Hello I am a male Cna working a hospital. I have worked here for 4 months and have noticed that almost all doctors except for one don't even make eye contact with me or say hello.
Today I was in a patients room of which I had been taking care of for 3 days. This patient would hit anyone and spit at them at the flip of a hat. I had established trust with this patient and knew how to talk to him. If you did not tell him what you where going to do, he would start punching and spitting. I was in this patients room with the door closed talking with him when the door has a single knock and a MD walks in with 5 residents behind her. She quickly says, "This patient is hard of hearing and does not have his hearing aid with him". Her tone was condescending and belittling. It took every ounce of self control in my body not to respond with a smart ass comment and explain I had been taking care of this patient for 3 days and never being attacked by him, when many of the staff had been. The patient could hear me just fine and would pretend to be asleep or not hear you if he did not want you messing with him. I also just got done feeding, doing perineal care that was up his back, brushing his teeth, providing clean sheets, and repositioning because I saw his red bottom that needed a break from the pressure.
Long story short I want to become a Medical Doctor and thought becoming a CNA first would give me great experience working with patients so I knew what it was like working at the bottom. As in bottom I really mean bottom with all the peri care I perform every day and keep smiling.
I have seen ONE doctor actually doing perineal care on a patient and helped me boost him after he was done. I later talked to this doctor and explained that I had respect for him doing that. He looked at me and said, "Hey I am not god, and I will be damned if I walk around like him". Since then I have been able to joke around and talk with this doctor, but the rest all walk around like they are high and mighty. It makes me sick to see them act this way. The nursing staff busts their butts to make the patients presentable for the doctor to come in for 5 minutes and leave.
I wonder sometimes if one of the pre-reqs to becoming a doc is "How to Think You Are God 101." I'm still in nursing school, and it amazes me sometimes how much of a God complex some doctors have. Thankfully I've had the privilege of externing and working as a PCA in a really great teaching hospital. 90% of our docs are extremely cool...but there are always a few bad apples. It never ceases to tick me off when I see doctors walking around like they're the end-all, be-all. I refuse to be talked down to...I just absolutely will not stand up for it. If I'm wrong, sure fine, whatever--correct me and move on. But to be belittled? Nuh-uh...I ain't putting up with that. Of course, it's not always doctors. I met a few nurses today who were so condescending that it made me want to puke...get OVER yourself people! Anyway, that's my rant for the day. Hang in there trefer84. Not all docs are awful...not anymore than all nurses are nice. Pretty much everywhere you go, there's a pretty good mix. Most of the docs I've met, IF you know your job as a nurse and do it well, will have a lot of respect for you.
I think too some areas have what appear to be more caring doctors than others. When I work with adults, there were some good ones, but I also knew which doctors I wouldn't let near me with a ten foot pole. Now that I work peds, I can safely say I would feel comfortable letting the majority of our doctors care for me. The majority of them put pt's first, they'll even call, ask me if everythings ok with the kids, etc. The only thing I wish is that they'd tell the kids a little more sometimes about what's going on (I know they might be minors, but they have a right to know!).
Specializes in Gyn Onc, OB, L&D, HH/Hospice/Palliative.
They are usually very kind and friendly to the nurses and helpful to the pts when they are med students, they are still pretty kind to the nurses when they are interns.(they have to be we are invaluable to them at that point) After we have helped them thru that difficult time and we have a relationship going; it all depends on the true colors of the person. Juniors and seniors can go either way, but find most of them respectful. Ultimately, by the time they are chiefs, most (not all) are @$$#&*$. God complex takes over and if they are still around as Fellows, God help US.
I always tell the seniors embarking on becoming Chief, I was very glad to know them before they turned into an @$$#&*%. ( that is just to the ones I actually really liked and got along very closely with---they know , it's the truth) The good thing is they are hardly around at that point
I was in newborn nursery today, and had a pediatrician spend about 30 minutes going over the steps of a newborn assessment with myself and 2 classmates. He was busy, I'm certain, but took the time to educate us because:
"We need good, well-trained nurses caring for our children...and it'll eventually make MY life much easier if you're confident in your skills."
EDIT: Last December 23-27, a transplant surgeon slept on a cot in my 4yo niece's hospital room (actually, was there 24/7, in the room), monitoring her after he transplanted her heart. It was the most wonderful thing I'd ever seen in ANY field.
Doc's are human beings just like everyone else. You will find nasty ones and nice ones, smart ones and stupid ones, funny ones and ones that are waaaayyyyy serious, happy ones and grouchy ones, some that go out of their way to show kindness and some that do the minimum required of them and rush on to do something else. Doctors are no different than bankers, plumbers, nurses, car mechanics, lawyers, retailers, etc. Just people and we are all different!
Hello I am a male Cna working a hospital. I have worked here for 4 months and have noticed that almost all doctors except for one don't even make eye contact with me or say hello.
Today I was in a patients room of which I had been taking care of for 3 days. This patient would hit anyone and spit at them at the flip of a hat. I had established trust with this patient and knew how to talk to him. If you did not tell him what you where going to do, he would start punching and spitting. I was in this patients room with the door closed talking with him when the door has a single knock and a MD walks in with 5 residents behind her. She quickly says, "This patient is hard of hearing and does not have his hearing aid with him". Her tone was condescending and belittling. It took every ounce of self control in my body not to respond with a smart ass comment and explain I had been taking care of this patient for 3 days and never being attacked by him, when many of the staff had been. The patient could hear me just fine and would pretend to be asleep or not hear you if he did not want you messing with him. I also just got done feeding, doing perineal care that was up his back, brushing his teeth, providing clean sheets, and repositioning because I saw his red bottom that needed a break from the pressure.
Long story short I want to become a Medical Doctor and thought becoming a CNA first would give me great experience working with patients so I knew what it was like working at the bottom. As in bottom I really mean bottom with all the peri care I perform every day and keep smiling.
I have seen ONE doctor actually doing perineal care on a patient and helped me boost him after he was done. I later talked to this doctor and explained that I had respect for him doing that. He looked at me and said, "Hey I am not god, and I will be damned if I walk around like him". Since then I have been able to joke around and talk with this doctor, but the rest all walk around like they are high and mighty. It makes me sick to see them act this way. The nursing staff busts their butts to make the patients presentable for the doctor to come in for 5 minutes and leave.
This hasn't been my experience with doctors *at all*. Not at the hospital I'm at now anyway. I met one resident who was kind of terse but could have been business or something. Who knows. The rest have all been really personable and nice and act just like anyone else. So no its not always like what you are experiencing. Maybe your facility puts them under a lot of stress or something? Maybe they are all PMSing together? Haha! I really don't think it reflects negatively on a doctor that he/she doesn't give a patient perineal care. Why would it?
I have seen ONE doctor actually doing perineal care on a patient and helped me boost him after he was done. I later talked to this doctor and explained that I had respect for him doing that. He looked at me and said, "Hey I am not god, and I will be damned if I walk around like him". Since then I have been able to joke around and talk with this doctor, but the rest all walk around like they are high and mighty. It makes me sick to see them act this way. The nursing staff busts their butts to make the patients presentable for the doctor to come in for 5 minutes and leave.
I was a CNA for 6 years, and once upon a time had similar feelings. When you work on the floor all day doing manual labor, and all you see is the physicians popping in the rooms for a few minutes, you tend to think of them as lazy and uninterested in "real" patient care.
If you do ultimately become a physician, you will discover several things:
(1) You will be far more tired and work many more hours than any job you held as a CNA
(2) You will have so many responsibilities that you will rarely be able to spare even a few minutes to help a nurse with cleaning up a patient or changing a bed
(3) You will rarely talk to the CNAs, not because you are "high and mighty" but because when you need info on a patient you need to talk to someone who speaks your language. Those people are the nurses.
One thing you should probably get out of your head is that the physicians are "supposed to" help you do your job. Remember what you were hired for, and remember what they are there for. If physicians had time to do peri-care on their own patients, you'd be working somewhere else.
They are usually very kind and friendly to the nurses and helpful to the pts when they are med students, they are still pretty kind to the nurses when they are interns.(they have to be we are invaluable to them at that point) After we have helped them thru that difficult time and we have a relationship going; it all depends on the true colors of the person. Juniors and seniors can go either way, but find most of them respectful. Ultimately, by the time they are chiefs, most (not all) are @$$#&*$. God complex takes over and if they are still around as Fellows, God help US.
I always tell the seniors embarking on becoming Chief, I was very glad to know them before they turned into an @$$#&*%. ( that is just to the ones I actually really liked and got along very closely with---they know , it's the truth) The good thing is they are hardly around at that point
That is such a huge generalization. I'm reeeeeally trying not to get offended by it but I'm not having a lot of success. My friend's husband is triple-boarded and runs an ICU. He's been a fellow three times over. He has every reason to be "high and mighty" and is the humblest man I know. The doctors that I know are great human beings. Same with nurses. Doctors are human just like anyone else and I have to wonder why its ok to generalize and bash on them when most people wouldn't dream of doing that to another profession.
As an RN turned MD, I want to just echo what TiredMD said above--I think he hit the nail on the head.
To the OP: there are people who are jerks every where, and this MD was probably one of them. Or maybe she'd just been up for 30 straight hours and was a little frustrated? Or maybe her residents screwed something up the night before and she had to come in in the morning andd fix it? Or maybe the last 3 nurses or techs she ran into where rude and you were guilty by association? (I consider myself a generally nice person, but I've been a little snippy in all three of those situations....well, not as the attending fixing a mess, but as a resident causing a mess that the attending was not happy about fixing. I've always apologized, but still.) Or, perhaps she's just a miserable person. :)
Also, I would disagree with earlier posters who recommended that you give attitude right back to someone giving you attitude. Be the bigger person. Be a professional. Don't rub it in peoples' face when you're right, apologize when you're wrong, and for the love of god, don't be petty and vindictive with people on the team. We're all trying to help the patient.
Maggie09
34 Posts
I wonder sometimes if one of the pre-reqs to becoming a doc is "How to Think You Are God 101." I'm still in nursing school, and it amazes me sometimes how much of a God complex some doctors have. Thankfully I've had the privilege of externing and working as a PCA in a really great teaching hospital. 90% of our docs are extremely cool...but there are always a few bad apples. It never ceases to tick me off when I see doctors walking around like they're the end-all, be-all. I refuse to be talked down to...I just absolutely will not stand up for it. If I'm wrong, sure fine, whatever--correct me and move on. But to be belittled? Nuh-uh...I ain't putting up with that. Of course, it's not always doctors. I met a few nurses today who were so condescending that it made me want to puke...get OVER yourself people!
Anyway, that's my rant for the day. Hang in there trefer84. Not all docs are awful...not anymore than all nurses are nice. Pretty much everywhere you go, there's a pretty good mix. Most of the docs I've met, IF you know your job as a nurse and do it well, will have a lot of respect for you.