That is hilarious! Ok, true story time: I was on a business trip once that took me through Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic on the way down to San Jose in Costa Rica. Got some bad seafood in the D.R. that landed me in the hospital in C.R. I'm laying in bed with tubes sticking out of me and this tiny little nurse comes in holding a Bible and says in broken English "is ok I pray for you?" I'm laying there thinking why does she want to pray for me? What does she know that I don't know? Am I gonna DIE?
Considering nurses have 2-4 patients all on the same floor and docs have somewhere around 15(more for surgical pts) all over the hospital, I would expect nurses to know names long before I would expect docs to know room numbers.
@@breea07 yea but if he/she knows the patients name, he/she should know the room also, bc along their name, their room number should be listed. if not, it's a careless mistake that could cost someone their life
@@sp00k3rs_6 trust me, it is much harder to remember room numbers all over the hospital than it is to remember names and characteristics of 18 patients. After being in the room, we can take you there, but to actually remember the number without looking is unlikely. Patients move rooms all the time.
When I call the doctor I always start with, "this is _my name_ calling about _first name_ _last name_ in room x, here with _x diagnosis_" then state the problem. Keeps the call short and sweet and avoids confusion. Also if I page them and don't here back right away, I write myself a little note to refer to in case I blank on certain details when they call back. These tricks have all been learned through experience. I made many mistakes talking to doctors when I was a new nurse. It's still not perfect, but it's a heck of a lot better than it used to be.
Being both an MD and an RN I can assure you that many nurses are simply commonly violating what they were taught when referring to patents by their room number or nickname. Yes, it is common. It's also disrespectful when discussing patients. You use the patient's preferred name when speaking to them, not in professional conversations with colleagues. The most common cause of errors is miscommunication.
@@cameronno6039 Definitely...and this follows training without shortcuts. Too often in practice people shortcut things and then blame others for communication failure. If there is a communication failure in healthcare it is ALWAYS owned by the expressive side, not the receptive side. Communication failures with patients are ALWAYS owned by the clinician, not the patient.
I agree but I would also argue that the nurse should know to refer to their patients by their full name (or at least last name) when talking to the doctor. But I never know my patient's last name unless I have my brain sheet in front of me 😂
I'm a nurse, I don't even know my patients name. It's all a blur all shift. The only ones I know are the ones I keep yelling at to stop ripping out their catheter
This makes me feel like my job as a PCT might actually matter. Charting meal trays is part of our "scope of care" . We got you covered while you handle the bigger stuff team 😂
Not *exactly* the same field, but I have heard this said about veterinary medicine: Vets would lose their heads without their nurses. Nurses would lose their heads without their assistants. And the assistants probably know not only exactly where your head is, but how long it's been there and what kind of condition it's in. [LOL]
I want to say thank you to all the PCT's! When i had my heart attack last year it was the PCT team i counted on most because i was already disabled and couldn't walk very well. Some nurse decided to try and test my saying i was allergic to hydrocodone and gave me a small does anyway and nearly killed me. I get projectile from all ends and my blood pressure bottoms out several times.
As a patient that’s been on IV lidocaine and had drs only visit before the sun rises, I feel this. Some days I asked when the dr was coming and they’d say they already did. At least my vivid disco party dream was fun…
Lol, yes. When my Dad had a heart attack he was helicoptered to another hospital. When my Mom, aunt, and I arrived they couldn't find him. Mom was afraid the helicopter had crashed en route. My aunt tried to whisper to the receptionist to check the morgue which upset Mom. Turns out they had him by the wrong name. Maybe because he goes by his middle name to family, but when asked or filling out forms his legal first name is always used so I don't know who/how that got screwed up. *sigh*
@@Bee-zh4gx Both, they had reversed his first and middle name at the second hospital. All the paperwork they would've sent would've had his name correct since that was what was on the insurance cards, hospital bracelet, etc. But since he goes by his middle name with family I guess someone heard him called that and wrote it down somewhere instead of actually looking at the forms. They eventually found him by looking up his birthday. About gave my mother a heart attach too.
I worked in food service at a hospital for four months and patients always seemed to change rooms right when dinner was being prepared/delivered. It was such a pain having to figure out what rooms the patients got moved to and run the one or two random trays to the other end of the hospital!
@@djsaidez271 could be true or a doctor of nursing practice (dnp) but I know a few nurses that quit all together and went to med school to be a cardiologist which is amazing
Dear Sir I hope this Comment finds you in Good health and in a prosperous enough position to put wealth into the pockets of people like me down on their luck you see that was my wife you decided to fuuuu-
All the nurses I ever had went above and beyond for my care. I wish I could give each of them all the happiness they could want in life. Such amazing men and women.
I love this. Nurses don't get enough credit. I once had a nurse that sat with me for almost an hour after I had my csection, my hormones were insane and I couldn't stop crying for no reason at all and she sat with me and calmed me down for 45 minutes at 2am in the morning. I still remember her name was Ginger. That was 3 years ago. She was amazing. Nurses are amazing.
Some nurses are amazing. The ones that care for their patients are amazing. I definitely won't say all of them though. Once shadowed the emergency room of a nearby hospital. This guy was coming down from anesthesia, and was asking random questions to the nurse, who eventually stopped answering and left. I talked to the guy after that. Nurses are the backbone of personal care in medicine. If they care, they are amazing. If they don't, its really, really sad.
Aww! My mom is a nurse named Ginger but the last time she worked in a hospital was well over 3 years ago, for a while now she's been working in doctors' offices as a medical assistant instead
My favorite is when you call a doctor about a patient and he brusquely informs you it's not his. You spend 20 minutes combing over every page of the records trying to find another doctor only to discover you called the correct one. 🙄
Then said doctor gets mad at you because you documented in the chart his refusal to accept responsibility for his patient when you call about sepsis 🙄. So thankful for congenial consultants/attendings.
I don't work in Healthcare BUT I've been a patient in the care of both and can tell you it's more of a personality type. I've had nurses that were mean/short/rude for no reason (from me, but who knows what their day has been like) and I've had doctors be just the same. Same goes for those nurses that are just soooo kind, caring & you can tell they truly enjoy helping others. Same with doctors too! But I get it everyone has bad day's, you NEVER know what someone may be going through in their home/work life and everything in between as well. Doesn't matter who you are, what your profession is or how much $$ you make, it's impossible to be pleasant every minute of every day in life...but thank you to those who work in Healthcare, it's not always easy especially after the pandemic & now with the mandate on the vaccine!!
Nurses are best. When I had my first epileptic seizure I was spaced out and terrified. Despite being busy, a nurse sat down and spent time comforting me.
God bless all nurses and doctors. You all are sincerely heroes. I had surgery yesterday and my appointment was delayed by over an hour. I was a bit frustrated because I have a 3 month old and I was eager to get home and back to being a mom. Then I thought, the doctor and her nurses are also at least an hour behind and I am positive I'm not the only person they'll be operating on today. When will THEY make it home to their families? Just.. thank you for the sacrifices and for having hearts to heal and nurture. Truly a blessing to us all.
To be fair, as a PCT, I'll usually tell the nurse the room # when referring to a patient, but refer to the patient by whatever name they prefer when speaking to them. The patients on my unit usually stay for weeks or months so you get to know everyone 😊 The nurses know the room # and patient name
Oh my goodness, just pulled a 14 hour shift and instead of taking a shower and passing out for work tomorrow, I’m sitting here binging on your videos laughing like a hyena!!!
Sleep is good for your body's health, but sometimes laughter is too! I just got off a stressful shift a work and took a nap while dreaming about work. Woke up watched some videos and feel 10 times more relaxed!
RN to switchboard: "Can you page Smith on call for cardiology please?" Switchboard: "He's not on call, it's Goughan tonight. I'm putting you through-" Goughan: "Why the hell are you paging me I'm off duty" RN: 🤦
Imagine the utter frustration, desperation, terror and rage people feel when a seriously ill loved one is hospitalized and there’s a revolving door of medical personnel, all of whom seem vaguely familiar with the patient’s problems and history, and who get quite snarky if you ask questions. Too many hospitals are becoming like the Roach Motel- patients check in, but they don’t check out.
Then you add in pharmacy which will use whatever patient name they heard used last (so doctor or nurse versions), but forgot it almost immediately. Ask us about the patient on this or that drug and we'll know instantly who you mean. Haha
Or just tell us dob. That's definitely how I identify patients in the pharmacy. Too many similar names with no faces to match them to. Dr: "Can you fill John Smith's medication?" Rph: "Sure. What's his dob?" Dr: "I don't know. Can't you just look up the name?" Rph: "Sure. I have 37 John Smiths. Should I start at the top?"
Oh my goodness, YES! We use a patients last 4 of their social. It's in their profile! It's on their charts! You're probably looking right at it! Because patients get moved beds like a con artist moves coconut shells in some wards, and when you have 5 smith's on a 50 bed ward, telling me a bed number that may have already changed doesn't help! Date of birth or some sort of patient ID number. Or the drug. We remember drugs. Particularly odd ones.
@@alchemistpac Oh yes. Ask me a name and I'm clueless. Ask me if I filled warfarin and I can tell you his age, demographics, allergies and brand preferences lol
@@alchemistpac Ditto I'm in charge of production and I dont remember pt names unless there regular patients or are on unique meds we don't normally dispense. It's just not the best way for me at least to work efficiently always get at least 2 different forms of identification. 😂
Us nurses are with patients for 12 hours. We are wiping and doing dressing changes in all kinds of places where the sun don’t shine. We are on a first name/nickname basis at that point. All formalities are out the window! It’s ‘Chuck in 72’ to us! 😂😂
As a daugther of a now hospitalised mom, I can tell you that this is spot on. So funny 🤣 my mom is having all the fun she can get in there these days 😌
@@sheepism470 why are you being a jerk in so many comment threads? If you don’t like Hamilton that is your choice but instead of being an unkind troll who seems to be looking for a fight please keep scrolling and let people have fun with something they enjoy.
nurses are the best people i know. i was in the hospital for a spinal tumor that paralyzed me and i was so homesick bc i was flown out of state bc the hospital i would've gone to didn't have a pediatric neurosurgeon at the time. the nurse i had named Chris got me a large printed picture of my cat, who is my best friend. that picture followed me to another hospital when my lung collapsed and then rehab. she's the most popular cat in those places bc i would just talk about her and how she was my driving force to get home (i spent 4 months away from home). i still have the picture on my wall. I'm so thankful for Chris cause even after my surgery where they put in titanium hardware, he came and visited me. i was told i was becoming popular among the nurses bc i had such a positive attitude even though my life took a full 180. "And I always think, yknow, good morale- that wins a lot of battles." - Bear Grylls
Back in the day at a large teaching hospital 6 Cheryl's on day shift in ER. Some attending MDs for a long while would substitute Cheryl for Nurse for a long time. I need a Cheryl to assist in curtain 8. The Sue's and Lisa's weren't thrilled. Docs laughed.
@@joywebster2678 that is so hilarious 😆. Though it may have been confusing & complicated , I'm sure the Cheryl's made the best of the situation. They should have named Nurse Appreciation Day 💐 " Cheryl's Appreciation Day" 😊
I have an aunt that has been a nurse for about 60 years. She’s a NP, and says the same things about Doctors. I know lots of Docs who say the same about nurses. LoL got to love them both.
I’m in registration and I’ve learned that they do this. When I speak to nurses over the phone about patients I’ve learned to speak in room numbers the same way they do without even including their floor indicator to make it easier on them
Man! You're right. I have been a nurse for many year. Use of the full name and room number to identify. Too many with the same name. So thankful ID bands and ID specific labels that can be scanned.
@@limiv5272 if you tell us how to pronounce it, we're usually okay! Or rather, I usually do OK. I ask, and then I write it down phonetically on my report sheet.
It can be worse if you do not an arm band to be scanned. Mainly due to staff miss pronouncing the name or misspelling the name. Often they will break it down such as if your name was Niccoplousmaxadalmire. They may call you Nick 😁. Full names and armbands, and label scanners are the best.
Why is this so damn accurate. I actually get confused when the doctors use the patients last names. I’m so used to calling them their preferred names 😂 damn doctors lol
Omggggggggg the accuracy! The doctor talks to me with the surname and I’m like !?!? but if you give me the room number I can instantly tell you their preferred first name. “Burgess? Stephen? Oh you mean Steve in 17. Yeah what about him?” 😂
I don't use the patient's first name typically but man, I usually only remember room numbers so when Doc is like, 'were you the one caring for Mr Suez last night?' I'm like, 'hold on, let me check' or 'which room?'
I had a nurse named Gabriel and that's when i learned the concept that not all masculine names are for masculine people but also for pretty people like Miss Gabriel. I was like 7 years old when i was hospitalized so i didn't know better. She told me different stories and taught me how to color stuff like how to saturate the crayon and fill all the gaps and use a ruler to scrape it to have a finish clean look on your paper. She was really nice and im now 21 but i still remember her and her face. I hope she's doing okay. ❣️
I enjoy calling doctors at work. They get so annoyed when I ask them to help with the possibly dying patient while they are at lunch while my team and I haven't taken a seat in about 7 hours let alone taken a break
Am I the only one (when on the Ward and looking after multiple patients) who doesn’t always remember their names? Like literally tell me what is wrong with them and I’ll know who they are and where they are. The minute you say, “Linda asked for some pain relief” I’m like “who the heck is Linda?”
Nope, same. I legit have no idea any of their names, BUT I remember what's going on with them and what they ask for and how they're feeling. My brain is shit with names, but amazing at the important things. When you got 5+ pts, it becomes a blur of names
Me! I have scribed in the past and they'll ask me questions about a patient. They'll tell me the name and I'll not be able to remember who it is. But the moment I started reading the note it all comes back to me!
And that's why it's, at my workplace, it is a policy to always use the surnames of patients when discussing them with other professionals. When talking with patients it's okay to call them by their first names when given leave to do so.
@@limiv5272 learn to pronounce those names. I'm always honest when I tell them that I am not sure how to pronounce their name and if they can help me with it. So far I always manage to learn.
@@annestrada1724 I have never encountered that. I have encountered a few times when someone's married name is the same as someone else's maiden name. But not related.
That's so impersonal, and like, unnecessary. The first question on the nursing admission document is what do we call you. In years I have never had anyone say they wanted to be called by their surname. And quite often it's not exactly what their first name is either. It's pretty rude to deliberately refer to someone in a way they haven't asked for. And using surnames means you often need to assume gender and marital status. Either way I work in a receiving ward, so surnames just wouldn't cut it. We use full names and room number, and then often do a check like 'the patient who had the fall' or whatever if it wasn't totally clear from context. Very high turnover of patients.
As a housekeeper, sometimes I would overhear snippets of these calls and they were almost always entertaining as I went about cleaning the patients’ rooms.
Then there was the time was supposed to get admit to nursing home but as going down the hall to change a dressing,heard someone call my name. Went in to find pt on floor having fallen off toilet,gashed arm on TP holder. did slap bandage to stop bleeding because of course..coumadin. Got CNA to help get him up ( at time undiagnosed MG) when he says his roomie has chest pain. Roomie pale and clammy says is 3, other guy says he said was 9. Did assessment of both being told he does have nitro, gave dose, ran to call MD and report both guys but now time to do vitals again , put him on hold, revitaled, remedicated while other guys wife is upset about the slap dressing and why wasn't she called, hospital wanting to give report on other line, fussy pt yelling as I am now 20 min late giving her med....No one was happy with me. So glad done with nursing.
@@kevinlifespositive8290 unfortunately that's true.was horrible job,felt like failure. Only later found out had MG,of course I was exhausted to the max and not allowed to call in
That's why i work in community nowadays! Coz all this chaos does happen to various degrees and it really annoyed me when the next shift nurse comes on and asks why you didn't do this or that and if they sigh, i just wanna slap 'em!
I have been retired for a number of years. The debacle you described in your comment about the chest pain, late med and undiagnosed MG sounds like a typical day , towards the end of my career. It just seemed like the job got harder and harder and I couldn't " fix " the system nor could I please everyone, I could just do my best ....
This problem is such an American one 😂 In Germany everyone always uses last name, nursed and doctors alike. Only in cases of severe demetia I occasionally use first names. But as a newly assistant physician I have daily meetups with my senior physician who only knows the patients by the papers, never seen them. And they like to name patients after their sick organ/leading illness. Also, the struggle to find the correct nurse or doctor for a patient is real.
