Well QDM,
I guess I have the same problem as you
I blame scrumpy for my brain damage, unfortunately closer to the truth than I like to admit!
Taken5th
I would agree that patients who are unfortunate to be admitted on August 1st of every year should be grateful for the experience and guiding hand of the nurses on the wards. Like a PPL, an MBBS is a licence to learn, and you really don't have a clue what you are doing when you first get one. Just stop calling the poor houseman at 3am so you can put 'Doctor informed' in your notes
Talking of sticking tubes in people. I remember being sent up to the wards to put a NG tube in having never done one before. The nurse brought the tube, and handed it to me. I asked the nurse if she had done one, and she said she had, so I asked her to show me how to do it. The nurse refused, saying she wasn't allowed, so the patient suffered while I totally ballsed it up. So it goes both ways, long time ago of course, and I hear nurses will do more these days.
I like the story of the houseman who was constantly being bugged by the nurse at all times of the night for what the houseman thought were silly things.
Nurse at 1am: Doctor, the patient in bed five is dead.
Houseman. The patient isn't dead until I say he is. 15 minutes neuro obs until I get there in the morning.
Probably as true as the rest of them