Join The Doctor Anonymous Show this week where our guest will be the blogger named Trauma Junkie. His blog is called "Surviving RT School." We'll be discussing this and also the new blog carnival called "A Source of Inspiration" which highlights respiratory therapy.
Here is an excerpt from a recent post from his blog talking about the use of cell phones in the hospital....
We've all been there. There is nothing more annoying than stepping into a room to assess your patient, administer a medication, or carry out an order, and just as you have everything set up to do what you need to do, RRRRINNNNGGG. "Yeah, um, I'm gonna have to take this. Can you come back in a minute?"So, I invite you to check out the show (where we'll talk about this post, his blog, and his blog carnival) on Thursday, March 19th, 2009 at 9pm Eastern Time on BlogTalkRadio for The Doctor Anonymous Show. Can't catch the show live? Well, that's ok. Every show is made into a podcast where you can download later and listen anytime. See you for the show!
Sometimes I do, and to be honest, sometimes I don't. Sometimes I tell the patient that if I do not do this now, I won't be able to come back for a few hours, and I will have to chart their refusal. It sounds rude, but sometimes you just have to do things like that. A few thoughts come to mind when a patient feels their phone call is more important than the "acute" care they are receiving in the hospital:
1. They really aren't very sick
2. They really aren't very smart
3. They really aren't very nice
And of course, any combination of the three. You see, it's all about the patient having their rights, and I totally understand that. If they have to talk to a husband from Iraq, that's okay. If their But at the same time, patients should understand that they have been admitted to the hospital for urgent, around the clock care, because a doctor has deemed it necessary.
However, as much as this pushes my buttons (and I hope you can just feel my anger), the newest thing I have observed is not only the patients talking on their cell phone, but...
The doctor? Yes, the doctor.
