Doc Mad At You?

Published

Have you ever had a doctor mad at you? What caused it? How did you handle it? Was your direct boss supportive of you? Did you live to tell about it?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I've had doctors mad at me.. but I don't really put them on a pedastool so.. meh. I've had some annoyed at me because I'm still a student and go "slower" than they like (oh well, I'm learning, they were there too at one point). I've also been on it from other ends too, like when I was a registration person and did patient check in/check out. I had a doctor scream at me because I couldn't get a patient in for an MRI at that very moment (this patient lived two hours away and the closest appointment was later in the evening). He didn't want them to have to drive home and back for an appointment which is understandable, but it wouldn't be fair to the other patients who HAD their appointments scheduled and were waiting to be pushed just because someone lived farther away (this wasn't a life threatening emergency either). But really I don't view doctors any different than any other coworker - they get grumpy sometimes but can be fine an hour later.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I had a doctor literally scream at me when I worked in the unit. It was 1am or so and a pt's labs had come back with a significant drop in her platelet count in addition to an increasing blood pressure. Anti hypertensives weren't working and the plt count was critically low. Given that she was on a heparin drip, I was concerned about HIT.

I paged the house MD because critical care doesn't cover overnight. He suggested the issue was fluid overload and ordered CVP monitoring and lasix. I was fairly new to the unit but not convinced his orders were what was needed. He refused to assess the patient and wouldn't order further labs for the am. I spoke with my charge nurse and she agreed. We called the critical care doctor. He screamed at me for calling him while he wasn't covering the patient and told me to call the house doc. When I explained the situation, he ordered a slew of labs and d/c'd the heparin. He then called the house doctor and hollered at him for not taking care of the patient. The house doctor then showed up in the unit to yell at me and my charge nurse. My charge nurse backed me up and the night nursing supervisor backed both of us up.

The patient did in fact have HIT. I was freaked out about being yelled at by 2 doctors in one night but I protected my patient and my license. I hate being yelled at but I will do what I think is right regardless. I'm not going to blindly follow just to prevent stepping on toes and getting yelled at. I may not have done what I did without the support of my charge nurse because I was just so new. It sounds cliche but I knew there was more wrong in my gut and didn't trust that particular physician and my charge nurse agreed.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Orthopedic, LTC, STR, Med-Surg, Tele.

I've been yelled at a couple of times before... but usually it's because the doc feels pressured for some reason or is upset about something else, I know they're not really upset with me personally. It doesn't excuse it, I think we should all act like adults, but I shrug it off.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in FNP, ONP.

Never in my 25+ year career has a colleague yelled at me. I have had patients yell at me, never once a physician or another nurse, etc. Ever. Has anyone ever been angry with me? Physicians, maybe, but none that I am aware of. I'm certainly not perfect, I've made mistakes and I've had disagreements with people, physicians, even ! I've just never had a conflict of the nature that people got that kind of upset. Maybe it's because I'm a man. I address disagreements matter of factly, and work it out. Professionals usually respond in kind and that diffuses any potential conflict situation and that's that.

Have I had nurse colleagues angry at me, yes. However, as par for the course, they have only told other people, lol. No one has ever let me know directly that they were really unhappy with me. I always ignore it and them and they always end up looking like fools.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I had one yell at me in the middle of the ICU about a personal gripe about a former patient's wife, and another time about if I didn't get this patient a bed by 11am the practice's reimbursement would be decreased and his bonus would go down. Alas for him, there were a boatload of witnesses and it wasn't the first time risk management had complaints about him. Gone in a month.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pedi.

Sure... Residents get mad when you go above their head and page the Senior Resident, Fellow, Attending, etc. but, oh well, do your job and/or answer your pager and I won't have to climb the chain of command. It bothers me not if doctors get mad at me... it's not my job to make them happy.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ER, progressive care.

Back when I was brand spanking new (it was my second shift ever as a nurse), I had to call the on-call hospitalist regarding an elevated temperature. MD wanted blood cultures and wanted to start them on vanc. She asked if the patient was on vanc and I said no...she gave me orders, then after I hung up I saw on the bottom of the MAR - the patient was on vanc. I had to call her back and apologize and I don't remember what she said to me...she didn't yell at me but I could tell she was annoyed. Honestly, I would have been, too. The next day my nurse manager told me this MD mentioned my name to her and I wasn't in trouble...I was just given a friendly reminder to have all of my facts and information ready whenever I page the MD.

There was another time where I had a patient admitted under a cardiologist. The patient was having a lot of pain and the pain medicine he was prescribed wasn't helping - didn't have anything ordered PRN. The patient's BP was also climbing into the 180's and the prescribed antihypertensives weren't working. I remember calling this cardiologist at 0300 to tell him about the BP and the patient's pain, hoping to get some PRN orders so that I wouldn't have to bother him again. This doc yelled at me saying, "why are you monitoring this patient's BP at 3am? I would be ****** if you were doing that to me, so STOP IT." and hung up. Of course I documented to CMA and reported the incident to my charge and supervisor. That morning, that same cardiologist was on another unit complaining about, "this nurse calls me at 3am, blah blah blah" to where the manager on the unit replied, "what else was she supposed to do? she did the right thing." The MD just scoffed and basically said I shouldn't have called. :banghead:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.

I have respect for docs and I get along well with 99% of them. But I will not be disrespected by them, talked down to by them and I will stand my ground. (realizing their is a time and place for everything) At the end of the day my patients come first and I won't risk their safety. I have had a few docs mad at me before because of this, but most docs will tell me how much they enjoy working with me. Granted in the ER things are different and we work hand in hand with our docs the whole shift and they are always there. It's not like how it is on the floor. Even when I was on the floor though and I had to page the doc in the middle of the night, if he was rude, I corrected it.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
Never in my 25+ year career has a colleague yelled at me. I have had patients yell at me, never once a physician or another nurse, etc. Ever. Has anyone ever been angry with me? Physicians, maybe, but none that I am aware of. I'm certainly not perfect, I've made mistakes and I've had disagreements with people, physicians, even ! I've just never had a conflict of the nature that people got that kind of upset. Maybe it's because I'm a man. I address disagreements matter of factly, and work it out. Professionals usually respond in kind and that diffuses any potential conflict situation and that's that.

Have I had nurse colleagues angry at me, yes. However, as par for the course, they have only told other people, lol. No one has ever let me know directly that they were really unhappy with me. I always ignore it and them and they always end up looking like fools.

Same here, never been yelled at. I usually get along with most people and have been fortunate enough to work with outstanding docs, 97% of the and we mesh well which works awesome in the ER. I have however dealt with snippy, rude and condescending which doesn't happen often because I don't let it intimidate e and I will stand up for myself.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pediatric Cardiology.

I've had an attending get angry with me, he wasn't yelling thank god. It was in front of everyone which was kind of embarrassing though.

It was over a patient's BP. It was reading 7-something over 30s, patient was completely asymptomatic and usually ran in the low 90s so I wasn't completely freaking out. I was on my way to call the doc when he found me asking why nothing was being done. (He saw it on the monitor during rounds). Patient got fluids and all was well. The doc actually scared the patient, she felt fine and was confused why he was flipping out.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I'm another one who's never actually had a physician (or nurse, or CNA) yell at me.

I wonder if some people don't really understand what yelling is. I think what some people call "yelling", others would call "raised voice" or just a tone of annoyance.

The worst I've gotten from physicians is grumpiness over being called at 3 in the morning. But I guess I'd be grumpy, too.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion