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Hi all - just curious what you think of this situation. I have a new nurse manager who believes that we are there for the doctors - surgeons more specifically. Totally. Example - we have a doctor who screams and yells and swears constantly and who also says "if this so and so piece of equipment isn't fixed by the next time I'm here I will throw it at YOU!" Am I dreaming or is this verbal abuse and threatening behavior??? I have tried to talk to the manager about it but she says, "everyone has a bad day". Well folks, this particular doc is constantly like this. She actually tells us that we are there to do whatever we have to to please the surgeons. HA! I am there to take care of my patients. PERIOD. I absolutely do my best to make sure that the surgeons have what they need for the case, as this benefits the patient. I will not bow down any longer to this type of behavior. Comments?? Suggestions??
Originally posted by SukeyI would LOVE to see what would happen if a patient refused to let a doctor touch them because they were actually frightened of the "fit throwing" and general agressive behaviour.
Oh that would be so sweet.
I actually witnessed a patient firing her surgeon! It was great! He walked into her room to examine her (this was about 2 days post op), she was not in bed but in the bathroom sitting on the toilet. He threw open to door of the bathroom and was ticked off that she wanted him to wait until she was done! PLUS her roommate had male visitors in the room who were watching the whole thing! I came upon the scene right when she was telling him to get his "rude, arrogant ass" out of her room! We found her another surgeon to take over and even he couldn't believe how rude the other surgeon had been.
mark--Me too, but I must say that I've never been treated like that by a doc, so that response is theoretical. I've always gotten along better with docs than with certain nurses--particularly some nurse managers/supervisors who know little to nothing about supervision and absolutely nothing about leadership.
As previously stated HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT. = greivance = hospital lawyers. PERIOD there is a clearly defined law to protect us.... PLEASE use it!!
my favorite ; MD "don't call me again tonite". RN: "MD states don't call again tonight" MD: "what are you doing?" RN: "charting your response in the legal document".
MD: "Don't call me again tonight, click of telephone" I page back and state: "I'm sorry sir, I was documenting your response in the chart and I forgot what you said after don't......."
This has gotten me called in the office..... only to get a laugh and support from the manager.... with a stern warning that the fall out will be tough.... many meetings later.... it was worth it but a stressful process.... so is getting crapped on by the MD.... I'd rather have the MD on the defensive side...
Every doc knows after one of these statements that I WILL CALL, will document and will demand respect and correct treatment of the patient...
:kiss So sorry you have to go through this.... it CAN STOP HERE.... but the follow through on your part will be tough. If every nurse stood up for themselves we could make improvements but some managers will make life miserable meanwhile, that's when I go one step up.
HUGS and don't let them get to you:
I do feel for you. I said the same things about a doc at our hospital whose file is probably bigger than the dictionary, however they cannot do anything with him because he is not hired by the hospital. We are a Planetree facility and I cannot believe that they let so called professionals act the way that they do sometimes
preciousnurse: Of course your hospital can discipline or even get rid of a physician who is not hired by the hospital. While they technically are not employees, and are independant practitioners, they must apply for and get renewed privilages to admit at a medical facility. A hospital may deny such privilages to a physician for cause and if he can't admit, his practice will grind to a halt! We recently had our hospital deny admit privilages to a surgeon and asked him to "move on" and with no place to slice and dice, he closed his office and left.
So, your hospital does have recourse, if they will take it. But apparently the are opting not to.
Zee_RN, BSN, RN
951 Posts
Heck, I just wrote up a statement of concern this week for a doctor who hung up on me! Jerk!
Don't take it. Write it up.