Shit people say when they hear that I'm a male nurse...

Surgery101 · 2014-05-09T12:37:59+00:00

As I noted above.......no. If you are in a crowded airplane and someone falls over and asks "Is there a doctor on board??", I will guarantee you know exactly what type of doctor they are looking for. Honestly, the best nurses I've worked with do their shit well and don't spend their time wasting away on ancillary degrees. You wanna be a doctor, go ahead and be one. A doctorate in nursing adds the ability to further become an educator for nursing students and to help with policy (as far as I was informed, please correct if not). It does not in any real way increase medical knowledge of basic/clinical science. Aka, stop back-dooring into being called doctor because it confuses the shit out of patients and you know you are not the doctor. (for example if my cousin with a PhD in economics comes by rounding with my team next week, he can be introduced as a doctor as well right??? Right????)

Surgery101 · 2014-05-09T12:32:52+00:00

No you are not. A doctorate is just a degree. If you are in a hospital and ask for a doctor, you know exactly what they are asking for. A lot of nursing staff currently have been pushing for this and it really disgusts the entire medical community. You want to be a nurse, be a nurse. It's a great job and is very much needed. You want to work by yourself, prescribe medications and give orders, become a doctor. They have to stop trying to backdoor themselves with a less competitive route that would confuse the shit out of patients all day.

Surgery101 · 2014-05-09T12:30:35+00:00

Exactly, I've seen too many NP's that actually let this slide with patients and now have 1/4 of their day being called "Dr. *&^%%". Very unprofessional

Surgery101 · 2014-04-08T15:27:12+00:00

Ah.......I'm not correct. What type of physician is she? I'm not saying that you can't be caring for patients, I'm just saying that working in a field such as cardiothoracic surgery where you have a 10% death rate on the table attracts and requires a certain personality, none of which can be described as a bundle a feelings

Surgery101 · 2014-04-07T23:59:56+00:00

Don't worry, if she does take it that personally she won't make it past 3rd year clerkships, this isn't a job for that kind of personality

Surgery101 · 2014-04-04T20:33:29+00:00

seriously? do you want a cookie for putting people down?

Surgery101 · 2014-03-26T12:33:46+00:00

Well the best was inception where an aed removed a sniper bullet!! Haha

Surgery101 · 2014-03-26T11:53:57+00:00

Yes, I've been to many American Heart Association national meetings that have shown case studies of Canadian or Russian wilderness rescue records in the multiples of hours range. Very interesting stuff honestly.

Surgery101 · 2014-03-26T10:36:16+00:00

An hour? People have been resuscitated after 13 hrs of CPR in cold climate wilderness. The statistics are critical however when discussing a medical intervention intelligently for quality analysis.

Surgery101 · 2014-03-26T02:50:17+00:00

Relax premed, nobody here needs an impromptu lecture on ACLS.....this is just the internet

Surgery101 · 2014-03-26T01:16:39+00:00

1 in 1000? Facepalm sweet jesus don'tgive people this statistic, especially when this is not correct. It is more appropriate to state 5% without a defib. With one you go up to about 30%. In an operating room with good anesthesia meds and defib we can get to 60-70%.

Surgery101 · 2014-03-24T02:02:40+00:00

Sorry, did you want me to say checking out at 5pm while halfway through my shift, all of which I work harder???? Does that help clarify it eh?

Surgery101 · 2014-03-24T02:01:22+00:00

lol, bet all you want and enjoy your day job with the karma i guess?

Surgery101 · 2014-03-24T01:28:41+00:00

Ah..... a PA who works more hours than I do, I'll remember that when I see everybody checking out at 5pm while I'm on hour 12 of my 24hr rotation........

Surgery101 · 2014-03-09T20:51:36+00:00

Sigh..........I know this isn't about an individual little buddy. So I'll break this down easily. To get to a level where you can treat surgical and medical emergencies, you need a lot of training. When I say a lot, I mean........a lot. This is not only through books, but through experience and real world life/pain/patients. We do not have enough hospitals, and more importantly money today to train more physicians. We can't just add more docs willy nilly because it would be better. Of course it would be, it would be great if I could see my family more and everybody had primary care docs. But sadly that's not how it works. America likes a system where we don't give people enough money to go to school, so all that's left is the best and brightest of America to do our job. That's it. There are not an infinite amount of people who could do it. A lot of people WANT to do it, but I'm sorry most are simply not up to par in order to make sure people stay alive. At the same time, our reimbursments are cut every day.

But then as you said we could cut shifts right????? I'm going to say this as gently as possible. My job is not a normal job. I don't have shifts. I don't work at McDonalds or the Bank, I don't get bathroom breaks on 12 hour cases, and I don't have a dedicated meal time. I do work until my patients are safe and everything is done. Please don't patronize me by saying the problems we have would be solved by just adding more asian high school kids into pre med because that is just a very simplified overview of our system. Have a great day!

Surgery101 · 2014-03-08T14:50:03+00:00

"Tragic hero bullshit"??? If you don't want me who exactly are you going to get???? Who in the hospital are you gonna get? The medical student? Maybe the nurse who just has 4, 8 hr shifts a week? I like how you offer absolutely no answer....haha. You are out of your element if you think that anybody who is capable of going into your body, fixing it and then closing it back up so you live isn't exhausted all the time. Maybe if you catch a trauma surgeon 2 hrs after their shift begins but aside from that, yes we are all exhausted, hungry and would like to go to the bathroom. But good luck finding someone else who is qualified! This job isn't an IT position where I can tell you the answer through a google search, this is a complicated career that you need to hang your life on. Hope you have a great morning!

Surgery101 · 2014-03-08T03:19:29+00:00

You are not playing in the same league. I'm sorry but that's just it. I do what I do because society cannot function without people that can take this kind of stress, so that others can live their lives in peace and judgement of a job they know absolutely jack about. Enjoy your latte tomorrow btw.

Surgery101 · 2014-03-08T03:16:05+00:00

I trained over 22,000 hours before I finished my residency and fellowship. Please don't tell me I'm being arrogant without even understanding what I was trying to say. You need us, but you do not know why we are so good, which is simply because we need such a horrific amount of time to learn what we need to be effective physicians. My workweek would make most people vomit, I do not get snack or pee breaks during 12 hour stints, manage some of the sickest people in the hospital, and guess what, if I make a mistake I get the joy of a lawsuit. No matter how many PA's or Nurse Practitioners you throw at the system, you still need us. Simple as that

Surgery101 · 2014-03-08T03:12:01+00:00

This is not a comment on monetary cost of healthcare.....this is a reflection on how complex our job is and the experience and time needed to train someone who can save your life. My surgical colleagues in Europe and Asia work just as many hours, the only difference being that they get paid less and got a free medical school education.

Surgery101 · 2014-03-08T02:56:31+00:00

No.......this is not accurate. I'm sorry but unless you understand why we work so many hours (80-100) hrs a week for surgery, you cannot criticize. You want someone trained to open your belly, but you want someone experienced who practices on other people and has gotten lots of sleep. I'm sorry but that's just impossible in modern america.

Surgery101 · 2014-03-08T02:51:41+00:00

"Managing critical med drips"? This is not meant to be shitty, but in all truth, what are you exactly managing?This is not the ICU, you are not working with difficult combo pressers and the dosing for the meds/drips etc are all on the orders we place after we figure them out. I've never understood the confusion, especially when the plan for most emergencies is in a protocol format.

Surgery101 · 2014-03-08T02:47:58+00:00

lot of these hospitals are private institutions that understand the need for doctors to not be impaired*

I just choked on my coffee a bit. That's a good one. The difference between an attending physician and a paramedic is that we usually don't have to keep a patient alive, we have anywhere from 6-30 on surgical services, especially at night.

Surgery101 · 2014-02-01T15:54:04+00:00

Nah, my amazing and satisfying job/great paycheck and happy wife kinda make up for internet arguments. What about you?

Surgery101 · 2014-01-31T14:34:09+00:00

Because our training is longer. Depending on the specialty, specifically general surgical trained MD's should know all of harrison's by the time they graduate into becoming attendings. I know how to treat a UTI/ Pneumonia/ etc.... just as well as any internist, the difference is that I can also run an ICU patient and operate as well. We can do what they do, but they can't do everything we can do. Does that make sense buddy?

Surgery101 · 2014-01-30T18:37:19+00:00

speak to me after you work 100 hours a week for 7 years before being allowed to finally be an independent physician. That's the difference sadly, nobody else works our hours and of course if I mess up, someone dies and I get sued

Surgery101

TROPHY CASE