Do surgeons intimidate nurses?

[Anxious Patient]

The Husband of a Patient who accompanied his wife into the OR during a C-section recounts his observation of real fear from nurses towards the surgeons when a sponge went missing as the woman's abdomen was being sewn up.

http://www.healthbeatblog.org/2008/08/surgeons-and-su.html

[GadgetRN71, ASN, RN]

Surgeons do not intimidate this nurse. I take my job as advocate extremely seriously. Counts are not something we should be messing with...The surgeon can jump up and down, turn blue in the face and call me every name in the book, but I consider that patient my main concern, not the whims of a surgeon.

Now, I have seen some nurses be intimidated by docs but thankfully, this is falling by the wayside. You also have to have good strong nursing management in place...a NM who backs up his/her nurses when they have to.

[Scrubby]

Surgeons don't really scare me that much either. I don't put up with their crap, if I can't find a sponge they don't get their closing suture until it is found. I had one try to take my suture off my trolley once when I couldn't find a raytec, I grabbed her arm quite firmly and put it back towards the table where i belonged.

But I have seen time and time again nurses not sticking up for themselves and their patient. I don't think they should be in the OR if they don't have the courage to stick up for themselves.

[jenni82104]

Are some nurses afraid to "bother" the surgeon because of fear for their job? I know that doctors are not the nurses boss, but could they affect their employment in an indirect way by going to their nurse manager and always complaining about them?

[Abbies]

Are some nurses afraid to "bother" the surgeon because of fear for their job? I know that doctors are not the nurses boss, but could they affect their employment in an indirect way by going to their nurse manager and always complaining about them?

My lack of fear of a surgeon resulted in his threatening to talk to my supervisor and eluding that he would not be using our services any longer. The good news is that the antibiotic that the on-call physician saw fit to prescribe was effective in resolving her cellulitis making her rehab successful as well. The really pathetic part is that his office staff must have been so intimidated by him they denied ever getting our 3 faxes, 3 telephone calls, and having advised us to contact the PCP (who was unwilling to get involved). I held onto our documentation just in case but there was not a peep from him thereafter. . . except to order our services for his next patient.

[Runman1914, MSN, RN]

Its a man woman issue. If the OR nurses were all men most surgeons would behave a world better. I dont mean to sound sexist.

[cmonkey]

Its a man woman issue. If the OR nurses were all men most surgeons would behave a world better. I dont mean to sound sexist.

And yet you do.

Please your theory explain further.

[lpnstudentin2010, LPN]

I KNOW my surgeon atleast yells at the nurses. I do not know if any become intimidated, but I have seen it and heard about enough to know that it was not a couple of isolated insidences.

[Zee_RN, BSN, RN]

Well, last time I checked, I was a female nurse and the docs -- regardless of specialty area -- don't intimidate me. It's all about the patient and that's what nursing is all about. It's supposed to be what medicine is all about too but the nurse is the patient's strongest advocate.

And Joint Commission is about to put out a Patient Safety Goal regarding behaviors in the workplace. Everyone--surgeons, nurses, nurse aides, housekeeping, management, etc--is going to be held accountable for unprofessional, demeaning or intimidating behaviors because it is believe to compromise patient safety. For once, I'm applauding Joint Commission.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

Just don't put up with it.

If I was the husband - I would have said hello to the docs and introduced myself and my wife . .. . .I would have asked the docs to stop talking about personal things.

To keep counting sponges as the docs were sewing up the patient in hopes they would hear it and stop is lame . . .. pt advocacy comes before misplaced fear of speaking up to someone who is essentially just another human being.

Stand up for your patients and yourself.

steph

[Runman1914, MSN, RN]

And yet you do.

Please your theory explain further.

No theory really. Im sorry if i offended anyone . But doctors from my experience and observations have a totally different demeanor when speaking with male nurses. 90% of the time doctors think twice about yelling at a male nurse over a female. Many times my female co workers get me to call certain doctors due to the doctors yelling reputation. I being 6foot 4 and 240 pounds the doctors act different.

No nurse man or woman should be intimidate by any doctor. Last week i walk to the nurses station while a doctor was yelling at a female nurse. When i said whats the problem , he looked at me and walked off. She was in tears.

[NurseCard, ADN]

I don't doubt that this problem exists but like another poster said, a good OR nurse isn't going to be intimidated by the doctors, is going to speak up and advocate for the patients, and in turn is going to earn the doctors' respect and NOT be ignored and treated like they are tool giving machines.

In addition, not all doctors treat their C section patients like that. The doc who did mine did though. I don't remember him once saying a word to me throughout the whole procedure. Mostly the anesthetist and the nurses talked to me.

Now the doc who did my first C section, she was great and did talk to me. She and her partner asked me what we were naming her. I said, in my Morphine-induced fog "Rhiannon Christine". The assistant said "Ah, a Fleetwood Mac fan". :)