Had my first doctor scream at me today

Nurses Relations

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I am a new grad. This is my last week on orientation.. Well today was horrible! Nothing went right! I was crazy busy.. I couldn't find any of my charts because they tend to "float around." Meaning doctors have them then social work has them... Anyways that is a whole other topic..

Today I was in my patients room and the unit secretary called down there on the intercom. Asked if the patient was in the room. I said yes, why? He said; Just making sure. Well then here comes transport to take my patient downstairs for an XRAY. So I send my patient and everything is fine.

20 minutes later a doctor is asking for the chart. I tell the doctor that the patient is in XRAY. He begins to scream at me saying that he called 30 minutes ago to make sure the patient was here. Said he drove 30 minutes to come see this patient and now the patient isn't in the room. Continued to yell at me about how he didn't have all day to deal with my stupid mistakes. At this point a senior nurse stepped in to back me up (thank god). I called XRAY and the doc ended up going downstairs to see the patient. But I was so embarrassed. Everyone at the station witnessed this. The other doctors were looking at me and shaking their heads. I almost cried and then I remembered how my critical care instructor told us to never let a doctor make us cry. So I sucked it up and went about my day..

I was just so embarrassed and so mad. There had obviously been a miscommunication issue here. I spoke with the unit secretary and he agreed he should of told me why he was checking to see if the patient was there.. Luckily everyone backed me up. But dang!! Doctors can't do their job without us nurses! They need to learn some respect!:angryfire

Specializes in Telemetry, Nursery, Post-Partum.

Fortunately, as I said above, I've never heard a doctor scream.

I've gotten pretty lucky too, I've never been screamed at. Talked to in a condescending manner that makes you feel like dirt, yes. Screamed at, no. I've heard some great stories from other nurses I work with about certain doctors at our hospital...I guess I've just been lucky so far!

Specializes in Telemetry, Nursery, Post-Partum.
I really really wish that there wasnt this "thing" about nurses being upset at being yelled at by the "doctor" , like they are some supreme being, or something. 'oh, the DOCTOR yelled at me, ..." Who cares? They dont employ you, YOU do things for THEM, not vice versa. It just seems to me that when new grads and even experienced nurses get all nervous about paging the DOCTOR or being upset that the DOCTOR yelled at them is just a sign of a personal, or even worse , professional inferiority complex. I am in no way singling anybody out when I say this here. It just makes me cringe when I hear this... toughen up. You're a professional. They are just people, no better than you are. I myself had never had a problem confronting, paging , or being "yelled" at by an md, as a student, as a new grad, or as a semi- experienced nurse. I find that odd, because in many areas, I am not so much of a confident person, and I actually *do* have an inferiority complex in RE: to many areas of my life. But, the whole doc-nurse thing never had me nervous or upset. (My friends tease me to this day, and say that this attitude I have is because I actually dated a doctor before I went to nursing school, so therefore I see them as regular people, as they truely are!!!)They may be right, but still, they are NO BETTER than us!!!!! Be strong!!!

I don't think the big issue is that "The Doctor" yelled at "the Nurse", I think that the problem is anyone yelling/screaming/throwing a fit when dealing with some one on a professional basis. The only person I scream at now is my husband...and I do try to keep that to a minimum;) I don't care who screams at me at work, I'm going to get upset, whether its a doctor, another nurse, patient, whoever. I can never imagine screaming at someone I consider a coworker, no matter how upset I get with them, I just can't imagine throwing a fit at work, and I have a horrible, easy to trigger temper. I don't know why so many doctors seem to not be able to control themselves.

Specializes in Hematology/Oncology.

I'm not confrontational, so don't get me wrong with what I'm about to tell you to do. First and foremost, never let them see you sweat. Whenever you get the opportunity to get that doctor alone, take it. You don't have to sink to his level of lack of professionalism, but you do have to speak up for yourself. Tell this doctor in no uncertain terms yelling at you is never to be acceptable. It defines your role as a strong nurse. It emphasizes you will not be disrespected. If you had any protion of error, own up to it, it shows you will not run from your accountability. If his rude behavior continues, I don't know about your institution, but in mine doctors can be written up the same as ancillary staff. I have a doctor who is high strung and volatile if the wind blows strong. I had to meet him in his office one day after the end of my shift and told him " when I come to work I am a grown married mother of two, when I work I give 200%, and I will never tolerate being screamed at or hung up by phone" that was 6 years ago, he has had to apologize to me for raising his voice just once since then and that was recent in the past week. Good luck.

My heart goes out to you. I will soon be a new grad and will soon be faced with dealing with a cranky doctor. It is good to know that I have you and many others who have shown tact and professionalism when dealing with such an incident. I am sorry you had to go through that but keep your wits and head about yourself. We are all a team, it is unfortunate that docs sometimes forget that and fly off the handle.

Bullies are able to intimidate because they are not used to having someone stand up for themselves. Think of your typical playground bully. These types of bullying MD's are those kids +40 years.

i am so sorry that happened to you. i actually had a surgeon stop me from putting an iv into a patient who was stable. he didn't come up to me and say it, but went up to the other er nurse and told her she should do it because i was a student and students should not be messing around with critical patients. i was so mad, because i was a 4h year nursing student and i had started so many ivs. so the next day at the end of my shift i was getting out of the elevator and he was getting in so i stopped; got back in and talked to him and told him that i was going to be a rn in about a couple of weeks time and like it or not that i would be starting ivs on his patients in er and where ever. he said he was sorry and that he had no idea that i was in my fourth year. this was my first time ever approaching a doctor and telling him that it was not right for him to do that (and i am a very shy person). but in my hospital we have very young doctors and the new doctors coming out of med school are more nicer and understand and thank the nurses for what they do on a daily basis. its the more older ones (not all) that have the old school mean attitude.

right after school i started working for a doc that had gone through 4 nurses in the last 3 years. i was hired to replace the last nurse which wasn't there a whole year. everything went fine the first 3 weeks. the first day i went up to him to get info on how he liked stuff done. then the 4th week we had to send out a diabetic with ketoacidosis in an ambulance. i finally got to see the other side of him! he didn't scream but everytime we send someone out from the clinic he acts like it is the biggest emergency...like our pt is gonna die if we don't do things like speedy gonzalez. i mean i understand sometimes we have to act quick, but he really freaks out. so he was just pushing me through everything i did that day. the more he pressured me, the more i messed up. i even spilled antibiotic on the floor when i pulled back on the syringe plunger too much. then he was like never mind the ambulance is almost leaving. i don't remember everything that he did, but i do remember he made me feel like an imcompetent sorry loser. sooo what did i do....i confronted him at the end of the day. told him how he was too pushy, that i was a new nurse and he was gonna have to deal with the fact that i was not as fast, that i was not gonna take shortcuts to do things faster for him, that i was gonna do things the way i was taught, and that if he had a problem with the above, he needed to get another nurse. and i told him that if he would work with me, i would work with him. he apologized a million times. i told him that if in the future he has a problem with something i do, to come to me and settle it instead of going to complain to another staff member. like i said he was so sorry. he continued apologizing for 2 weeks and even offered to help me with charts everyday after we were done seeing pts. i have worked for him for almost a year. i think he just needed someone to be honest with him. he is the best person to work for...and easy. another nurse that works there said we act like a married couple because of how well we know each other. and i have gotten really good at my job. we work so well together. no problem since then.

Specializes in Psych, Med/Surg, LTC.

I hate when doctors throw better tantrums than my toddler. :trout:

Specializes in tele, stepdown/PCU, med/surg.

That is not to be tolerated. Talk to you manager about how to "write" him up. Most hospitals today are not tolerant of doctor to nurse abuse and have a process to deal with that.

Whether you knew the doctor called and wanted the patient there or not, it is no way for him to talk to you.

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