Dealing with mean docs

In my years in the OR I have noticed a pattern with mean surgeons: the amount of talent they have as a surgeon is usually directly inversely proportional to their bad attitude. Be kind to them. They are doing the best they can!

I'm sorry to hear that this is happening. I agree that you shouldn't have to be treated that way, and there's no excuse. The only advise I can say is to: 1) notify your leadership as planned; 2) see if there are any procedures/policies that address this behavior and exercise your options; 3) request not to be placed in that particular Dr's cases if there is enough flexibility to allow this; and lastly but I feel should be done first 4) have a private conversation with this Dr outside the OR and let him know it's not acceptable. This last one might be the least successful, but at least you can say you tried to address it directly and one on one.

Good luck.

-WDWD

In my years in the OR I have noticed a pattern with mean surgeons: the amount of talent they have as a surgeon is usually directly inversely proportional to their bad attitude. Be kind to them. They are doing the best they can!

No. Just no. Just because they are good surgeons does NOT mean that the OP has to accept unacceptable behavior. That is clearly NOT the best they can do.

I never said that the OP should accept the behavior If you read my post again, I am saying that in my experience the worse surgeons are normally the meanest - most likely secondary to their overcompensation for what they perceive as their own inadequacies. I never once said it was OK for her to be treated this way. Please read posts more carefully before shooting off indignant responses.

I never said that the OP should accept the behavior If you read my post again, I am saying that in my experience the worse surgeons are normally the meanest - most likely secondary to their overcompensation for what they perceive as their own inadequacies. I never once said it was OK for her to be treated this way. Please read posts more carefully before shooting off indignant responses.

I believe you said "be kind to them. They are doing the best they can!" No, they are NOT doing the best they can. And "being kind" to them without suggesting OP take any other course of action - that is advocating acceptance of the behavior. Your only advice is to be kind when someone verbally abuses you? Might as well thank the surgeons too, for their "honesty."

By the way, "inversely proportional" means that as one goes up, the other goes down. So the better the surgeon, the worse the people skills. If you were intending to say that the surgeons with poor surgical skills tend to have poor people skills, the phrase you needed would have been "directly proportional." Please think carefully before posting.

I believe you said "be kind to them. They are doing the best they can!" No, they are NOT doing the best they can. And "being kind" to them without suggesting OP take any other course of action - that is advocating acceptance of the behavior. Your only advice is to be kind when someone verbally abuses you? Might as well thank the surgeons too, for their "honesty."

The exclamation mark at the end of that sentence was supposed to give the reader a clue that the post was tongue-in-cheek.

You can extrapolate meaning, misinterpret, and put as many words into my mouth as you want. Anyone who actually reads my post, without trying to put spin on it or read it with a chip on their shoulder, can porifice out that my post was actually a dig at surgeon in question. But hey, go ahead and be enraged if that's what makes you happy.

By the way, "inversely proportional" means that as one goes up, the other goes down. So the better the surgeon, the worse the people skills. If you were intending to say that the surgeons with poor surgical skills tend to have poor people skills, the phrase you needed would have been "directly proportional." Please think carefully before posting.

Or.... the more of an attitude they have, the worse their skill level is. There you go again with glass half empty! (Note the exclamation mark.)

The exclamation mark at the end of that sentence was supposed to give the reader a clue that the post was tongue-in-cheek.

You can extrapolate meaning, misinterpret, and put as many words into my mouth as you want. Anyone who actually reads my post, without trying to put spin on it or read it with a chip on their shoulder, can porifice out that my post was actually a dig at surgeon in question. But hey, go ahead and be enraged if that's what makes you happy.

You still have yet to offer the OP any advice - which is what he/she asked for.

OP, I would not let this go. I think you're doing the right thing by going up the chain of command. Let's not make excuses for people because they might be good at what they do.

Write an incident report Every.Single.Time.

In Tennessee it is legal to record a conversation as long as one party agrees. If it is legal in your state take recorded conversation and visit a lawyer. Slander and defamation of character.