How can you effectively support physicians during challenging cases?

As a registered nurse, supporting physicians during challenging cases involves clear communication, proactive assistance, and meticulous attention to detail. Stay informed about patient history, medications, and vital signs. Anticipate needs, offer insights, and collaborate closely with the medical team. Remain calm under pressure, provide emotional support, and advocate for patient well-being. Update documentation promptly and seek clarification when needed. Continuous learning and adapting to new situations enhance your ability to provide effective support.

Take a good hard look at the patient's chart and make sure to read some of the most recent provider and nursing notes, along with the H&P, before you even attempt to input your opinions regarding a particular patient or care event while engaging in a discussion with a provider during rounding. It is essential that the provider knows you are knowledgeable in the patient's case, as this will almost immediately help to build rapport between yourself and most providers. Once they feel they can trust your assessment skills along with your input as an accurate historian, given your extensive knowledge resulting from adequate time spent at the bedside with this person, the things you say will have noticeably more weight attached to them.

“ The eyes will always see what the mind knows “ Medicine is never been easy to anyone and it’s perpetually known to spring surprises and challenges which is going to test your knowledge and abilities to think out of the box and find answers to the questions before you! In medical field, you never know enough about everything and hence “NEVER EVER HESITATE TO GO BACK TO YOUR TEXTBOOKS AND JOURNALS TO READ UP “ about every challenging case that you encounter. Secondly, what you don’t know, someone else knows or have encountered before so don’t hesitate to ask for second opinion! Lastly several minds think better than one so believe in team approach! Your aims to treat the patient not chase for glory! It comes naturally if you do it well

Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation, or SBAR in colloquial terms, is a must when communicating pertinent patient information between yourself and a provider. In many settings, providers will not even take you seriously unless you are approaching them with this type of order and uniformity in your assessments and details. Make good eye contact and make sure to convey factual evidence and not personal opinions. Talk to providers like you would talk to your elders—show some respect.

Communication can’t be understated in importance! A sound, precise, complete and detailed narrative of the clinical scenario is unrivaled in importance to understanding the problem. Whether it’s the treating Physician or nursing staff or the supporting paramedics , everyone needs to be fully aware of the patient details before they start to plan the treatment process. Communication must be: Crisp and limited Precise and targeted Pertinent and relevant Complete and not exhaustive Polite not interrogative From a patient’s standpoint, until the details revealed aren’t complete and truthful, expecting the physician to do magic is futile waste of time and efforts. Nurses uninformed can’t help much too, if they don’t know what to do either .

Work with your colleagues and other strong nurses on the unit to help build providers up and to make their lives easier. Often times I hear nurses uttering things along the lines of how they believe nurses are the more capable caregivers or how providers wouldn't be able to hack it if they were faced with the role or responsibilities of nurses. Don't make me laugh any more than you already have. Providers are highly intelligent medical professionals who are most likely smarter than you. Show them a little respect. Most of you won't like hearing this, but man is it true.

This is a double edged sword like situation! Being empathetic to the patient complaints is NECESSARY! Being sympathetic in your actions is naturally expected. But in medicine sometimes you have to answer life and death Questions honestly and precisely with kindness and softness but NEVER MANIPULATED TRUTH AND FALSE PROMISES!!! I have encountered physician colleagues who kept the truth hidden from the patient feeding them with false hopes of cure and betterment when there was none to start with. Usually such situations end up with severe heartache of both loss of life as well as financial depletion as healthcare is a costly exercise and that’s truly sad.

Show your peers and providers that you are all in this together. Patient care is a highly stressful practice to perform on a daily basis and we all are in need of some type of emotional support or encouragement at times. Be the light you'd like to see in your own life and in others.

Remember how you got through those challenging and difficult patient interactions in the past. Use what you've learned at the bedside to better yourself and your craft. Becoming great at nursing is not a linear progression—you will have ups and downs and backslide at times. How you progress today is what matters. You can do this.

Become a member of well-established, credible nursing organizations, such as the American Nurses Association (ANA) and/or the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN). These professional bodies will help you with your professional development and provide valuable educational and networking opportunities that will strengthen your identity as a nurse and put you in contact with mentors and role models who will be paramount in your progression and growth, as you continue to build your legacy through your career.

Don't just take my word for it, get out there and strive to make yourself proud, through your interactions with the providers you work closely with on a daily basis. None of this will be easy, but the more you put the best version of yourself into your professional practice, the quicker you will become self-aware in terms of your true degree of inherent value and worth. You got this!