Why do you think so many healthcare workers are mean and arrogant?

[mikethern]

Not all of course, but many physicians, nurses, and other health care workers have mean and arrogant personalities.

Why do you think this is?

Is it that....

1. You have to be very competitive to get into medical or nursing school. Competitive people are often cut-throat.

2. The stress of the job causes workers to be cranky and mean.

3. Unhappy people act arrogant to feel better about their lives.

4. Workers learn to be mean from other coworkers. It's a conformity thing.

5. Most people in the world these days lack manners.

Any opinions?

[bigsyis]

It's a two way street, though. The President certainly doesn't respect the people, so....

I'm not sure if you missed the point or are trying to make another. By using the President in my post I was attempting to use the spectrum of American society from the highest public office down to our birth brothers and sisters. Nobody seems to be respected anymore.

[mianders, RN]

If you work in a hospital that allows physicains to verbally abuse you then perhaps you should change facilities. The hospital I work at has a strict policy about staff (this includes physicians) treating each other with respect. The responses to your post did not appear like "snippy defensive responses" although your response to theirs did.

[mvanz9999, RN]

i'm not sure if you missed the point or are trying to make another. by using the president in my post i was attempting to use the spectrum of american society from the highest public office down to our birth brothers and sisters. nobody seems to be respected anymore.

i did not miss the point. i was actually just sort of agreeing with ♪♫ in my ♥ above.

starts with the president and flows downhill....

[preciousmofo]

The OR becomes this sort of giant dysfunctional family with the surgeon being the yelling, abusive father of sorts.

The beautiful, utopian "I respect all my coworkers, and enjoy working with them" facade disintegrates when the patient drifts off.....

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

If you work in a hospital that allows physicains to verbally abuse you then perhaps you should change facilities. The hospital I work at has a strict policy about staff (this includes physicians) treating each other with respect. The responses to your post did not appear like "snippy defensive responses" although your response to theirs did.

We have a similar policy. Nurses can (and have) file an incident report if a physician treats them poory (abusive language, raising voice, etc.). Not just nurses, ANYONE can write up anyone else for behaving in such a deplorable fashion.

[chadash]

Well, narcissism is everywhere, and some may be drawn to the bigger than life heroic image of health care, then, oh my, it ain't what they thought, it takes alot more than it gives, and their narcissistic supply is totally depleted, so that makes them cranky. I know it make me cranky :)

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

The reason so many are mean and arrogant? They are tired.

[sharona97, BSN, RN]

at the age of 43, i think i've been around long enough to state that i perceive an ever-increasing lack of respect and civility in our population.

to the extent that the op is correct (my only experience comes as a patient but i have seen it), i think it's a mixture of:

1) mean, arrogant people getting into positions with limited accountability (athletes, surgeons, ceos, high-end chefs, actors, etc ... pretty much anybody who's irreplaceable)

2) the feces-follows-gravitational-pull principle means that their attitudes get handed off to those below them.

3) then begins the lateral effects, otherwise known as misery loves company.

4) number 2 repeats itself over and over all the way down the chain.

add to all of that the unique stress of the medical environment and it just gets that much worse. patients are scared and vulnerable and just add to the problem.

overall, though, i still think it's a symptom of the lack of compassion and civility in our culture.

as the bumper stickers so eloquently state:

mean people suck

so true, yet i still believe in the power of change. not following the path of generalizational poverty and welfare. patterns of abuse. i believe people who put forth effort to be good people(ya'll in the south know what i mean) can be just that. but man is it going to take a generation or two to get some of it back?

it all begins with me and you. good post!

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Holy crap, look at all the snippy defensive responses. May I remind you that I mentioned in my original question as a possible explanation......

" 5. Most people in the world these days lack manners." ... (not just healthcare workers)

Furthermore, if you think that all careers have workers as arrogant as physicians, you need to spend a few weeks in an operating room. The verbal abuse that some surgeons hand out is unsurpassed.

I didn't think the answers above yours were all that snippy and defensive. Perhaps your way of looking at those around you is a bit extreme than it really is and you need to take another picture.

Or perhaps I'm just too laid back. I'd say 95% of the people I encounter on a daily basis aren't arrogant or mean. They are just like me, stressed to the max trying to get through the day the best they can with the resources in front of them.

I can deal with the 5% who are arrogant and mean. When I waited tables I came across more arrogant people as customers than I ever have encountered in nursing.

I hope I'm not sounding arrogant or mean, just honest. We all have our of experiences.

[sharona97, BSN, RN]

Well, it's true that O.R. nursing is the only type of nursing I have ever done. I just assumed all nursing was like this. I guess I am wrong.

There are zillions of posts on this bb about bad days, wish i could have punched her in the face, I need to move on, how nurses eat their young. It's just not you Mike. YOU ARE NOT WRONG. From the other point of view I have seen sympathy and let us know how you are doing etc, this is a bb to vent on, which you did.

What's good for one on this bb should be good for the next IMO.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

not all of course, but many physicians, nurses, and other health care workers have mean and arrogant personalities.

why do you think this is?

actually, i don't think so many health care workers have mean and arrogant personalities. i'm sorry for you that you do.

[TiredMD]

Nurses used to order patients and families around, hospitals wouldn't let mothers stay overnight with their young children, strict visiting rules were enforced, and the public was expected to obey.

Reminded me of a really interesting article I read in the NY Times. Interesting snap shot of how we used to practice.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/01/health/01visi.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin