How are those doctors treating you?

We have a few docs who I wouldn't mind getting into a boxing ring with after work and taking some physical aggression out on
I feel the nursing staff is at fault in a way, because everytime one of these passive-aggressive MDs arrives to our floor, regardless of everybody's opinion of the individual, some brown-noser has to greet the MD as if they were a life-long friend who they haven't seen in years. To put it plain and simple, they kiss mucho butt.
As a new RN with quite a bit of experience under my belt, I've found it better to maintain a strictly professional relationship with the MDs who come off like they're God. I will address them appropriately whenever I meet them in the hall, but no butt-kissing. It's real simple: write my orders and let me know if there's anything special you need me to do for the patient. As little as you want to speak to me, I want to speak to you even less.

Last year one of our cardiovascular surgical fellows wrote an entry on his blog that created quite a stir. This is a quote:

The lack of professionalism (dress, informality/familiarity, impoliteness, disrespect); nurses calling in "sick"; intensivist that think they are the only ones capable of managing post-op cardiac surgical patients; OR delays and summer slow-downs; provincialism; doctors "treating trials" rather than using clinical judgement; entitlement; surgeons abdicating the care of their patients.

He has since followed up verbally with his complaints about our unit, our methods, and most especially our nursing "deficiencies" and the nasty comments seem to come thicker and faster when we've had to cancel his ORs. He sees it as an attitude problem that we're often short-staffed and stretched too thin when we've had an exodus of nurses due to poor management, heavy workloads and heaps of moral distress. He doesn't ever look around him and see that a big part of our bottleneck problem is that our unit is clogged with their (CV surgery) poor outcomes. We have two kids in the unit right now who have both had heart transplants... yippee, right? Well, both of them are CRRT-dependent and the younger one is inotrope dependent as well. Weren't they supposed to be fixed? One of them has been in the unit pretty much since April and the other one since last December! Then there're the two hypoplasts who aren't going anywhere soon, the DORV/ASD/VSD/Coarct kiddie who will be with us for months to come and a cardiomyopathy that is waiting on a heart. Right there we have 1/3 of our beds taken up with kids who aren't going to be leaving us any time soon. If the unit were only a CVICU that'd be one thing but we're an all-things-to-all-people unit. What do we do with the kids whose hearts aren't their problems?

Doctors treat me well. But they know I am not the one they get testy with. When they are oriented to the hospital and ER. I think they are told, about me.

GRRRR I am angry at doctors! I am sick of them thinking that that the nurses are their personal lackeys, secretaries, and all around gofer. I had a doctor call me out of an isolation room all the way to the nurses desk to ask for a patients chart! What about getting off your butt and getting it yourself??? Yesterday a doctor called me because I paged him about a new consult. I spoke to my manager today and she wants me to write him up. I hate getting anyone in trouble. Why can't everyone just play nice??

I'd say on our unit at a large hospital they are fine, for the most part. There are a couple of outlier ass****s that come in from time to time, but we just ignore them and don't respect them -- so I don't know what they think they gain from it.

The ones who are nice get rewarded -- we are happy to see them when they come in, we offer them a seat, offer them snacks or treats, and just generally make respectful conversation with them. I don't understand why any doc would want to be rude to a nurse -- we are there as their eyes and ears, and they rely on us a lot to assess and care for their patients.

I've gotten over complaining with their curtness -- many are taking care of a LOT of patients, and they are busy -- I understand that -- so I've worked to keep my reports short and to the point and to know what they need to know to report it to them fast. I think as long as you do that, you can make their lives easier. Many aren't all that bad, really -- we work at a teaching hospital also, so many are young and just aren't as grouchy as the older docs.

I've had a few just hang up on me -- and I just say, oh well -- whatever. I guess he/she was in a hurry -- I just don't take ANY of what they do personally anymore.

I would have suggested that tantrums generally end with childhood, and told him to come get me if he decided to act like a professional, just before I walked away.

I Think that the medical administrators/managers should be more afraid of losing their nurses seeing that there is a shortage of nursing staff. Nurses work just as much as a doctor if not more and should be just as valued as a doctor.