Rude doctors

[lockheart678]

I don't have any issues at all with most of the doctors I work with. We do have a few that just get under my skin though, and I would love to take a mallet and smack them upside the head with it, hopefully knocking some sense into them. There are two perfect examples I can think of right off the top of my head. A while back, I brought a patient to the room and he was about to have a lap chole. He was extremely nervous, and after he moved over to the OR table, he told me that, if anything happened to him while in surgery, he wanted me to tell his mother that he loved her. First off, the anesthesia crew didn't hardly say a word, other than when they were hooking up the EKG leads. I was talking to this patient, trying to calm him down, and right as the anesthesiologist started pushing the propofol, he yelled at me for talking during induction! I wasn't even being loud, but regardless, that was completely inappropriate for the situation! The thing is, I'm just a nurse, so even if I would have pursued it, it would have gone nowhere because we all know that's how that particular anesthesiologist is and I should have expected it. This guy has even yelled at the surgery residents for telling their patient that the propofol might burn a little bit. The patient requested that they tell her what she should expect as it was happening!

Yesterday I got to witness another idiot anesthesiologist talk inappropriately as a patient was being induced. This guy is another repeat offender. I was helping out another nurse and when the anesthesiologist walked in, his first question was when did the patient get into the room. Keep in mind that this guy does not have a quiet voice. Everything he says is really loud. My OR is really cracking down on late cases right now, so when he found out the patient got into the room a few minutes late, he asks the nurse all of these questions about who was being blamed for the delay and why she was late getting the patient into the room. I don't even have a problem with him asking the questions, but right in front of the patient when he's still awake? Gee, that's just what I would want to hear when I'm scared to death as it is because I'm about to have surgery. I just don't understand why he wouldn't think about something like that before he said it. The hospital is really pushing patient satisfaction and they want us to be the best that we can be, yet this behavior is tolerated because they're doctors. They should be held to the same standards as us, and I don't think we should be punished when we report their inappropriate behavior. I actually never have because I know it'll go nowhere, but I'm getting fed up and I'm not putting up with it anymore.

What would be a good way to handle a situation like this without also coming off as rude? I mean, these situations should be really obvious, but apparently they must not be to the offenders. I want to do the right thing, but I don't want to get a bunch of crap for it either. I actually have stood up to one of the doctors a couple of times before and made him look stupid in front of other doctors and he backed off. It never stops him from doing these things again though.

[SandraCVRN]

Good Luck

I don't tolerate these situations well, I have learned to let most of it roll off but every once in a while I will write them up. Even if I know nothing will happen, at least that way I know I have done everything I can. Anytime you right someone up use the key words, of "bullying" and or "lateral violence" the facility lawyers don't like those words.

[daVinciNurse]

"hostile work environment" is another key phrase administration does not like to hear. When I get questioned why I'm "late" getting a patient into a room, its usually due to lack of equipment and/or supplies vital to the case, which falls under "patient safety"--don't want a patient under anesthesia any longer than necessary, and if you are missing items for the case, that can happen very easily.

[GadgetRN71, ASN, RN]

I don't let anesthesia dictate my nursing practice, as much as they may try. I've had anesthesiologists demand that I leave my room while circulating to start setting up the next room. Nope, not going to do it.

Because, I can afford to have a doctor or administrator mad at me. I can just get a new job. If the Board of Nursing is mad at you, you're screwed.

Patient safety and care is always first- not the convenience and temper tantrums of a physician.

[SandraCVRN]

LOL. I really should proof read before hitting send.

[lockheart678]

I don't let anesthesia dictate my nursing practice, as much as they may try. I've had anesthesiologists demand that I leave my room while circulating to start setting up the next room. Nope, not going to do it.

Wow, you would think these people have never spent one day in the OR before. I love how some of them think that our job is so easy and that we play no part in taking care of the patient.

I totally agree with everything that has been said. I also refuse to have an anesthesiologist tell me how to do my job. That's one of those things that'll go in one ear and right out the other. I'm not a pushover and I have no problem standing my ground when needed, but what bothers me the most about the things they do is that it's in front of patients. I can't tell you how many times I've seen anesthesiologists get into it with surgeons and nurses, all in front of patients. If they think I'm an idiot, whatever, I really don't care, but they don't even need to tell me that in front of the patient that we're about to take back to surgery. That's not exactly going to make the patient feel any better about the care they're receiving. I've only seen this addressed with a nurse once and it was because I was the one who was being reported to management and I interrupted the nurse as she was complaining about me to point out the obvious (that it shouldn't have gone on in front of my patient). In this instance, I actually lost it in front of my manager and I was wrong about the topic that even started this very heated argument, but the manager did take my side because I was the only one smart enough to not argue in front of my patient (or the others who were in the room at that time). Nothing ever came of it though, and I just don't understand how management can let something like that go when it is so inappropriate.

[LuvScrubs2, BSN, RN]

wow great advice......