Ye Olde Effective Nursing Communication Strategy

The next time you are on the reciprocating end of an unwarranted rant by a physician, I want you to talk to them in Olde English. What’s this you say, a way to screw with AH doctors? How do I sign up?

Let me give you an example:

Let’s say a certain surgeon who shall not be named tells you that one of his patients is coming in and to call him as soon as they arrive at the hospital.

Shortly thereafter, the patient arrives but now the surgeon is nowhere to be found.

You call him over the intercom, inquire his locale at the OR desk and physically circle the hospital to no avail. Sure, you have patients to care for and things to chart, but having time to do your job is boring! You decide to make it more challenging by going on a wild goose chase.

Eventually, you give up the search and call out a page. You didn’t want to resort to something so drastic, so extreme, as to make a phone call. But, not only did he ask you to call him, the patient has been pacing the floor for an hour and is now quite loudly demanding the appearance of said surgeon.

Fast forward another 30 minutes… (more…)