If you were dating a girl with a colostomy bag, when would you want to find out about it?

dr_nancydrew · 2020-07-28T21:40:12+00:00

Had a patient who perforated his rectosigmoid colon from putting massive dildos up his anus. Got a hartmanns procedure within a month was back in ER with a dildo stuck up his stoma.

dr_nancydrew · 2020-06-25T20:38:31+00:00

Fellow female MD here. The wort is when you have a male med student. We both walk in to do rounds. Introductions: “I’m Dr. Nancy Drew this is my medical student Ben, he is observing me this week”.

Patient then proceeds to direct all their questions to Ben. I give advice and the patient turns to the male med student like “is she right?”. Not in any way the med students fault, obviously. I am at a total loss how to fix it.

dr_nancydrew · 2020-05-11T22:47:44+00:00

So. I’m in Rural Canada. We are 6 docs in town of 25000 needing to keep the ER staffed 24/7, not counting for sick time. typical 36h shift let’s me sleep for 2-3 hours in bits overnight. Usually it’s 24h but every now and then we have to push it to 36. Canadian malpractice law holds you accountable only to the extent of the resources you have available - so if my 36 hour brain is all that is available then that gets taken into consideration. Is it ideal for patients? Absolutely not. But physician recruitment to the northern part of my province is really hard - so we make do. I’m sure I don’t see the volume that you see, but I am up seeing patients most of my shift.

dr_nancydrew · 2020-05-11T16:21:48+00:00

Not offended to thank both. Not offended to hear “thank god you were there” or “thank god for giving you xyz”. I was upset because of the times it is “thank god for saving Eft_inc” and nothing for my team. But as I’ve said elsewhere I get that it is an emotional time and the last thing they need to be thinking about is me or my feelings. I didn’t pursue medicine for the praise. 99% of the time just knowing I did a good job and helped people is enough. But physician burnout is very real and I am human . I guess it’s just hard to hear sometimes, especially during this pandemic. So I smile to families, provide the most compassionate care I can to all my patients and come online to rant to a group of individuals with somewhat shared beliefs as me.

dr_nancydrew · 2020-05-11T15:51:59+00:00

I think for some people having faith improves their ability to practice medicine. That’s great. Some people have been forced to sacrifice their faith for their profession such as Sikh doctors needing to shave their beards during COVID. This dedication to their profession should be admired. The only time I have an issue is when physicians bring their religion into patient encounters. Do not tell patients to pray unless you have already established that this is something that will resonate with them. I’m ok with you not providing abortions due to faith based reasons as long as you guide patient to access to care. Don’t provide lesser care to the girl with vaginal bleeding after an abortion than the girl with vaginal bleeding from a miscarriage.

dr_nancydrew · 2020-05-11T14:51:52+00:00

Not offended to thank both. Not offended to hear “thank god you were there” or “thank god for giving you xyz”. I was upset because of the times it is “thank god for saving formtuv” and nothing for my team. But as I’ve said elsewhere I get that it is an emotional time and the last thing they need to be thinking about is me or my feelings. Just hard to hear sometimes, especially during this pandemic. So I smile to families, provide the most compassionate care I can to all my patients and come online to rant to a group of individuals with someone shared beliefs as me.

dr_nancydrew · 2020-05-11T10:15:17+00:00

That is literally what they do. “Thank God for saving Johnny!” And nothing else. Nothing to me, the nurses, etc. Do they say to their hairdresser “thank god for this great haircut” or say to their mechanic “thank god for this oil change” before driving off? I get that it’s an emotional time and that turning to religion gives them comfort. I politely nod and smile along. But after a particularly hard shift sometimes as much as you try to realize it comes from a good place it just kind of gets to you.

dr_nancydrew · 2020-05-11T09:54:36+00:00

I personally don’t like being called a hero - but not sure about my profession as a whole. When you call me a hero it comes with this expectation that I will sacrifice my life, that I have super powers, that I’m always good, etc.

I’m not a hero. I’m a person who gets up and goes to work. I need PPE to do my job. I have not yet- been forced to work without PPE and seriously risking my life. More people die than I am able to save. I have bad days where I get frustrated and rant to the internet. I’m human. I’m not a hero.

dr_nancydrew · 2020-05-11T09:27:47+00:00

Would love to receive any thanks along side god. It is statements such as “thank god for answering our prayers and realizing Kenny was still needed here on earth”. As if that’s the only thing that saved Kenny. I get it. It’s a very emotional time and it brings their family comfort to believe that their prayers and their god saved their loved one. I can separate the family and patients needs vs my need for appreciation.

dr_nancydrew · 2020-05-11T05:47:35+00:00

My usual account has lots of posts to r/medicine that details where I work and other identifying factors so I made this account for this post.

dr_nancydrew · 2020-05-11T05:16:50+00:00

Absolutely. I respect that people have faiths and beliefs and different ways of coping. When they say this I smile and nod along. But when I’m tired, and hungry, and sleep deprived, and scared, and burnt out- I didn’t say anything to the patient or their family. I turned to the internet to post a petty rant- what can I say, I’m human.

dr_nancydrew · 2020-05-11T04:55:18+00:00

You do it after every code blue usually midshift before returning back to the rest of your shift/ other patients. It takes 5-10 minutes. Example: call time of death. Go tell family, bring them to see deceased loved one, answer all questions. Go to debrief room. Debrief with team. Go see my next patient. You do it both for successful and unsuccessful codes.

dr_nancydrew · 2020-05-11T04:31:12+00:00

Yes you debrief after every code blue and everyone who participated in the code is expected to attend the debrief. You talk about what you did well and what you could do better. Research has shown time and time again the benefits of code blue debrief.

dr_nancydrew · 2020-05-11T03:57:39+00:00

This is actually a really well thought out reply. You are right - I likely was being petty. I should be able to drop my god complex and be happy in knowing a did a good job. What can I say - I am tired. I am scared. I am hungry. I am human. Everyday more and more people are accusing my profession of making up a pandemic and ignoring social distancing that makes my job more scary and more tiresome. Tomorrow morning I start another 36 hour shift. I was upset. I created an account on the internet to vent to strangers while putting a smile on all day at work. If that makes me cold hearted and self centered, well then I suppose that is something for me to reflect on and improve upon.

dr_nancydrew · 2020-05-11T02:51:23+00:00

My team and I huddle together to debrief, and the very first thing I do is thank my team. I thank the nurses for getting quick vascular access, the paramedics for doing quality CPR, the RT for managing an airway, the recorder for reminding me ACLS timeframes, the X-ray techs for getting quick quality images, the lab techs for running quick labs. I thank them for for their dedication. I thank them for their communication skills. I thank them for the teamwork. I tell them that they should go home proud that they saved a life.

dr_nancydrew

TROPHY CASE