Short answer: yes.
Just what the heck am I talking about? I'm talking about the new baby docs that are starting their rotation with us at Big City Hospital. When I refer to new baby docs, I'm not talking about pediatricians. I'm talking about those newly minted MDs that have just graduated from medical school in the past year.
New Baby Doc: (noun) - A physician which has just graduated from medical school within the past year. This is also referred to as the intern or first year resident. These newly graduated physicians have book smarts, but not necessarily clinical smarts.Ahhh, breaking in the new doctors of tomorrow. What a fun job for nurses! What everyone should know is that these new doctors do not always start their first clinical rotations in July: they sometimes start in the dead of winter. Typically, July 1st is the changeover time for all med students and residents. However, we receive students/residents that share time with another local hospital, so we tend to get newbies all year 'round.
I had the 'pleasure' of meeting several newbies recently. There are good newbies, and there are not so good newbies. (I'm trying to be positive here.)
Good newbies: eager to learn, introduce themselves to the nursing and medical staff, ask questions, treat the nurses like co-workers, bring in yummy chocolate.
Not so good newbies: think they know it all, don't bother looking you in the eye when they need you to come in with them to examine a patient, don't introduce themselves to you, treat nurses like they are lower than them, order tests for no rhyme or reason, and where-the-freaking-heck-is-the-chocolate???
Ya'll understand where I'm going with this, right?
Yeah, of course you do!
Newbie #1: no personality, no introduction to nursing staff, very brusque and abrupt. Has no clue when ordering tests/treatment. Very slow to warm up to the nurses. How you gonna learn medicine without the nurses on your side??? This one might not last long in OB.
Newbie #2: looks you in the eye, introduces themself, smiles, presents nurses with yummy chocolate brownies, asks questions, very laid back, talks about their children, sits down with nurses at the nurses' station. Shows basic knowledge of OB when discussing particulars of a patient situation with the nursing staff. This one is a keeper.
Rule #1: Smile. Introduce yourself.
Rule #2: If you don't know, ask questions. Don't just guess.
Rule #3: Know the basics of OB before you walk in the door. We can help you build from that.
Rule #4: The nurses are your friends, not your enemies, and certainly not your subordinates. Respect is mutual.
Rule #5: You chose this specialty. If you don't like it, it shows.
Rule #6: Bring food. Especially chocolate. And often. We will share our food with you too.
22 comments:
Hmmm...me thinks when I go to L&D for this baby I will bring chocolate and will be very polite, then when I refuse the IV or explain that I need a shower for pain relief so I'm getting off the monitor (in a kind way with a healthy baby showing good thing on there)...maybe I'll get a good response. Never thought of that before. Chocolate heart boxes go on sale right after Feb. 14th. I will just take some of the buggers with me to the check in desk and will have a few in my room....
Blessings!
Dawn
As a doula, I always recommend that my clients bring a little basket of healthy and naughty goodies for their nurse. Also, if I come across a nurse that went above and beyond for a client, I'll personally bring in a card and some homemade cookies. I want the nurses to understand how much we (my clients and I) appreciate their hard work!!!
I'm in no way saying that chocolate is required, nor will it necessarily ensure that you get a good nurse. But it is a nice surprise :-)
As a social worker intern, I did a year at the psychiatric unit of our local hospital. It was really obvious who worked WITH the nurses and assistants, and who didn't.
Hm, we all liked food too!
I think the world would be a much better place if everyone just always had chocolate.
On the topic of bringing chocolate, what do you think when someone brings in snacks or a gift for their nurses when they have a baby? Would you appreciate more a note, or something else?
Having been a New Baby Doc myself once, my biggest advice to new students and residents is always: Nurses are your friends, treat them well. I can't tell you how many times a nurse saved my butt when I was training. When you are new, the nurses know so much more than you, and also have the power to help you out, or make your life miserable - so my first goal on any rotation was to first figure out how to become friendly with the nurses.
As an attending physician, this is still a vital skill. Nurses are with my patients all day long and they get a much different picture sometimes than I do while rounding for 15 minutes a day. It's important to foster a collaborative relationship so that the nurses can act to their full potential and share freely what they know with the doc.
Whip those new baby docs into shape, cervix!
Hmm...I always thought that bringing in chocolate would be thought of as "sucking up.". Do you look at it like that or just as a nice gesture?
Personally I think its a nice gesture; it says I appreciate what you did/are doing and recognises the nurses/midwives as people with needs too (like chocolate in any form!)
Love it! In the CBE class I teach I tell couples that that bringing in chocolate or some kind of treat is a great way to start off right with the nursing staff. It's a great way to say that they appreciate all the hard work that they know the staff is going to put in on their behalf!
Its so true. Nurses are with the patients all day long and know so much about their patients. I like the residents that come up to us nurses, smile, and ask us questions. I tend to help them more than the residents that walk onto the unit and don't look you in the eye but instead have a "know it all" attitude and expect nurses to find their charts. Nurses can be your friends.
The food point is especially important. Nothing is more gratifying than pizza or chinese on midnights...
I am continually amazed by the number of doctorlings who, after a gazillion years of med school, internships, clerkships, residencies etc., etc., who still don't get that whether you have a good relationship with the nurses can make or break you. I think by the time they're working on their own, they're probably beyond help.
On the other hand, the number of dink-like new physicians is much lower than in previous years.
Nurseses love doctors and doctors love nurseses thats why they are always dating each other
Wait... is the consensus that a laboring woman SHOULD bring chocolate? It honestly never occured to me to do this... but maybe I would have had nicer nurses during my delivery if I had brought treats. I guess I just figured I'd show up and they were there to help me have a baby and that was their job... so I never though it was a good idea or even recommended to bring them chocolate. (I mean, I can see sending chocolate after the fact if you really connected with a nurse or if someone went above and beyond the call of duty. But ahead of time seems like we're begging them to treat us nicely.)
I used to work at a medical school, and I can tell you for sure that some students graduated feeling they were "above" anyone without an MD. I can only imagine those kids ended up crashing and burning in residency. However, the majority of the truly bright medical students treated folks from all professions (it was a multidisciplinary campus) as peers. They seemed to "get" the idea of working as a team and were willing to learn from the expertise of others. I have no doubt those doctors are the ones that went far in their residencies, and beyond.
But, anyway... back to my main concern. Should I show up at my next delivery armed with chocolate?? If I were a nurse, I'd probably think such a patient was being a bit presumptuous and maybe even a bit ass-kissy. (That's a real word, right??)
I was at a coffee shop once and at the next table were two medical students at whatever stage they actually start seeing patients. Both of them clearly thought of themselves as so brilliant that it was painful for them to be in a room with us lesser mortals, don't you know. One was bitching about a nurse who called during a call shift to report that a patient's blood pressure had exceeded a range. The med student was incensed that the nurse hadn't taken the time to see how the BP was trending, and give him some history. I wanted to go up to the student and say, "Look, idiot. SOMEONE wrote an order on the patient's chart that said, call physician on call if BP exceeds this number. It's YOUR patient, you should have report, don't call out the nurse for following the order. Also, you could ASK NICELY for the information you need, and the nurse would probably be most helpful." I'm a chaplain. Nurses are awesome, as are most docs, once the team figures out it's a team!
One of my nurse f/b friends just joined this group, and I thought you might like to join, if you haven't already. :-)
Behind Every Doctor... is a skilled intelligent nurse that saves their ass
-Kathy
As a soon to be baby doc, I appreciate the advice. I certainly expect the nurses to know way more than me..and I make amazing brownies. Like your page!
There is always a place for common courtesy.
"Please", "thank-you", Wwhat do you think?", and Do you want me to make some coffee to go with these doughnuts I brought?", should always be in your vocabulary as an intern or resident!
Excellent rules. Chocolate brownies are always ALWAYS welcome :D
One resident's family owned an italian restaurant and she brought a whole lot of appetizers, lasagna and desserts. I couldn't do much for her that night because of food coma but she's loved nonetheless!
Awesome post! Nurses at non-teaching hospitals don't understand the added challenges when working with "green" residents (a descriptor we often use during report .... i.e. "Dr. x is still pretty green").
I love nothing more than helping to shape a new doctor into a collaborative, mutually respecting professional. However, those who already know-it-all and don't want my input are very scary in the NICU world. As much as I hate to admit it, when an intern has ignored my concerns about a dropping blood pressure or a concerning abdominal assessment on a preemie, nothing gives me greater joy than seeing their ass handed to them by the attending.
Oh and we always share our treats and good coffee on night shift with the docs, even the ones we don't like so much :)
When my husband was a peds resident, he was really nice to the nurses. It's part of his personality, but he was also a mediocre resident and knew it, and he knew he needed their help to survive (he picked a peds specialty that matches his skills--not NICU or PICU!)
Even now, he is great to the nurses. He gave a lecture to the nursing staff at his hospital, and the comments reflected how glad they were that he respected their knowledge and experience.
With both my babies, we brought coffee and doughnuts for the nurses.
However, what we plan to do to thank our nurses for our second delivery (at the hospital where he is an attending, first was delivered where he did his fellowship)) is send a letter to the hospital president thanking our wonderful nurses by name. My nurses made a huge difference in my ability to labor naturally, accept that my VBAC attempt had failed, and recover from my repeat c-section. They deserve professional recognition and not just chocolates. Though those don't hurt.
Note to self: bring chocolate at the beginning of each rotation!
(I already know how important and useful and informative nurses are!)
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