I only recently started watching reruns of the TV show Scrubs, and I’m sorry I only just found it. Funny stuff.
One little rant got my attention today, in an episode called “My bosses’ free haircut”, where two docs are lamenting the loss of stature and respect given to physicians:
“Today, people think of us as drug-dispensing walking lawsuits who are in fact less informed than their Internet phones”.
I think that just about covers it.
Society is definitely more jaded these days about everything. I get the same thing as a road nurse–some patients treat me more like Room Service at the Hilton rather than as a nurse who’s there to help them follow doctor’s orders.
Whatever… I’m confident enough in my own abilities and professionalism that the occasional (“You’re a terrible doctor!!” or “you don’t know a f***ing thing!!”) doesn’t bother me in the slightest.
The ER is not burger king… but that said, people certainly can get it “their way,” provided it’s objectively reasonable, medically sound, and not dangerous. Otherwise, I just do what’s indicated, and when they rant, I advise them to get their own medical license if they want to practice.
I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve had to have that conversation in the last ten years, so it’s definitely the rare patient that tries to write their own orders (Note: this doesn’t include the drug seekers…)
There’s a book out there by some Silicon Valley type, another “here’s how to fix medicine” book, that says that doctors could largely be replaced by programs that could diagnose people.
They’d still want to keep us around just to have someone to sue, because I’m sure the program would have a disclaimer.
Scrubs is great! The a capella quartet of non-clinical employees singing TV theme tunes is a stunner, not to be missed…
…Charles in Charge, of our days and our nights…
Heh. That’s the one on tonight.
I liked the one with Colin Hay following Dorian around singing “Overkill”. Scrubs was a great show but kind of jumped the shark after the first year.
Heya gruntdoc,
Scrubs started when I was an intern (so were JD et al), and I still watch it whenever it’s on.
It reminds me of M*A*S*H* in a way, silliness and humour interspersed with angst and sarcasm and tragedy.
Daily I think if I see one more entitled suburbanite with a bundle of stuff she printed off the internet, I’ll … I dunno, be frustrated and disappointed and nod and say, “Uh-hunh.”
–drncc–