Had my first doctor scream at me today

clee1 · Apr 4, 2007

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..

Really simple.... don't put up with this type of unprofessional behavior.

I would have, very calmly and coolly, in front of the same group of people:

a) said "Doctor, moderate your tone. This is a hospital, not a football stadium."

b) said "I have no control over the xray department and cannot stop them from taking a patient down for a test that you (presumably) ordered."

c) state "I did not talk to you 30 minutes ago, and am not responsible for what you were told. Furthermore, I am not responsible for your commute times."

d) and finally I'd say: "Doctor, I work for this facility; not you. Scheduling your time is your problem; not mine. Don't you dare ever speak to me in such a manner ever again. If you'd like to continue this conversation, we will do it in the DON's or Administrator's office.

I'd then turn my back to him and walk away.

People only have the power over you that you choose to give them.

clee1 · Apr 4, 2007

The ones that crack me up are the "Oh, I don't want to call the doctor in the middle of the night" whines. I worked for 15 years in IT and got called FREQUENTLY in the middle of the night and I made a fraction of what docs make. If you don't want to make the call, please, LET ME!!!!

Uh huh.... me too.

I have zero problems waking a doc up if need be.

Batman24 · Apr 4, 2007

Really simple.... don't put up with this type of unprofessional behavior.
I would have, very calmly and coolly, in front of the same group of people:
a) said "Doctor, moderate your tone. This is a hospital, not a football stadium."
b) said "I have no control over the xray department and cannot stop them from taking a patient down for a test that you (presumably) ordered."
c) state "I did not talk to you 30 minutes ago, and am not responsible for what you were told. Furthermore, I am not responsible for your commute times."
d) and finally I'd say: "Doctor, I work for this facility; not you. Scheduling your time is your problem; not mine. Don't you dare ever speak to me in such a manner ever again. If you'd like to continue this conversation, we will do it in the DON's or Administrator's office.
I'd then turn my back to him and walk away.
People only have the power over you that you choose to give them.

I am in pre-nursing and I think I am going to save this post in case I have a problem in the future. Perfectly stated.

Pumiky · Apr 4, 2007

I am so sorry to hear your story, I'm about to graduate in May and know that there will be a time when some SOB MD will think he can raise his voice while talking to me. I find that the most usefull thing to do at a time like this is take a deep breath look them in the eyes and calmly ask them "why are you yelling?" when you do that people usually tend to hold back and see how unprofessional they look. If that doesn't help I would calmly say "when you're willing to lower your voice we will continue this conversation in a civilized manner" and walk away. I'm not saying it's easy, I admire you for not breaking down in tears, but nobody, NOBODY, should ever talk to you like this. We're all humans and we all make mistakes and to be honest you didn't even make a mistake so you have nothing to feel bad about. Smile, have a good night sleep and I hope you have a great day tomorrow with lots of smiles around you

:icon_hug:

pumiky

huskersfan · Apr 4, 2007

In time it will become easier when some jerk dr yells at you. It will continue to happen from time to time. I just let it roll off my back and continue to discuss what was the issue at the time very calmly and make eye contact. They have to know they are being a complete fool. My focus is for my patient ; I continue to remain professional and smile and then he usually stops yelling at me. It seems as if the world is full of people with anger issues.

HitmanCFYA · Apr 4, 2007

I'm kinda curious to see if they try to yell at me. If I make a mistake, and they can teach me to be better so be it...but if they try and yell at me, i'll probably ask them if they'd like to try and yell at me away from work and see what happens.

I'm not above goin' to the dirt with somebody.

Dalzac, LPN, LVN, RN · Apr 4, 2007

I once worked in a hospital that had a Dr. that screamed at everybody everyday. I was watching the monitors one day for the tech who was at lunch. Here comes bigmouth and he lays into me about a patient(not Mine)

and something hadn't been done. I just sat there with my jaw dropped and then he left. The tech came back and I went out to the floor he was in the doctor conference room with a group of interns. I walked in and ask him why he has to be so difficult and what gave him the right to scream at all he passes. Then I told him that no one talks to me like that. and that in our civilization. screaming and yelling at staff won't get the work done and as nurses we DO NOT respond to that crap and then I told him that he could gather a lot more bees to honey in stead of vinegar and I went back to my unit, really mad. He followed me and told me that it wasn't meant to be personal. I really blew then, telling him that was the way it was meant. since he was just screaming at me and no one else and then he said he was sorry. I told him just a minute and went and got his interns and since they were witness to his little tantrum he should apologize in front of them. He did.

Later that year when the interns had their banquet I was invited and they gave me an award for the nurse that had the biggest balls. I had a rep for the interns that followed. I loved it. and that particular Dr. never yelled at me again and wanted me to make rounds and wanted me to help with his procedures. I kinda missed him when I retired. LOL

Roy Fokker, BSN, RN · Apr 4, 2007

I responded that I was new to ICU and this was my first Swan insertion and if he didn't talk nicer to me he Would be doing this procedure by himself. He stopped, looked up, actually said sorry and never gave me a hard time again.

Awesome!

cnolan · Apr 4, 2007

I gave a little post-op girl Zofran last week for nausea. She'd never had it before, and shortly after getting it, developed hives. As I was turning to call the doc, he walked in and started screaming at me (in front of the girl's parents) about what I gave. I calmly told him, and asked for an order for Benedryl. He started screaming and asked me what, exactly, was IN Zofran. I told him (as politely as possible) that I knew the drug category and it's intended use, but wasn't clear on the chemical makeup...so he started screaming, "Well, what are yous tanding there for? Go get the Benedryl and why in the hell are you giving patients meds when you don't know what they are?" (Still all in front of the family!!!) So...I went in the med room, gathered my senses about me and brushed it off.

I'm not a pharmacist - I'm responsible for knowing the drug category, intended use, side effects and things it could potentially interact with. Thankfully, the family was OK with it and I explained to them the need to tell the next facility she's in that she's now allergic to Zofran.

Go figure. He's out Chief of Staff too - NOT cool. :angryfire

burn out · Apr 4, 2007

First of all I would get hold of that jerk of a unit secretary and demand to know why he didn't tell you that the doctor was on his way in and not to send the patient anywhere. It sounds to me like he set you up and I would give him a little of what I just received or write him up. From now on do not trust him and watch your back, be sure to tell your manager.

Don't feel quite so bad I was screamed at so bad the other day that the surgeon was back in the OR suite on the phone yelling at me so loudly they could here him outside the other end of the surgery dept through the double doors in the hallway. I just laughed it off...he was the one looking the jack ass .

BurnerMom · Apr 4, 2007

I gave a little post-op girl Zofran last week for nausea. She'd never had it before, and shortly after getting it, developed hives. As I was turning to call the doc, he walked in and started screaming at me (in front of the girl's parents) about what I gave. I calmly told him, and asked for an order for Benedryl. He started screaming and asked me what, exactly, was IN Zofran. I told him (as politely as possible) that I knew the drug category and it's intended use, but wasn't clear on the chemical makeup...so he started screaming, "Well, what are yous tanding there for? Go get the Benedryl and why in the hell are you giving patients meds when you don't know what they are?" (Still all in front of the family!!!) So...I went in the med room, gathered my senses about me and brushed it off.

I would have asked the Dr. "Why are you asking me what's in it? Don't you know?" And wasn't he the one that prescribed it?

Noahm · Apr 4, 2007

I would have asked the doctor why they hell he was so stupid as to show up and review the patient while the patient was in x-ray?

Doctor: "Well I phoned the unit and told so and so that I needed patient in his room, how was I supposed to know that x-ray would show up at that same time"

Me: "Well, how was I supposed to know that you were coming to see the patient at this time if no one told me? Are you telling me that I should always stop patients from going off of the floor for tests just in case a doctor might be coming into to see them and no one has passed on the message? Run that one by my manager if that's how you feel LOL.

I then would have told him that if we wants to see the patient at a certain time that it is HIS responsibility to chase up the nurse and tell her that the patient needs to be in his/her room at such and such time. Passing info through a third party and hoping that it gets conveyed to the nurse is sloppy and lazy.

If it was that important he should have asked to speak to the patient's nurse directly to avoid miscommunication.

I would have had a field day with this guy. I can't handle people who yell at other people in front of an audience. Especially if it is unjustified. I have people like that for my dinner.

If I need to have words with someone because I feel that they made a mistake I do it in private, I do it with kindess, and I don't advertise their mistake to the rest of our colleagues. This is my golden rule and people who don't adhere to it piss me off.

Once a doctor on my floor verbally assaulted a new nurse in front of other staff. She had made a mistake but there was no need for him to humiliate her in front of other nurses and doctors. When I got done with him he wrote her a letter of apology.

MTA if I ever get fired from a nursing job it will be for letting one of these jackasses have it.