Yelled at yet again

Nurses Relations

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Need to vent! :(

Yesterday I got an admission from the ED. I paged the admitting physician for orders and one of the orders was for a cardiology consult. It was 5 PM so I paged the cardiologist. He called back and wanted to know why I paged him. I told him I paged you to tell you "this patient who blahblah". He repeated why did you page me? I said because the admitting physician ordered a consult from you for her patient. He started yelling at me for bothering him when he already knew about the consult. And yet again, I sit and listed to a physician yell at me for no reason not that I think there is ANY reason to yell at a colleague.

I am so sick of physicians yelling at nurses. How do you deal with getting yelled at?

I want a new nursing job, one with NO physicians! Doesn't that sound peaceful?

Well thanks for listening...

Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Why did you sit their and let this person yell at you. I would yell back, they aint gods you know. and then hang up. you did your job

Specializes in cardiac, ortho, med surg, oncology.
This thought came to me too - nurses don't call physicians for consults, docs do.

steph

Not at my hospital. The nurses call the consults. Not only that, quite frequently the nurses are asked to play intermediary between the docs i.e. one doc will write an order and end it with "if ok with Dr so and so". ***?! Why are the docs not collaborating with each other rather than putting the nurses in the middle?

Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

In my unit we get treated badly by the doctors and management allows them to get away with it daily, they even got rid of our unit director because she stuck up for the nurses. when I am shouted at I deal with it politely and firmly, to be truthful I used to get yelled at more but I am well prepared for verbal abuse before it starts I just expect it, so now it rarely happens.

I divorced my first husband because he was a bully, and it really gets me annoyed that male doctors are bullies and we have to put up with it and ever HR doesnt want to know. We once got told that Drs can behave this badly because they generate the income for the hospital.

I refuse to be bullied so I do take a stand and there are ways of making your point without getting fired, remember they too make huge mistakes and it is pleasurable to point it out in a way they know that you know they too are vunerable,

Specializes in Med Surg, Ortho.

Sorry this happened to you :(

We don't call in consults at our hospital either. Also, I never call a doc in the middle of the night unless emergency. If a not so urgent sitaution arises, I try to call at least after 5am.

If one starts yelling, ask him why he became a dr

when he says to help people

Just say well ur not helping me! what a monster! lol

Specializes in Acute care, Community Med, SANE, ASC.

I'm in shock that docs call consults in some of your hospitals. In our hospital the unit clerk or the nurse calls the consult.

I guess my hospital is pretty good because we do have an incident reporting system for such bad behavior. On one occasion my preceptor reported a doc for not seeing an unstable patient for hours (we went around him to get help for the patient) and the head of the reported doc's practice was on the unit the next day asking about the incident so I'm guessing he got a talking to. I guess I'm also lucky that our nurse manager stands up for us but that doesn't keep some of the neurosurgeons from yelling at folks from time to time. One of the surgeons was yelling at a tech and she asked him why he was yelling--his response was, "I'm not yelling"--and there I suppose is the disconnect as I don't think he even perceives it as yelling.

Yelling and abuse is a patient safety issue and it should be addressed up the chain of command with that as one of the reasons it needs to stop. I believe there are studies supporting the fact that patient care and safety suffers when the doc is a bully and staff are afraid to call or approach them.

Specializes in Emergency.
I'm in shock that docs call consults in some of your hospitals. In our hospital the unit clerk or the nurse calls the consult.

At my hospital only the doc can call the consult.

My favorites..... (BTW - understand I am NOT a nurse yet nor do I work in a hospital)

While the man is yelling, I stand there and with all the calm I can muster....look at him with a peaceful face and let him rant..... Eventually he loses steam.....when his mouth stops moving: "Are you done?" (His reply usually is to walk away or to answer curiously "Yes") Then I reply with,"Do you feel like a real man now?" Smile and walk away! LOL

OR: When he is done yelling and and has been asked if he is done.... response -> "Wow! Did they teach you that behaviour in (medical) school or were you born that way?"

Now, I would probably use more discretion than that in reality....but I have used that with Male Engineers! Also, when they curse....."Wow! Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

(Of course I am older and experienced so I can get away with that in my current field!)

Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.
At my hospital only the doc can call the consult.

Same here.

I have not been actually "yelled" at, as in the doctor raising their voice to shouting level, but I have had doctors upset with either me or with something out of my control. There is one particular cardiologist that I do not like having contact with, because she is always in a foul mood, and doesn't seem to be able to distinguish between the two different situations. She'll get crabby over things that have nothing to do with my nursing skills or professional conduct.

One strategy that I have adopted, and we'll see how this pans out for me, is to get to know who all the doctors are, and to say hello and perhaps even comment on the weather or something non-work related, whenever I see them on the floor. Eventually, they'll remember me as that nurse who is always so friendly to them whenever they round, and when I call them on the phone for something, they're less likely to be crabby. Doctors are people, and they're not so hard to figure out.

Specializes in ICU, CVICU.
The nurses call the consults. Not only that, quite frequently the nurses are asked to play intermediary between the docs i.e. one doc will write an order and end it with "if ok with Dr so and so". ***?! Why are the docs not collaborating with each other rather than putting the nurses in the middle?

This is exactly how it is in my hospital and sometimes I feel like a glorified secretary. Although now, the unit secretaries are taking charts and paging doctors but then forwarding the return calls to the nurses. So I'll end up with a call from a doctor "yes, you paged me" and I just kind of sit their thinking "no I didn't". Our whole situation is a little screwed up. I wish our docs would call their own consults.

Specializes in ER.

Cardiologists are notorious for this type of behavior in the ED. I'll tell you what I did once and it worked just great. I had a doctor yell at me for calling him for a consult (and he was on call to the ED) I told him I just follow the ER doctors orders and I've done that so if you have a problem with the consult you'll have to talk to the ER doctor, would you like to hold while I get him?

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

one strategy that i have adopted, and we'll see how this pans out for me, is to get to know who all the doctors are, and to say hello and perhaps even comment on the weather or something non-work related, whenever i see them on the floor. eventually, they'll remember me as that nurse who is always so friendly to them whenever they round, and when i call them on the phone for something, they're less likely to be crabby. doctors are people, and they're not so hard to figure out.

good strategy, and it works for me! i don't suck up, but i do make it a practice to greet physicians and smile at them when i see them, and if i have a chance, to engage in some small talk.

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