Has Anyone Been Mistreated By an ER Doctor?

[MedFire]

I have had 2 bad experences. First was a code we brought in but onscene the husband went missing so we had no clue who she was or what happened or how long she had been down. So i preceded to get yelled at about all of that. all i could do is call for times and gave them to him.

Second was when i got an exposure to blood. The ED Doc wouldnt even help. the nurse told me to go see my primary doc and get tested. The ED doc said he didnt think that the fact of me being covered up to my elbows and face spashes wernt enough of a risk to even test the patient. needless to say i still dont like him even tho everything came out great.

[Ridryder 911]

Overall, a great working relationship.

However; we do have a few, that are 1'st-2n'd yr. residents. Still have the resident syndrome. Everything by the textbook, no common SENSE.. would argue with a fence post.. I usually ask if want a centrall line immediately, "2'nd year .. huh ?" ( when they learn int. med) Yep, just what I guessed.".

Reminds me of a joke..:

What is the difference between God & Doctor ? ... God doesn't think he is a doctor....lol

Be safe,

Ridryder 911

[chipmunkemt_98]

I've not really had a problem with a Doctor, ever. The two larger towns that I used to transport to showed a respect for EMT's that was amazing. They listened to what you had to say and asked questions about the patient.

We had one doc at the local hospital who thought that she was God's gift to mankind because she had a perfect figure. One night, when one of the choppers came in to pick one up, she took her scrub top and tucked the bottom through the collar and made sort of a shortie top out of it, which to me was unbecoming of a Doctor, as well as flirtatious toward the all male crew on the bird. I sometimes think she missed her calling for Harry Hines Boulevard, but she really is a good doctor when she doesn't have a mirror or a young studly around.

[sirduke]

Thought I'd resurrect this one for two reasons, first I have experienced several doc's at the local trauma center who are pricks, they get bent all out of shape if you bring in a patient after 1700 hrs when they prefer to be sitting in their lounge watching tv.

Secondly, I figured Dust needed something to rant about.

[crotchitymedic1986]

thank you sir duke, and I will return the favor to you. Yes, many ER docs get bent out of shape, because in the end of the day, they do have liability for their care or lack of care, but most hospitals couldn't care less about the ER patient volumes, or how holding admitted patients in the ER for 8 hours, compromises their ability to treat patients well. They get pissed, they have no one to vent too, so they take it out on who they can -- emts, medics, nurses, and techs.

But before we criticize, lets take a look in the mirror. You are on your 20th hour of a 24 hour shift in which you have been slammed. You barely got one meal in your body, you have had no sleep, and you are on your 4th BS drunk call in a row. Is your tone over the radio to the dispatcher as pleasant as it was at 8am ? Is your tone and body language to your patients, FFs, EMTs, volunteers, patient's families, and nursing home staff, as professional as it was at the start of your shift ?

Being an ER doc is like being the only BLS truck in an ALS service. You get dumped on all day long. Other doctors dump their patients on you that they dont want to deal with, and you basically run a non-emergent clinic for drug-seekers all night long in the ER.

Also realize that many docs have never had a job in the corporate world or employment world period. They went from high school to college and medical school, where they were treated like crap and yelled at the whole time. They may not know any better, we do.

[Just Plain Ruff]

Ok, my father in law recently required air ambulance transport to the big city.

They did an EKG on scene (done by the medic on scene so I know it was done right).

When I met the ER doctor at the Great St. Lukes Hospital in Kansas City MO he was doing everything he could to discount everything that my father in law told him. He basically called my Father in law a liar.

Then we showed him the 12 lead and he said "paramedics all just have a high school education" and my wife looked at him and said "My husband is a paramedic" and then my father in law said "and he has a master's degree" and that doctor couldn't get out of the room fast enough.

My father in law actually said a little while later "Go away, I don't want you taking care of me any more, just get my regular doctor in here"

It will be Karma if this doctor ever needs a medic, by golly he will get a high school educated paramedic hopefully. Would serve him right.

[Christopher.Collins]

Untill I read sirduke's post I didnt look at the dates... I was like who are all these new people?

Anyways, Id like to think that most everyone in the ED's around my area are pretty fair. I have several major hospitals in Connecticut to choose from and Im central to most of them. Lawrence Memorial, Backus and Hartford as well as Connecticut Childrens being some the closest... Westerly (Rhode Island), Yale, and Middlesex. Some are major hospitals and fall into some top national care statistics and also most are all teaching hospitals.

With the exception of Yale however, I very rarley see doctors floating around unless its a serious run. When I worked for American Ambulance our main hospital was Backus in Norwich, CT, as it was right in our PSA. Its mostly the nurses running the show... in the ED and on other floors. We had a pretty good working relationship with the staff there, often bringing them coffee and food... maybe hanging out once in a while after a run (our base was right around the corner). There was the occasional trauma room volley ball (more or less keep it up though) with an inflated glove and gourney for the net.

For the most part everyone around here is cool. For being some top notch hospitals I would expect (but am certainly not complaining about it) more proffesionalism and up-tightness. Frankly Im happy it isnt like that. It is possible to be a good and proffesional person without taking your job so seriously.

Mean docs and nurses = Mean medics and EMTs = Upset/mean patients = Adding to Medic EMT meanness and frustration = Upset/mean patients = Continually mean and upset docs and nurses = repeat.

Anyways like most everyone else said 4 years ago... unless you catch someone on a bad day they are pretty cool.

The only tough thing around here more often than not is new medics obtaining med control... thoes can be tight standards but thats an area I would not to see any lax.

(Edit): Also the hospitals state wide are really good to us during EMS week... food and cold beverages day after day in plentiful supply, gifts to go around for everyone as well.

I will add without mentioning the hospital by its actual name there is one place situated in NE Connecticut that dosnt have the best reputation. From a transport standpoint especially you could wait a half an hour or more before the patient and or paperwork is actually ready. All this can be completed in the time it takes for a transport ambulance to make the trip there. So rather than requesting them during the ealry stages of the discharge process they most often do it upon the patients arrival to their ED.

[firedoc5]

I'll just keep it short and sweet by just asking, "Who hasn't?"

[emtgrimreaper]

here we deal with hershey med. the med students at the hospital are the worst. they think they know everything. the actual residents tell us to ignore them. the resident docs actually want to hear what we have to tell them about the pt's. the nurses there are also know-it-alls

[CBEMT]

I've only run into one smart-ass doctor that I can remember, but that's an airborne disease at the ER he works at.

Our trauma center gets the stupidest BS complaints you'd ever see, and EMS brings in a lot of them. But the attendings there have done a fantastic job making sure that their residents treat us well. I asked one third-year about the outcome of a patient I brought him from the day before, and when I told him I hadn't heard of the type of fracture before, he stopped what he was doing to Google it right then and there to show me an x-ray of it. I watched one attending stop what his resident was doing, ask her if she'd seen my 12-lead, and asked her what her treatment plan was based off of it.

That said, don't be a dumbass with these guys. I've also seen an attending start yelling at a Fire-EMS crew who started giving him report on a patient in cardiac arrest (arriving with no tube, no IV, grey.... you get the picture), while completely ignoring CPR, bagging, etc. He was NOT happy.

But I don't consider that mistreatment. :wink: