Difficult doctors... dealing with?

[CloudySue]

I work in a SNF where all the residents are handled by a handful of MD's. Most are rather amicable, if not downright friendly. Most prefer that non-emergency issues be handled via faxes, like lab results and minor incidents. However, we have one doctor that wants to be paged for EVERYTHING. When we page this doctor, we have to be jonny-on-the-spot to pick up his call or else he'll just hang up, must be repaged, and then he spends the first few minutes chewing you out for not being there for his call immediately. So when I have to page this guy, I have to wait and be sure I have all my meds and treatments done so I can stay by the phone, because he could take anywhere from three minutes to three hours to call back. I have missed many a lunch break waiting to give this guy simple reports such as normal PT INR results, which could easily be faxed. On top of this, he obviously seems irritated that he gets paged at all, and he does not suffer new nurses gladly, so all the new nurses fear speaking to him. He is patronizing, looks down on women, expects everyone to have psychic powers, and has an accent that is very difficult to understand.

I think this creates a dangerous situation. Everyone is loathe to speak to him, even the DONs. Nurses cluster their issues they have to present to him and sometimes issues wait whole shifts, getting pushed off and stuck on the next nurse. Patients wait for days for simple requests such as cough medicine because nurses put off dealing with this doctor and his attitude. Sometimes small situations get brushed under the rug altogether. I always remind myself that this is the job, and sometimes you have to deal with unpleasant people, and force myself to do what's right. I worry about the residents sometimes. It's obvious this doctor hates his job, probably his old man forced him into medicine. I worry about the safety of not having a healthy line of communication between health professionals who should all work together for the resident's best interests.

[jennie kissinger]

sometimes the best remiedy is to comfront him in a non hostile way. let him know you aoppreciate how he cares for his patients and that you respect his decisions, but you feel he is out of line the way he talks to you when you are on his side and part of his team. Some times the simplest of things and being truthful makes them realize how one is acting. He may gain respect for you and stop his actions. It also might be good to go to someone in charge and let them know you are planning to confront him and that way they can back you up. They are only Drs and the only difference between you and them is they have more schooling than you. We are all human not super human. good luck;)

[scoochy]

If this MD is such a problem, then by virtue of her/his role, the DON is responsible for dealing with this situation. It's called LEAD BY EXAMPLE. If the DON refuses, I would go up the chain of command to the administrator. Ultimately, it is the residents who suffer, and this is not acceptable. No resident should have to wait for cough medicine because a nurse does not want to deal with this physician. This is neglect, a form of elder abuse.

I ran in to this problem just last night..the physician stated, "I called, but no one answered the phone." After asking co-workers re: phone call, I came to the conclusion that he was just making excuses. I ignored his rant (held the phone away from my ear until he was finished), and politely informed him of the reason for my phone call. I did not acknowledge his behavior by saying "I am so sorry no one answered the phone." I got the necessary treatment for the resident, and that was that. Goodbye and have a nice night...

I understand your dilemma completely; this physician I wrote about has similar unpleasant mannerisms, and yes, he is also difficult to understand when speaking; however he is the medical director. He does know all his residents and what is going on with each of them, and makes himself available 24 hours/day via cell phone. I go with it, but should he insult me, he will know it.

[apocatastasis]

I find that a well-timed "Are you done yet?" works wonders.

[Batman25]

You are giving this doctor too much power and control. He's human like the rest of us. Call him as need and go continue your work. You don't miss lunch or stand and wait for his call for 3 minutes to 3 hours. That's insanity.

You can try and rectify this yourself by telling him you will be addressed in a respectful manner and changing how you deal with him. Telling him in a polit and professional maner could help and it's worth a shot.

Your other option is to bring it up the food chain and get your CN involved. Putting it in writing is often because it can't be ignored. Your job is to advocate for your patients and they are suffering. Don't let it continue. Perhaps all of you can meet with CN together to discuss. Keep us posted.

[ItsTheDude]

docs have good days and bad days, but if a doc is usually in a bad day mood, the nurses where i work don't cover for the doc, we make their job hard as hell. docs make lots of mistakes and they don't last long without nurses covering for them and making things easier for them.

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

A discussion on abusive doctors was started a few days ago. It is insightful and offers plenty of advice. Click on the link below to get to the discussion.

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/abusive-doctors-457847.html

[Scrubby]

I am going to be blunt here. By waiting for him for three hours to call and missing your breaks you are enabling this sort of behaviour. You say that patients are missing out on orders for medication because of this doctor. Nurses are patient advocates and by not doing anything you are also part of the problem.

You need to document all these problems, if patients miss out on medication then document the steps you have taken to try to contact this doctor, write incident reports. Nothing will happen until it is on paper.

If he is hostile to you then let him know that his behaviour is unacceptable. Take if higher up if needed.