I almost forgot why I left nursing in the first place. Now I really like my new coworkers. I get along with my team. YES! But I was brought to reality when a doc called me an idiot.
I call the urologist and ask for clarification on a procedure he is going to do , and the urologist says," ARe you an Idiot? What else am I going to do. I am a urologist."
Me-" Urology is not my specialty doctor and I need to know the exact procedure. So is it , Laparoscopic Cyst Ablation, cystoscopy, Lithotripsy, or something else?" (Thank god for Google, there are about a dozen others he could be doing.)
GRR. I am damn sure he would never have called our house doc an idiot. Our house doc didn't even know what procedure was going to be done. And I am supposed to know out of probably a dozen what a urologist does? No. And I am not an idiot for not knowing which one.
Sorry guys, I just had to vent. It's better than me taking it out on my bf who actually is a doctor too. I came home and told him "YOUR PEOPLE SUCK!"
He was upset because he said he would never call anyone an idiot, and to please refrain from using the term "You people."
So here I am , back at nursing. Remembering why I left in the first place. It just is so hard for me to let that stuff slide and not let it affect me. I also don't want to take it out on my boyfriend everytime I have issues with a doctor at work.
Prestige and status is dumb. Your response was respectful, minimized the tension with a lot of grace, and you didn't stoop down to the urologist's level. I think it was also graceful because you never know what could be happening in the urologist's life or day that could be going badly.
I hope from what you explained this doctor will write down more than just "procedure" next time though. I also hope nurses don't do this to other health care professionals that are of so-called "lower status" than themselves. Thanks for sharing :):):)
I feel your pain. Really, I do. I'm not inclined to let something like that slide but I tend to take the ninja approach. Assuming your doctors park outside, find out which car is his. Cover it with bird seed. The birds will take care of the rest and you will smile for days; I guarantee it.
Where I used to work a doctor took umbrage at being woken up in the middle of the night to get some orders that really couldn't wait. He actually told the nurse (a guy) to "go f*** himself". So my friend wrote the order: "Go f*** yourself", signed the doctor's name to it and then countersigned it. Talk about a stink! There was the evidence of the verbal abuse for all to see and removing it would have required altering the record; something we do not do. The nurse survived without injury as he said, "What was I supposed to do? He gave me an order? I'm supposed to write them as he gave it." Which he did.
Now if you're more of a straight shooter than me, just report your conversation to your nurse manager and tell her you want to file a complaint. She may or may not try to talk you out of the actual filing of it but somebody will end up speaking to the doctor, most likely the chief of staff.
I remember when I was in nursing school,if we were in the nurses station charting,taking off orders and a doctor came into the nursing station we had to get up and give him our seat. Yes we did. They were to be called sir at all times and we never were able to question orders. Thankfully that changed as I graduated and became sure of my skills. I have saved many a doctors butts from writing wrong medication dosages or ordering something a patient was allergic to,however most of the time they are totally ungrateful. I was recently a patient in the hospital and corrected a fellow nurse who gave me the wrong medication,before I took it. She got pissed off. I think in general for whatever reason a lot of people get defensive when they are questioned. It is totally stupid and I don't get it. I would be grateful if someone caught a mistake I made. People need to be thanking a person if they ask the right questions, not acting like idiots.Everyone is a human being and deserves to be treated with respect.
I certainly agree that calling you an idiot was completely inappropriate. Not being treated with respect by docs is one thing I sincerely despise about nursing. Just wondering though if you had read the h&p on the patient? Could have maybe narrowed down the number of possible procedures
On the rare occasion I receive an "untoward" remark or tone, I immediately turn around as if searching for something behind me. After a few seconds, I turn back around and say, "Oh, sorry, I was just looking to see who you were talking to... because I am never to be spoken to that way."
It works well on the phone, too. Any rudeness prompts me to bang the handset on the desk a few times and say, "Oh, sorry, I'm just trying to clear the line. I thought I heard someone speaking in an unacceptable manner. They're gone now. What were you saying?"
I've heard laughter, and I've heard silence. But neither have I heard more than once.
One of my most memorable conversations with The Almighty Doc was the night I had to call him at 2:00 a.m. to let him know his patient had died. "You idiot! You are a nurse; you cannot pronounce a patient as dead. You will tell me that he has no pulse, no BP, no respirations and I will pronounce him dead." Several nights later, again in the wee hours of the morning, another patient died. So I called The Almighty Doc. "Your patient has no pulse, no BP, no respirations." He says - you know it's coming, right? - - - "Any IDIOT should know that this patient is dead." Do they have a class in Attitude 101 at their fancy med schools???
That makes no difference. There is no way anyone else but the person who actually had the conversation with the patient discussing the proposed procedure along with risks should be specifying what goes in that section. And if the conversation has not taken place yet, the consent should not be signed. It is supposed to be INFORMED CONSENT.
I certainly agree that calling you an idiot was completely inappropriate. Not being treated with respect by docs is one thing I sincerely despise about nursing. Just wondering though if you had read the h&p on the patient? Could have maybe narrowed down the number of possible procedures
Last place I worked had a policy the DR had to have the consent signed when he explained the procedure to the patient; they all knew this and the nurse had no responsibility to get the consent signed. Having been on the receiving end of the rant from the surgeon I loved this!
esvu
2 Posts
Prestige and status is dumb. Your response was respectful, minimized the tension with a lot of grace, and you didn't stoop down to the urologist's level. I think it was also graceful because you never know what could be happening in the urologist's life or day that could be going badly.
I hope from what you explained this doctor will write down more than just "procedure" next time though. I also hope nurses don't do this to other health care professionals that are of so-called "lower status" than themselves. Thanks for sharing :):):)