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.
Perhaps I have been wrong with my response BUT I've had residents be rude to me no matter how nice I was to them and when I gave it right back, they stopped. I'm sick of docs who think that just because the have the letters M.D. or D.O behind their name they are better than me.
I have been very fortunate to work with great MDs. I don't expect them to do personal care for patients. I want them to do what they do best. Sometimes this is getting the rounds done so they can get to the office.
I have had MDs yell to me across half the unit just to say hi. I have listened to them talk about their children and discuss sports. My favorite shared a pic from halloween when he was in drag, and looked incredibly good. We had a great laugh together and it made it easier to have to tell him, on another day, I made a med error.
Building relationships takes time. You really could not say much with her "ducks following". It would not have been taken well to make her look bad by a new CNA. You took good care of the patient. That is what is important.
Yes, I did once meet "Dr. Divine" but he stuck out badly. There are also RTs, X-Ray Techs, PTs, OTs etc. that can have the propencity to become obnoxiously high and mighty. As a nurse you can hold your own. Sometimes as a CNA it is more difficult. Hang in there. Your day will come to be on a more equal footing. It does not excuse bad behavior, but just a recognition that if you are talking about Dr. Divine you will be at a disadvantage.
Perhaps I have been wrong with my response BUT I've had residents be rude to me no matter how nice I was to them and when I gave it right back, they stopped. I'm sick of docs who think that just because the have the letters M.D. or D.O behind their name they are better than me.
Interesting. Perhaps it's instituation dependent? I've been snapped at by more nurses than docs for sure....and I learned pretty quickly that no matter who is doing the yelling/giving the attitude, I'm not well served by being rude back or becoming defensive. Just my experience, though.
Oh, another thing that just occurred to me...I think it says in your profile thingy that you work in a SICU...maybe if you're often dealing with surgeons/critical care people, they respond better to giving the attitude right back, then say, a general IM doc or a pediatrician or whatever might? Just a thought. I guess that brings up the other question of personality differences, etc, in handling these situations.
What would you think? Say a new intern walks onto the floor who you've never met, and you're rude to them for whatever reason (say you're like the nurse I met the first day of work who refused to shake my hand when we met), would you have more respect for or respond better to the intern who gave you attitude, or the one who just says something like, "well, maybe we'll talk later." Or perhaps you wouldn't ever be rude/give attitude w/o someone doing it first.
Edit: And they are not better than you b/c they have an MD/DO...they are wrong if they think that, and deep down, they know they are wrong. They're just overcompensating for something.... :)
Interesting. Perhaps it's instituation dependent? I've been snapped at by more nurses than docs for sure....and I learned pretty quickly that no matter who is doing the yelling/giving the attitude, I'm not well served by being rude back or becoming defensive. Just my experience, though.
Oh, another thing that just occurred to me...I think it says in your profile thingy that you work in a SICU...maybe if you're often dealing with surgeons/critical care people, they respond better to giving the attitude right back, then say, a general IM doc or a pediatrician or whatever might? Just a thought. I guess that brings up the other question of personality differences, etc, in handling these situations.
What would you think? Say a new intern walks onto the floor who you've never met, and you're rude to them for whatever reason (say you're like the nurse I met the first day of work who refused to shake my hand when we met), would you have more respect for or respond better to the intern who gave you attitude, or the one who just says something like, "well, maybe we'll talk later." Or perhaps you wouldn't ever be rude/give attitude w/o someone doing it first.
Edit: And they are not better than you b/c they have an MD/DO...they are wrong if they think that, and deep down, they know they are wrong. They're just overcompensating for something.... :)
Actually, at the hospital I currently work at, the treatment I receive from the docs is not as bad, actually much better than at the hospital where I used to work where the residents were babied. The last facility I worked at the docs seemed like they could do harm.
RN1982
3,362 Posts
Perhaps I have been wrong with my response BUT I've had residents be rude to me no matter how nice I was to them and when I gave it right back, they stopped. I'm sick of docs who think that just because the have the letters M.D. or D.O behind their name they are better than me.