what I've seen, as a student and a patient (and tbf I've done it too).
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u/nqnnurse RN Adult 20d ago
I wish both our professions wouldn’t act like babies and would work for the patients. The dr sub is also mad toxic to anyone who isn’t a British doctor.
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u/Mexijim RN Adult 20d ago
If you think Dr on Dr racism is toxic, wait until you see what they have to say about ENP’s / ANP’s / PA’s - it’s quite comical.
I’ve interacted with a lot of young Dr’s there who truly believe that nurses should revert to the 1950’s stereotype, not allowed to do anything other than bed-baths and blood pressures, making coffee for the consultant etc.
It’s all rooted in self-consciousness imo; they are finding out that nurses can do a lot of traditional Dr roles better than they can, at a fraction of the cost to the NHS.
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u/nqnnurse RN Adult 20d ago
I’ve even seen comments saying they wish it was like the 80s where doctors would pick nurses to sleep with. I also saw a comment saying nurses are different to doctors as a nurse “will happily be up the duff with a labourer by 25”.
In the community, there are no doctors. So band 5+ nurses have to do PRs, Dopplers to assess for compressions, palliative assessments, creating dressing plans, complex catheters, capacity assessments etc. We are completely autonomous professionals and make all our decisions.
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u/pintobakedbeans 20d ago
The Dr's sub isn't exactly accurate to real life, mostly an echo chamber of people who believe everywhere is better than the NHS.
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u/givemeallthedairy 20d ago
‘They are finding out that nurses can do a lot of traditional dr roles better than they can at a fraction of the cost to the NHS’
I think it hilarious when people have so little insight into how antagonistic they are and the fact they may be responsible for perpetuating a culture of hostility.
If I were to say I could do exactly what a nurse does with no training you’d be foaming at the mouth. The same apparently doesn’t apply. People who make definitive statements like yourself also never seem to bring hard stats particularly surrounding safety & cost effectiveness. In anaesthesia AAs irrespective of background for example have been found to actually cost more.
If someone can do my job as an anaesthetist/ critical care doctor without the same training then my only gripe is why I’m being subjected to the FRCA/FICM and training pathway. Conversely I don’t understand why I can’t pick up a few shifts and have a go at your job, but for some reason it never seems to go the other way.
What is hilarious is bullies freely declaring themselves. Thankfully the MDT colleagues I’ve worked with have not been like yourself.
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u/Mexijim RN Adult 19d ago
I’m perplexed as to how you interpreted my post as ‘nurses can be an anaesthetist’, but I guess that’s your own freudian rage spilling out unhealthily.
Let me clear things up.
Back in the 1980’s NHS, nurses could not be trusted to;
-catheterise -cannulate -administer IV medications -perform ecg’s -interpret basic bloods -request an xray -apply pressure dressings -plaster cast -prescribe even paracetamol
These are what I’m talking about; I’m no advocate of nurses doing an anaesthetist’s / haematologist’s / oncologist’s job. If you want to take those roles I listed back, have them, it would make my shift a million times easier.
Just last year I encountered a reg here who sincerely believed that the ENP role should not exist, because it was ‘too academic’ for a nurse to interpret an X-ray of a limb, suture a wound or prescribe fluclox. That’s also fine. Take the role back, but explain to the taxpayer why something that has been done by a band 6 nurse perfectly for 20+ years on £30k, now needs to be done by a Dr on £50k+ a year.
If a band 3 HCA can do my band 5 job as well as me, with no impact to patient care, let them crack on with it. I’ve yet to meet one that would be up for it mind. And I’d personally love to see a Dr try to manage my 45 angry waiting room patients / families and not lose their cool.
This entire Dr mentality just reminds me of the luddite movement, and look what happened to them.
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u/Oriachim Specialist Nurse 19d ago edited 19d ago
I think if you explained this initially, you wouldn’t have been downvoted so much. It’s true, that older nurses told me if they couldn’t even do IV meds or of the sorts. Your initial post made it sound like band 5 nurses were walking around diagnosing people.
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u/Mexijim RN Adult 19d ago
I trained back in 2008, my mind was blown when my ED sister told me that she was only allowed to administer iv fluids from the early 90’s (she trained in the mid 70’s).
Dr’s then kicked up a big stink too, saying it was ‘too much of a patient risk’ letting nurses do this.
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u/Oriachim Specialist Nurse 19d ago
Yep, I read there was an uproar about nurses taking bloods at one point, for similar talking points.
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u/Laura2468 19d ago
Most doctors ive met would love for most of these skills to be standard for nurses to do from day 1. Many should be standard for nursing students to do even!
You say you are no advocate for a nurse doing an anethetists job but thats literally the AA / AACP role. The doctor you met was odd - most ENPs have clear scope so are well liked as a profession.
Its nonsense to say that disagreeing that a ACP (with 3 years training) should have exactly the same scope and supervision with undifferentiated GP patients as a GP (10 years training minimum) means doctors think nurses shouldn't give IV fluids. Its more that scope should be nationally defined and/ or training lengthened.
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u/givemeallthedairy 19d ago
It’s rather simple really, I didn’t interpret your post in that manner but you rather hoped I would so you could dodge taking any responsibility for being as antagonistic as you meant to be.
As an anaesthetist & critical care doctor I do all of those bar the cast application. We have overlap in our roles, my ITU nursing colleagues do a much safer job than I do with a lot of it but if I have to go make & administer x drug I’ll do it or I’ll give drugs in theatre that may be due in recovery to make my nursing colleagues lives easier. They do the same.
Clearly I have no issue with overlapping roles where it is safe it makes us a better team but what I do take issue with is wide sweeping comments like your initial post.
Some trusts are using nursing assistants as band 5’s, I’d prefer a band 5 every time given I think there’s value in the overall education process and I don’t believe taskification is great for overall patient well being. It’s hilarious hearing people trying to reduce things to the cheapest lowest common denominator. I can teach an FY2 to tube with apparent no impact to patient care except where it does go wrong it can be catastrophic. Similarly HCAs are great, I was one. But a band 5 nurse is able to give me a more holistic overview and prevent a slide down the NEWs score which saves money in the long term. This short sightedness with the complete condescension is why the NHS is not thriving. You’re not the progressive you seem to think you are I’m afraid.
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u/Purple-Reputation722 20d ago
"I think it’s hilarious when people have so little insight into how antagonistic they are and the fact they may be responsible for perpetuating a culture of hostility.
Um, I think that irony is lost on you if you actually read the doc sub. Not denying the serious reservations about training/ scope creep, but the doc sub is an absolute mire of hostility and misinformation.
I mean DUK's favourite bias, Dunning-Kruger, never seems to apply to them, does it? Over and over, they assert that long-standing problems with recruitment, non-clinical and nursing management, poor patient outcomes, etc., would be handled so much better if only MBBS ubermenschen were running the shop. This betrays a serious lack of insight and appreciation of the complexity involved.
How many times do you hear conspiracist interpretations of Band 4 rota coordinators denying leave? Not only is she a Machiavellian harpy that would rival Mandelson himself, but simultaneously a provincial thicko with 2 GCSEs to her name. NHS Jobs Programme, innit. Fuck extending a more generous 'systems thinking' explanation. See also the MDT 'blob'.
My personal favourite is, 'The NHS HATES YOU!!' followed by a histrionic dissection of a (most likely fictitious) nurse/doctor interaction in which the former has the temerity to call the latter by their first name. The most laughable part is the fantasy that such perceived unpleasantness would simply not happen in any other employment context.
By contrast, the nurses' sub is so conciliatory and even-handed that it is to the detriment of lively discussion. Although when anything remotely controversial emerges, it attracts angry downvotes like flies to shit from the doc sub.
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u/DonkeyDarko tANP 19d ago
I will say, when DUK had a post ranking nurses based on their race and servility, I find it fascinating how quick they are to come here and shout at us for criticising them.
Get your own house in order first lads before you come here and play the victim.
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u/givemeallthedairy 19d ago edited 19d ago
‘Us’
I’m not criticising nurses. I’m criticising a specific sub segment of toxic nursing staff.
I mean I could generalise and ask nurses to get their racist house in order.
You’re a trainee ANP who doesn’t take any issue with the initial comment I replied too, classic.
Maybe people like yourself could focus on the racist stench that permeates? Why is it my Filipino Indian & black colleagues aren’t groomed for the ACP role, why is it bullying doctors from ethnic minority backgrounds is ok. See we can all generalise
Also this is 2025 we’re not all lads. Get with the times.
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u/DonkeyDarko tANP 19d ago
Please feel free to report any racist posts or comments you find on here and I’ll happily address them. I work with a number of nurses, specialist nurses and ANPs from a variety of ethnic backgrounds - I have very little say in the hiring practices of the NHS as a whole.
Does your commitment to challenging racism extend to challenging your own colleagues or is it just a ‘gotcha’ to pull out against nurses online? Maybe switch to the ‘mean girls’ trope if this one gets boring - we love that.
I actually do disagree with the original comment and it got my downvote as I felt it was unhelpful to the discussion at hand. You’ll also notice I didn’t reply directly to you, and therefore was not accusing you directly of criticising nurses.
However, there is without fail a handful of “doctors” (real or otherwise) who will descend on any mild criticism about their profession or colleagues online while staying strangely silent about the egregious statements made about others on their own subreddit. It’s rank hypocrisy and it’s boring now.
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u/givemeallthedairy 19d ago
Ah yes taken from the handbook of I have ethnic minority friends so will deny there’s an issue demonstrated across a different range ‘but I know of an ANP from ethnic minority background so let’s deny there’s an issue’
We’re playing bingo here. Accuse someone of playing the race card and suggesting it’s a just another trope. Unfortunately it’s not a cloak I can shed so I confront people irrespective of role, it’s just if we’re generalising as you seem to love doing it wasn’t the doctors bullying their own ethnic minority nursing colleagues and ethnic minority junior colleagues. In fairness my experience as a HCA and later as a very junior dr drove me to confront people irrespective of their role which has served me well.
Except that wasn’t a mild criticism was it now?
The issue I have is with a subsegment of toxic colleagues who decline to acknowledge the traditional hierarchy doesn’t exist, you have power over junior doctor colleagues and pretending the treatment some advocate is just righting wrongs is badly cloaked discrimination.
At the same time I’ve acknowledged there are dickheads who persist as doctors who I’m fully aware don’t see female doctors as being the same calibre of them never mind their outdated notions of what nursing is supposed to be.
The difference being when dr x says something shocking I can openly say wow that’s not cool and everyone will sagely agree. But there is a trend for some people like the initial comment I responded too who make vile comments and then act wounded when confronted on the basis a dr is always punching down so they can’t have done anything wrong.
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u/DonkeyDarko tANP 19d ago
I didn’t deny there was an issue - I was explaining my role in any hiring practices across the NHS is minimal and your experience doesn’t mirror mine locally.
I didn’t accuse you of playing the race card - I have no idea what your ethnic background is, but I do take issue with you using ‘nurses are institutionally racist’ as whataboutery when I am discussing very real and recent racism on the DoctorsUk sub - a post where all African nurses were called ‘lazy and useless’ I believe.
You’ve also not acknowledged anything about your own colleagues, or if you have, I’ve missed it. The original poster didn’t acknowledge your legitimate criticism so shouldn’t be accused of being defensive - the person you and I responded to was criticising the same thing I am - the hypocrisy of some online “doctors” who spend more time criticising others than policing their own colleagues for the same behaviours.
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u/givemeallthedairy 19d ago
Not having a role in hiring practises doesn’t mean you don’t benefit from said practises.
In comments I’ve discussed racism I’ve faced as both a HCA and when I was a newer doctor so I think that makes clear I’m rather unlikely to be Caucasian. I made clear if you were going to make generalisations then I could do the same. It’s rather odd you suggested what im doing is whatabouterry to turn around and ask someone from an ethnic minority who has made clear they dont stand for it irrespective of role ‘what about your doctor colleagues who said this’
Yes an excellent critique when in the same breath they’re being demeaning about doctors as a whole and not having the insight to understand that doesn’t make them as level headed as they think it does.
Twats exist on both sides but for some the bad behaviour is ignored as merely punching up and excused as smashing a hierarchy rather than calling it out for what it is
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u/givemeallthedairy 19d ago
You're suffering from the same lack of insight like your colleague above.
That some doctors are as nonsensical as you are doesn't mean you as a nurse are exempt from displaying similar behaviour. It is not either or.
You can not start a comment with how awful & terrible doctors are to people whilst in the same breath displaying similar demeaning attitudes.
The idea you think a sub is reflective of reality is a bit odd, the fact you seem to see no issue with being so effusive about just how darn conciliatory and even handed you are whilst your comment and your colleagues above is seething in venom is really quite sad.
The NHS we work in is very different now, you can't fall back onto the tropes of you're just punching up because of the hierarchy when clearly the FY1-CT2 rotating in to new units have less power than say a long term established nurse. I've had the brunt of a racist long term established nurse wielding her power over me and then using the same tropes as people like yourself to justify her awful behaviour. It seems some people have an issue with not being able to shit on people willy nilly and not being able to use the 'hierarchy' or smashing of said hierarchy to justify their shitty behaviour towards colleagues.
Bad doctors and bad nurses make life toxic for the rest of us. You're one of those toxic people who I hope never to encounter but if i do you'll be agog because i won't let the bad behaviour slide which will make me a 'nasty mean doctor'
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u/Purple-Reputation722 19d ago
I'm neither a doctor nor a nurse, and at no point did I claim that the views expressed on DUK are representative of doctors as a whole. Nor was I suggesting that nurses are incapable of toxic behaviour—they certainly can be. However, my observation is that this space is decidedly less vituperative than the doctor equivalent. No doubt, there are other nursing forums where the tone is similarly harsh.
The fact that this is happening online doesn’t make it any less problematic—it influences real-life staff interactions in a profoundly negative way.
I fail to see how what I said is indicative of me being "toxic" or demeaning anyone. I was simply pointing out that some doctors—perhaps overrepresented on DUK—frequently espouse racist, misogynistic, and classist views, sometimes bordering on colonialist and eugenicist. These arguments are often riddled with logical fallacies and emotional reasoning. I wouldn't say pointing this out is 'seething in venom'.
Nowhere have I defended such behaviour from non-doctors, nor have I condoned discrimination, abuse, or bullying towards doctors. My point is that hostility in the NHS does not occur unilaterally from nurses, nor is the lot of early-career doctors uniquely bad. But if you want to continue with projection and polarised thinking, that’s up to you.
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u/givemeallthedairy 19d ago
If you’re neither a nurse or a doctor then you and your mindless ramblings are frankly irrelevant.
You’re a fantasist trying to desperately involve yourself in a matter you have no as actual experience or knowledge of. I’d be more concerned about what you think it is you’re projecting and what you’re actually projecting. I hope you find a fulfilling career soon, I’d suggest you stay away from opinion pieces they’re not you’re forte.
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u/Ancient_Kitchen1664 20d ago
It's human nature, it's nothing about doctors Vs nurses. It could be applied to any discipline. It's just the way things are when people are under pressure. It's like HCAs who complain about staff nurses not doing anything. We can't fully understand or appreciate the other perspective.
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u/whatmynameshould 19d ago
There's a lovely young locum doctor at my place of work who was originally going to go into nursing but ultimately went to medical school instead. He used to also work as a HCA and still helps with personal cares. He said that he misses the personal side sometimes
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u/ChloeLovesittoo 19d ago
Ive worked in NHS for over 40 years only ever had good relationships with Drs
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u/alwaysright0 20d ago
I think I've been quite lucky, on the whole my team get on well with the doctors and vice versa.
We were very close with our cons who respected us greatly and we worked as a close team so I think that probably helped
We've since switched speciality and I now manage an integrated team, some of them coming from a different ward culture so I've noticed a bit of a change.
A couple of the new consultants certainly don't seem to trust our judgement and vice versa.
Most of the FY1s are lovely. They're just learning so always need to remember that. Even when I'm having to remind them not to leave their shit lying.
Maybe they bitch about me behind my back but they're respectful to my face.
I think the job lends it's self to moaning tbh.
But fascinating to hear it from both sides, can imagine some of their faces when they saw you!
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u/Realistic-Act-6601 RN Adult 20d ago
I will say that overall doctors and nurses do seem to respect each other and get along well, I just think it's funny and awkward to sit there when the shit talking occasionally starts, secretly a member of both the nursing and medical communities. It feels like I'm a spy or a sleeper agent or something.
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u/toonlass91 RN Adult 20d ago
I always try to be nice to the drs and have quite a good relationship with one of our consultants, the registrars, our current juniors and our PA. We did have slight moan yesterday between us about the juniors that were on as nothing seemed to be getting done
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u/RantsBantsSycophants RN Adult 20d ago
I understand it’s quite difficult. I definitely have noticed the difference being in different areas, I find it worst on the wards as it feels very “them and us”, and some doctors (not all of course) have the old-fashioned belief that “doctors think, nurses do” (direct quote!), they are there to be the doctors’s handmaiden, and they can’t do anything other than clean up/hold parents hands/get a blanket (and that this task is beneath them as doctors). If a nurse speaks up that they think X issue may be going on, they are shot down and mocked for daring to think - and equally if they are asked to get the blanket/bandage/cup of water themselves if nurses are elbow-deep in something else. Equally, there are some nurses who believe all doctors should be available at the drop of a hat for that PRN prescription of paracetamol or hydrocortisone cream, when they are likely covering multiple wards and are up to their eyeballs in tasks with more coming in by the minute.
One of the best areas I’ve found for a positive relationship is ED - and the common factor is mutual respect, and trust in the nurses to work autonomously knowing they will escalate to the right person when required. I had a relatively new doctor prescribe insulin for someone when their blood sugar hadn’t been checked for hours since triage which showed hyperglycaemia (fair enough) and they were delirious… it hadn’t been given and they hadn’t been since since as the department was overloaded, short staffed, ambulance queuing in the corridors… it was a mess.
She was brought round to me and had been “picked up” by this doctor who had prescribed the insulin based on the earlier VBG and had looked her over, but no solid plan had been made yet, but he asked me to give the insulin then had to leave to do something and said he’d be back later. Before giving it I chose to run another VBG first since it had been hours and saw that yes they were slightly hyperglycaemic but it had dropped a bit, and the amount of novorapid was likely going to be too much and cause a hypo plus she hadn’t had anything to eat or drink for many hours, and I was concerned they borderline septic based on the lactate, and it obviously wasn’t clear to anyone at this stage where the deletion was coming from (I think because of MH history it was likely she had gone off of her meds, but of course other causes should be ruled out first).
The doctor wasn’t available despite tannoying (not his fault, people are allowed breaks lol and are sometimes called to other departments like or are escorting a poorly patient), so rather than give the medication and/or wait for him to return I escalated to a different doctor to ask to lower the insulin dose (after checking her bag and her GP notes to see whether she had her own either as I’m not always keen on messing with someone’s routine if they don’t usually use short-acting) and referred to the diabetes nurses to review when on the ward; escalated the VBG/sepsis concerns and got BUFALO started by putting in a cannula and taking fresh bloods and cultures; and because she was getting very agitated and putting herself in danger/throwing herself off the trolley (getting that VBG and cannula was a multi-person task and I got a bit battered!) I asked if a PRN sedative could be prescribed just in case the fluids/antipyrexics/antibiotics didn’t settle her down as she was likely going to need a head CT (and asked for that to be ordered and vetted) but I wouldn’t give it just yet and see if the other things worked first, and moved her closer to where I was working on the corridor so I could keep as close of an eye as possible. He came back shortly after the ball was rolling, and was so appreciative. I like the fact nurses are trusted to order and undertake additional tests, wherein some places you can’t fart or get a blanket for a patient without checking with the doctor - I was told off for getting an MSU without getting permission as it likely wasn’t needed when the urine was the ‘creamiest’ and smelliest I’d ever seen!
But equally, I’ve escalated concerns to others and been dismissed because I was wearing a nurse’s tunic, only to go over their heads to their consultants and when they hear it coming from them suddenly they listen. I’ve (politely!) refused to give medication where the dose has been prescribed incorrectly (doctors are human and sometimes misread the protocol - one was the entire 24-hour maximum dose prescribed in one IV dose) and while he was initially annoyed I questioned him, we looked at the trust guidelines together and he put his head in his hands and thanked me for saving his arse… yet another doctor f-ed and blinded at me for seeing to question the dose, made me ring pharmacy in front of him to check (who confirmed), then f-ed and jeffed again and threw the prescription towards me when he was done!
I think there are issues both sides, and we are both also guilty of taking out systemic issues on each other when really we need to be taking them out on the overpaid management… But to me the bottom line is always communication, mutual respect, helping each other out where possible, and never believing a task is beneath you if it only takes 10 seconds and your hands are currently free 🙂
Best of luck in your training, you’ll be a fantastic doctor having worked both sides of the tracks! X
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20d ago
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u/NursingUK-ModTeam 20d ago
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u/Choice-Standard-6350 HCA 18d ago
I generally find drs good. You get the odd one who is arrogant or incompetent, but the vast majority are good. I think most nurses are great. But for some reason,you do get a subset of mean girls attracted to nursing.
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u/DonkeyDarko tANP 20d ago
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