A resident swore at me!

Tweety, BSN, RN · Sep 7, 2004

(most always female nurses, I have never seen a doctor degrade a male nurse the way he has a female).

As 90something percent of nurses are female, I can agree with the statement that most doctors degrade female nurses merely because of the numbers.

I can also agree with the statement that men pick on females because they might perceive them to be weaker.

Fortunately I don't see many doctors degrade nurses, male or female.

Perhaps it's done more one-on-one? Perhaps guys don't like to let on and tell their female coworkers they've been degraded by an MD? But as a charge nurse let me tell you I've had a tongue lashing a time or two because of having to deal with MDs very frequently. The one's I've seen don't seem to discriminate. But your experience is your experience, however, mine is different.

The worst tonguelashing I turned and walked away. As Leslie said, we have choices. Can we stop their behavior if they choose to degrade us? Perhaps not. But we also don't have to cry hysterically either, nor do we have to put up with it.

:)

jaimealmostRN · Sep 7, 2004

I remember at Parkland years ago. This nasty little 2nd year resident started yelling at me in front of patients families and coworkers. I punched in the face and broke his nose. No resident ever yelled at me again.

:chuckle Did you get in trouble???? I may just have to employ this method myself......JK!!!

vibe9 · Sep 7, 2004

Hello,

It is a good thing that little POS was not talking to me.

Get them where it hurts.

Everytime you page a doctor/resident/nurse manager/supervior you DOCUMENT IT!

State patient complaint. Paiged md. TIME AND DATE.

Continue with that for every single page. Then when you page the other resident Write paging Dr. Such and such for increased pain management needs (whatever).

then No return call.

On one patient I did that for 2 hours. every 15 minutes.

Finally when I got the MD on the phone I told him about the pages and that he was the second one paged. That md and I quote to me

"I am not concerned with her pain" and hung up the phone. I charted that and then told the family and patient what he said and then I repaged him.

When he called back I explained again and told him that his last response was not appropriate and he said and I quote "Do not F***ing Call me again". I told him would call him every 15 minutes until I got pain medication and that I would document what he said and that I was calling above his head. He told me I wouldn't dare. I told him to wait and see. I then told him that Joint commission would enjoy this chart since pain management was the last big thing for them. He grunted but gave no more new orders and hung up the phone.

I called the ICU supervisior MD. He gave me the medication was very upset about the 2am phone call but I told him pain has not clock and he could take it up with his resident.

The next morning the chart read under the md orders:

"Do not F***ing call me again"

TO Dr such and such/my name rn

The attending just about fell out at the desk and was pissed as hell. He looked at me and I told him that was the order he gave. What else did you want me to do with it?

Needless to say that resident learned a lesson. Documentation can make or break them as can a nurse. You treat your staff like crap you get repeated phone calls and wake ups. You get nurses that would normally cover your little mistakes to point them out instead.

Don't piss the nurse off.

You may be a new nurse but you are a PERSON! Document and cover your butt and if you have to call that group again know in your head your were right and they are not going to beat you down. You did what was right for the patient and that resident will be out of there soon. I would have the first resident that never called writtened up for not returning phone calls which in some states is considered abandonment by the md. Someone from OR should have called what if your patient was coding?

Sorry about the preaching I just hate MD's that think they are better than other people but when it all comes down to it when they are sick the same nurses they treated like s**t are the same ones that end up wiping their butts now where is the irony in that.

medsurgnurse, RN · Sep 7, 2004

You did the right thing. Don't let the temper tantrum of one doctor get you down or make you doubt you nursing judgement. When in doubt call the doctor. Whenever I notify the doctor of ANYTHING, I chart it,just the facts, No finger ponting, nothing about the doctor refused to give orders. Just Say for example "patient has temp 101.5, Dr. Jones notified. No new orders.' If a doctor says inappropriate things to you, write a reprot and give it to your manager and keep a copy for yourself. Good luck, keep up the good work.

abundantjoy07, RN · Sep 7, 2004

(((lots of hugs)))). be strong, you'll do just fine. as long as you are standing up for the right thing (your patient and his/her rights) no one can make you feel inferior.

directcare4me · Sep 7, 2004

Sorry this happened to you, but it happens to all of us, and it probably will happen to you again. I too was very shy (I was timid) when I first began working as a nurse. Always had been. It just took time for me to get confidence in my own assessments, skills, and to just mature a little more. These days it doesn't happen to me very often, but when someone, whether it be a doctor, co-worker, manager or even a family member of a patient says something insulting or unprofessional or just plain stupid to me, the best reponse I have found is to look at them very seriously and say in an incredulous tone "Excuse me?". (As in, are you serious? You can't be seriously talking to me like that. ---I don't say these things, they are just implied in the tone of voice)

This usually works pretty well, for me anyway. It's in the look on your face--purely business and professional--and the tone of your voice--surprise that they would talk like that, that you certainly expected more than that from them.

SmilingBluEyes · Sep 7, 2004

Someone mentioned charting the resident's refusal to call back. Do not do that. That is what occurence/incident reports are for. You open up yourself and the hospital even MORE to ligitation by putting it on the chart. You do chart "Dr. S paged at 0200 for new orders"....."Dr. S. repeat-paged at 0215, awaiting new orders, patient condition-----". "Dr. O, Chief of residents paged at 0230 for new orders". Etc......Make it factual, but do NOT chart "Dr S refuses to return pages" on the patient chart.

I agree with those who say to document it. You must. I repeat, that is what you use the occurence report system for. Always make a copy for yourself and records. A paper trail is helpful when trying to get situations like this changed. Where I work, occurence reporting is online, and another nurse cosigns each report I make. I make sure the manager and house supervisor get copies (are placed on the distribution list) and also print one for myself.

One small anectote: It worked at one time, in my favor, when a physician got in my face and threatened me with my job. He was doing some very unsafe things that shift, and I had no one backing me when I called him on it. I documented carefully his wrongful actions and the report went to the next OB committee meeting with my nurse manager. He was told by the OB Chief and Chief of Medicine to cease it immediately. Problem solved, in this case.

So, sometimes the system DOES work, if you employ it correctly. If not, keep a running record so when it's time to make a formal complaint you do have a paper trail!

txspadequeenRN, BSN, RN · Sep 7, 2004

I learned some very valuable words in nursing school many years back,it goes something like this...

If you can say it then I can write it!!!!!

It has turned many A-hole Docs around to a whole new way of thinking!!!!:)

leslie :-D · Sep 7, 2004

deb,

this is where i have mixed feelings about charting.

while i would not chart "md refused to call back" since we do not know if he is refusing.

but i would chart "page/call unreturned; repaged at 0300; page/call unreturned, repaged at 0400.....that type of charting. the facts.

i agree with the op who wrote an order, echoing the md's statement of "do not fu**ing call me at this hour" and the nurse wrote the order verbatum.

that was great.

if you chart the facts and (without sugarcoating) only the facts, then it should not come back to haunt you.

leslie

pumpkin · Sep 7, 2004

Thank you all for your advice and support. I do feel better about the situation now. Part of the reason I took his behavior so badly is that my wedding is next week, and I'm already on edge. It takes very little for me to cry nowadays. You've given me some great responses if another MD treats me like this in the future. Luckily, I did document, both on Wed and on Thurs, about all of my unreturned pages to the MDs. Hopefully when I go in tomorrow, something will have been done about it. And I can assure you that every nurse on my floor will know the name of the MD who did this.

hipab4hands · Sep 7, 2004

Hi
I'm so sorry this had to happen t o you!!
I have been nursing for a long time and personally, I just don't put up with this kind of stuff any more.
____________________________
We had a great cure for abusive residents. The 3 a.m call for an order for Tylenol or forcing them to come in to do their own dressing changes (the hospital, where I worked forbid nurses doing dressing changes, the residents were required to do their own).
We had one horrible resident, who never quite caught on, that the nurses were not going to go out of their way to "help" her, since she was always verbally abusive. ( Some one forgot to tell her that being on-call meant accepting phone calls in the middle of the night.)
When she complained about the Nurses calling her, we would just explained that since we were "only" nurses, we had to get orders from her in order to adjust the patients care. Usually after the 3rd or 4th phone call in the middle of the night, she would just tell us "do whatever you want/need to do."

leslie :-D · Sep 7, 2004

[quote name=hipab4hands

____________________________

Usually after the 3rd or 4th phone call in the middle of the night, she would just tell us "do whatever you want/need to do."[/quote]

interesting.

so when a resident says that, what are the implications of such doctor's orders?

i mean, how do you note/chart such a vague doctor's order?

leslie