Is There a Doctor In the House?
Member Discussion & Survey
Is there such a thing as a real day off for healthcare professionals?
Frequent news headlines about off-duty medical practitioners saving lives remind us that our members may find themselves called upon for assistance when they least expect it. And on a more typical day, family and friends may turn to you with questions and concerns about their health.
So can you switch off from being a healthcare professional, even for one day? We invite you to share your experiences and opinions on this subject by answering our poll questions and joining the discussion below.
(Please click the "vote" button after answering each question)
Join the Discussion
We encourage you to share your experiences and opinions regarding this topic by submitting a comment below.
(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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is epocrates planning on starting a physician chat room soon so we can ask our peers questions/consultations?
many thanks,
This comment is offensive!dr b
I’ve finally figured out how to greet patients I meet outside of the office…”so nice to see you”, I have to leave out the customary “how are you?”, as they take it as an open invitation to rattle off everything that’s happened since I last saw them. What a shame.
This comment is offensive!I was driving through wyoming 3 winters ago and stopped for a family who had been in an obvious rollover due to black ice.
This comment is offensive!I opened the door to the van and saw people and stuff everywhere. Everone on initial quick inspection appeared to be OK except for grandma who had back and chest discomfort and some bad lacerations. We compressed her wounds to stop bleeding… during this same time a GMC Yukon hit the same ice and barrelled right at the van we were in. Luckily the Yukon shifted paths as it rolled or the damage could have been much worse. I evaluated these people also and as I finished the paramedics arrived. I explained the injuries, the cause, and what I had done. I was surprised at the response I received. The paramedics acted irritated that I was there and that I had done anything. No “thank you” but more of a territorial response.
I am a family practitioner. And I was a resident at the time. Surely I don’t know the “field” medicine like a paramedic but I was surprised at the reception I received to doing the right things and I am surprised at some of the comments towards MDs in these opinions.
It’s about time Epocates address all of the HCPs out here who are not MDs. Whether they realize it or not, WE are the people who do most of the caring for patients around here. Epocrates is interested in MDs ONLY because physicians write scripts and this keeps all the pharma companies $$$$$$ rolling into Epocrates’ pockets. Well, guess what? We have more PAs and NPs providing patient care AND writing scripts at my practice than MDs!
This comment is offensive!I concur with Debra about the physician-oriented title to this survey. It may have been language that was linked to a known phrase of the past, but healthcare service delivery is a great deal larger than physicians these days and your writers should have considered this when picking a title supposedly addressed to healthcare providers. It may be instructional to review your entire site to note the number of places where you specifically address physicians but not other healthcare providers. Is this consistent with your mission and values? Is this consistent with the share of revenue non-physician clinicians bring into your company? I think your product is great but hope you will consider reaching out to your whole consumer audience, not just MDs.
This comment is offensive!I think Debra over-reacted a little bit on this article. The title would have been too long to include “Is there a NP, PA, or doctor in the house?”
On another note, I am a new Family NP grad working in a retail medicine setting. My family and friends often come to me with different medical concerns. Many of them are too complex for me to address (perhaps they are seeing a specialist for something and ask me questions about it), or even those that I can address often times require actual prescriptions or further tests. The question usually comes up: “can’t you just prescribe me something?” My response is “sure, just come visit my office and I can check you out and prescribe something if I feel it’s appropriate.” Most people don’t understand that we (medical professionals) don’t just carry around a prescription pad, and that we can’t write them a prescription outside of the office setting. Furthermore, without the proper history and physical, you run the risk of telling the person to do the wrong thing, meaning liability OUTSIDE your office setting. I normally try to give people general good health information and tell them to see a provider. I do enjoy being a great source of health information for my family and friends; then again, the most important things that you can tell them are things like “stop smoking,” and that advice falls on deaf ears, coming from someone close to them. You win some, you lose some!
This comment is offensive!Having enjoyed the stories shared here I have to agree that this is a way of life. After practicing as an RN for almost 12 years I am now licensed as an NP. I work with Hospice and in legal nurse consulting (full time). Even though the majority of my time is spent in a law office, I am still called upon to provide medical advice and care. I have attorneys who come to me to have their blood pressure taken and then tell me about the results of their colonoscopy (!) and I ‘ve had employees walk in, pull up the leg of their pants and show me a wound! Life can be interesting as the only medical professional in the building.
This comment is offensive!Thinking I would like to learn more about law and possibly go to law school to be a “Nurse Lawyer”, I took a full time position in a large law practice on a medical malpractice team. However, what I am doing is offering my medical opinion on cases all day long and have now been asked to develop a wellness program for our employees! So, no, there is no escape! I’ve helped in groceries stores, accident scenes, school sporting events and once in the parking lot of a bar after closing when an elderly man took a nasty tumble in the parking lot. I sat inside as someone came in and said someone had fallen. My boyfriend looked at me and said “you stay here.” The next plea was for someone who knew CPR and I HAD to go! Luckily the man was breathing but unconscious and had struck his head and was bleeding. I had my boyfriend grab my medical supplies from the trunk of the car and EMS showed up just in time as the man came to swinging! As I kneeled on the ground next to him, trying to keep him from hitting me or hurt himself, in an icy rain no less, all I could think is that perhaps I should have chosen law first….!
I enjoyed reading Dean’s comments. Asking if there is a “Dr.in the house” that is a very 1950’s way of thinking. Just as the public is getting over the shock of a man being a nurse!I am an RN, working in homecare, and graduating from a MS Family Nurse Practitioner program this May. I realize the importance, as the ever widening gap in primary care prevails, of public awareness of NP’s and PA’s. The pharma companies are catching on by saying in their commercials, “contact your healthcare provider” rather than “contact your doctor.” This is the respectful thing to do, recognizing that, yes, physicians are treating patients but we are also. NP’s and PA’s exist because there is an ever-growing need for us, and we should be welcomed and respected in a collegial manner by our physician counterparts.
We have a responsibility to conduct ourselves professionally as well, so that the public understands our role, and trusts us with their health.
This comment is offensive!Our 2nd trans-Atlantic flight got exciting when a lady developed chest pain, sweats etc-looked like the real thing. We were asked to decide if we should land in Newfoundland or proceed across the ocean! We dumped fuel and landed-everyone’s schedule was ruined. SAS airline gave us 2 nice bottles of wine and we got to keep them.
This comment is offensive!Some kind of active, non medicine hobby is important. It doesn’t have to be fly fishing etc. But something that takes your mind completely(almost)off medicine for awhile.
The trouble is that we are too busy.
Kimberly Allen’s comments made me think of the airline medical situation that I attended to as a FNP student. I helped the passenger who only needed evaluation by paramedics once we hit the ground and then f/u with their regular provider (the person had a scheduled visit the next day) and the usual if getting worse go to the ER/ED.
This comment is offensive!Did I get any thanks from anybody? The person and significant other, yes, but the airlines…no, not one thank you very much!
It was enough for me to have gratitude on the part of the people I helped.
Should airlines/restaraunts, etc give extra special treatment to those of us in the medical field? I wonder about that…I think a simple thank you is sufficient.
I live in a remote town in rural Alaska and am a Family Nurse Practitioner. I’ve been a nurse for nearly 10 years now and in the medical field for 16.
This comment is offensive!I’ve been asked for my opinion on medical questions from friends/family and the general public (unsolicited).
My general rule is that I always preface my answers by saying that if there is a concern about the person’s health that they really need to be seen in a clinical setting. If the problem is something like a cold or the like I will offer the standard anwers for getting well, but tell the person that if they have other health problems (that I don’t want to know about…especially from family members…close family connections is one thing, but I do not want to know all about my brothers’ health problems…yikes!) that they really need to be evaluated at the clinic for a proper history and PE.
In an emergency situation I will step up and help PRN. However, I have had surgery on my low back, so there are some things that I cannot do. If there are others standing nearby I will utilize them for things like a Heimlich manuever on an obese person, etc.
Airlines in our area often rely on there being a medical provider on any given flight, the flight attendants know who is a doctor, nurse, paramedic, etc and will come get us! The hazards of small town living!
Do I ever feel like I really get a break? Yup. When I am out at camp with no communication device within 50 miles! Thats when I get a true break.
I think that this is something that the general public has limited knowledge due to inaccurate portrayal of the medical field thanks to shows like ER, Gray’s Anatomy, etc… I have seen it once in a restaurant where someone yelled out that famous saying, “Is there a Doctor in the house!!” I was about to get up when an middle aged gentleman stepped up to assist. I slowly got up thinking that this other person was an MD. When his questioning made no sense I politely asked him what his specialty was. Being that this is a small town with a university he responded with something about having his Phd in History!!! I adivsed him I was a Paramedic, asked him to step back and call 911 if he wanted to help. He was more than happy to relinquish care (go figure!!) I main lesson I learned out of this was to ALWAYS ask for everyone’s speciality if they offer to assist. Maybe someone else there is better qualified to help but that may not always be the case….
This comment is offensive!I have been a paramedic and a RN for many years. Almost 30. It amazes me that the same mentality continues in so many places. “Is there a doctor in the house?” I realize this is an established saying in America, but come on. Who provides most of the care outside the hospital in this country. I’m not saying they should practice medicine but who would you rather have in that dark alley; a paramedic or a MD (which apparently in NY it would be a psychiatrist). How many people are provided in home care because nurses still make house calls? Give us guys in the trenches a break. “Is ther medical personell in the house?” By the way, I use and promote epocrates heavily. Thanks for the product.
This comment is offensive!I too loved Cynthia’s story. I worry about giving answers to medical questions from my patients & my family. Patient’s seem to want to make sure their physician is doing the right type of work up etc. It’s hard not to jump in and offer your opinion. I am also afraid I will be the only physician nearby, what if something I do is no longer the standard of care? After all it’s been nearly 20 years since medical school graduation.
This comment is offensive!I’ve helped at auto crashes, done basic first aid for someone in status seizure, and spent 3 hours on a jetliner’s floor giving IV fluids to a hypotensive gastroenteritis patient while returning from Fiji (I was treated VERY well by the flight staff), patched up fellow divers, and sewn up friend’s with and without insurance on my dining room table. Being a doc is an intrinsic part of who I am. In spite of the hassles and what can seem like constant criticism from the media, I love who I am and what I am able to do for others. Yes, it can be stressful but it is beautiful vocation to be able to share one’s life and gifts to decrease pain and suffering. We physicians will always find a place to work and can reinvent ourselves and how we “practice” according to our personal and professional circumstances.
This comment is offensive!I worked as a family practitioner for 2 years and am now doing my residency. And I have to say that although medicine IS a way of life, and most of the time I’m happy to help those around me, there DOES come a time when it gets to be too much. When people start spouting out symptoms and worries as soon as they see you, showing you their slightly assymetrical arms or “that annoying rash” that came out of nowhere, like if you had nothing else to talk about. After working 60 hour weeks for 2 years, all i wanted when I saw my family and non-medical friends was to talk about SOMETHING ELSE, and hopefully forget about medicine for just one day. I had to get nasty to get my point across :(. Not proud of it.
This comment is offensive!In the the true noble sense of the profession Medical profession is a way of life rather than just being a job,in which case depending on the healthcare faciity you are working you are responsible to the profession instead of the job
This comment is offensive!I think the most difficult we have is not to help someone when we’re out of duty, but to confront public opinion of those who’s around in the street, those people who comes around only to see the disaster that happened and wants you to do what his neighbor or his friend said that’s good! Here, in Brazil, that’s really common and brings real trouble!
This comment is offensive!I have enjoyed reading everyone’s comments on this subject. I recently became an NP after over 20 years as an RN. One thing that has blown my mind is that people don’t seem to get the difference between being an RN and a nurse practitioner. I have almost given up explaining the difference. A friend of mine called me recently to tell me about an LPN job in the paper! Those of you in the profession know what I am talking about. I have 4 years of college and 3 of grad school…unlike the 9 months of LPN school required! Anyway, I have always offered to help if I came upon an accident or medical emergency and have been happy to do it…but like most of you, got mixed responses from the EMT’s/paramedics…some appreciative, most not. I love the nursing profession - I enjoy the science of it and realize that a huge reponsibility comes with its priveledge.
This comment is offensive!One thing I have noticed (and I have wondered if others have, too) is that the general public has slight disdain for the medical and nursing professions…that is, until they need them. For example, my daughter in law is into holistic medicine (herbs, reiki, etc) and refutes the need for western medicine - that is until she or one of her children is actually sick…then she panics and runs to the nearest medical clinic for guidance and prescriptions. Also, when people ask me for medical advice, they don’t always like what they hear, so they act somewhat put out. Interestingly, my husband is a lawyer and gets asked legal questions quite frequently at parties…..he doesn’t seem to mind. I think being in medicine is much the same…except we are dealing with life & death issues at times. Then there is the problem of liability….so I have learned to preface or end each consultation with “You really need to see your healthcare professional or call my office & see me asap.” By the way, I agree with those that have had a problem with the question “Is there a doctor in the house?” We need to change our language to fit the milieu… we should be speaking in politically correct language….”healthcare professional or provider” instead of doctor. On a humorous note….some of my patients call me “doctor” and though I correct them, they continue. I suppose a rose is still a rose……
I am a Geriatric Nurse Practitioner who does house calls. I go to adult care homes or private homes. The clientele is very challenging; dementia COPD etc..
This comment is offensive!I often get calls from children wanting to know results etc.. about their parents. I do not mind this at all! What I do mind is that I can’t bill medicare for a phone consultation on these calls. How many lawyers do you know that spend 30 mins on a phone regarding business and don’t bill it? Or the patient who needs to talk or all the labs I order because a carehome calls and says someone has odor to their urine etc.. The medicare system and other systems make it so that good MD’s and other healthcare providers cannot make a good living and still give prompt care to their patients. It makes no sense that I can’t place a person who just needs a little support back at home with a week or so of care from a nursing service but that same person can go to nursing home without a problem. Well now I am going off subject!