Doctors! Rudeness does it go hand and hand?

NurseRotten · Jul 20, 2007

Hello again!
I guess perhaps with Malpractice Insurance premiums being at an all time high he isn't taking any chances. It's too bad though, especially as you are doing your best to keep his people safe. Just a friendly note though: Most physicians don't want Tylenol given before cultures are drawn even with a high temp as the med can mask the results of the cultures. This could be one reason he shook his head....?

Tylenol does not interfere with the culture result. If you have antibiotics to give, the culture should be drawn. I have never heard of withholding Tylenol for pending blood cultures.

If you can't get an order for Tylenol, ice packs with do the trick.

Diary/Dairy, RN · Jul 20, 2007

Well, I have to say I have dealt with some nasty doctors before, but I have found that trying to be nice and to the point helps, along with being confident and knowing what you are talking about. There is always some jerk out there who likes to be hateful, but that is no reason to respond in kind.

I had an interesting conversation with one of the nurses here the other day. She said here at NC Baptist Hospital, years ago they had to be told to be polite to ALL other dapartments no matter whether or not you felt it, or felt like it. I have to say, that move has made the general climate here to be nice!! I appreciated hearing that from her and am trying to make a change in my own day to day practices.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jul 20, 2007

This thread is nearly 9 years old, as it was originally created in 1998. However, I think this topic is still very much worthy of discussion...

I was yelled at, over the phone, by a very nasty psychiatrist. At the time I was a medication nurse at a small psychiatric hospital that admitted patients around the clock, 24 hours a day. I was working the 3-11pm shift, and a female patient was admitted to the inpatient unit at 9pm. Since he was her attending psychiatrist (and the doctor on call for the evening), I had to call him to verify med orders because she was a new admit.

I placed the call at about 9:15pm. He screamed, "What do you think you're doing? You awakened me when I was sleeping!"

I replied, "Sir, you're a doctor. If you're on-call for a 24 hour hospital, expect to receive phone calls at home."

He says, "What do you want?"

I said, "Your patient has been admitted to the facility, and I need to verify her medication orders with you."

He grumbled, "Okay...Who the hell is the patient, and what does she want?"

smk1, LPN · Jul 20, 2007

This thread is almost 10 years old! Way to go allnurses!

now back to our regularly scheduled thread.

CodeBlack · Aug 12, 2007

I have alot resentment towards doctors. I've been working in hospitals both acute and long term fro over a decade and I've been yelled at countless times and been treated like a dog. Of course, not all doctors are a-holes, but alot of them are.

Nursebarebari · Sep 6, 2007

I just want to ask the rest of the country if they have ever been yelled at, or hung up on by a doctor who is on call and suppose to care for his pts? I work @ a small community hospital, where everone in the whole hospital knows everyone else.(And all of their dirty laundry, but that is besides the point.) We have some doctors who are wonderful, no matter what time or day if the year you call them they are genuinally concerned for the well being of their pts, but others, are mad cuz you interupted them sleeping, eating ....or worse yet it is x-mas eve, or Sat nite. Well I don't really jump for joy when I have to work on a holiday or weekend either, but I do it, and more importantly I am not rude about it. When I was 1st graduated I worked niteshift, and when pts would have a complaint nausea, pain etc. I would actually look to see who was covering before I called, not to get the right phone #, but to assess whether or not I could wait until morning if a certain DRs were on call. Well i have been an RN for five years now and it didn't take me long to realize that my pts come 1st and it is too bad if I interrupted someones sleep to bring my pts they comfort they deserve! Does anone feel the same way?

My unit have has a lot of very well season nurses who really know what they are doing. Many times, we teach the new and the not so new doctors what to do and how to do stuff. So we do not get yell at all, we have mutual respect. :nono: :nono: :nono:

the princess · Sep 8, 2007

yes, those creatures exist, unfortunately, hehehe:lol2:...when i was new in Hospital A, i called the on-call doc at 6:30 am (pm on-calls end up at 7am, hello)....he was like Godzilla wreaking havoc in the city...he said "i am driving right now and on my way to your facility", and hung up on me...i'm not a psychic, to check the magic crystal ball to know he's on his way....he came to the floor within 15 mins...he went to check the patient and wrote tons of orders...he must have known i wasn't joking when i called...thank God, he apologized for his misconduct on the phone......uhuh? what did you say doc? huh? well... :rolleyes: :coollook: :doh:

FireStarterRN, BSN, RN · Sep 8, 2007

I just want to ask the rest of the country if they have ever been yelled at, or hung up on by a doctor who is on call and suppose to care for his pts? I work @ a small community hospital, where everone in the whole hospital knows everyone else.(And all of their dirty laundry, but that is besides the point.) We have some doctors who are wonderful, no matter what time or day if the year you call them they are genuinally concerned for the well being of their pts, but others, are mad cuz you interupted them sleeping, eating ....or worse yet it is x-mas eve, or Sat nite. Well I don't really jump for joy when I have to work on a holiday or weekend either, but I do it, and more importantly I am not rude about it. When I was 1st graduated I worked niteshift, and when pts would have a complaint nausea, pain etc. I would actually look to see who was covering before I called, not to get the right phone #, but to assess whether or not I could wait until morning if a certain DRs were on call. Well i have been an RN for five years now and it didn't take me long to realize that my pts come 1st and it is too bad if I interrupted someones sleep to bring my pts they comfort they deserve! Does anone feel the same way?

No, I haven't had this experience. I've pretty much only had positive interactions with our doctors.

MooreScholar · Sep 12, 2007

I wonder if some doctors realize that if they get sued, the nurses will be called to testify about their general demeanor and professionalism. I know of one doctor who lost his license because the nurses didn't like him. We live in a very litigous society and he just never figured this out. The lawyer for the case told me the best malpractice defense is to be a doctor or nurse that people like. The hardest cases to defend are the arrogant guys who have a lot of people who want them to get their commupance. Persuading a jury to find malpractice is apparently quite easy when it is clear that the people the doctor works with do not like or respect him. The lawyer told me that he had won cases against doctors when he had nothing more than an unprofessional or rude email. Watch what you say and write! Doctors need to pay attention to this too.

Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN · Oct 6, 2007

i work in a teaching facility, so a lot of my interaction is with residents. (especially on nights, they are the only doctors i tend to see face to face!) there are certain attending physicians we hate to call, but the patient does come first so we suck it up. i find it helpful to run into the clean room or accudose room and scream after getting off the phone with them. :angryfire

anyway, back to the residents. i have a reputation in my department for befriending them. i don't do it intentionally. if they need help finding something, i'll help them (because i want them to help my patient and me) and i never let them leave without reading over their orders so i don't have to call back and clarify. they're usually very thankful for this, and we develop a positive relationship. then, when they order something nonsensical or try to talk down to another staff member, i can redirect them to their senses. i've known a resident to be very upset that he has to come to the floor (as he's expressed ove the phone) and then straighten up when he arrives and sees me! :lol2:

so my solution is to reduce the number of butt head doctors, by training the baby ones right. sadly, can't do much for the ones who've been that way for years...

*jess*

walk6miles · Oct 6, 2007

Good common sense - I've seen nurses alienate residents and we ALL pay for it (especially the patient)... I believe in being helpful to all.

Sometimes it is hard to do BUT!!!