Doc Mad At You?

Nurses Relations

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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?

Thanks to all for sharing. Yelling doesn't have to be part of the picture for it to count as a doctor being angry. He/she can speak quietly but still be very upset, demand an apology, report you to your boss, hold a grudge, and so on.

Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
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.

I agree. Having someone be annoyed is not getting yelled at.

I remember two times having a doc really yell, and both of them were over things that were not mistakes; it was just a jerk being a jerk. I also had a doctor yell at me when I intervened when he was being abusive toward a colleague. I wrote up the one doctor because he really went far beyond what I tolerate.

Specializes in Medical Surgical.

Water off a ducks back. I don't spend a minute of time or energy wondering if a doctor may be angry. I do my job, they do theirs, we don't have to be friends.

I had a doc yell, literally screaming and shaking and pointing his finger, in the face of another nurse. We were all at the nurse's station, pts were in the rooms, and he was SCREAMING at her about the instruments in the autoclave packs not being packaged together with the right instruments in them. The other 2 nurses and I were telling him that all of us work the autoclave and it wasn't her fault, but he never even looked at us, just kept the rampage going at her. She was about in tears and we were all dumbfounded when he finally stormed off. The PA was also trying to calm doc down but it didn't work.

A nurse at my current location got mad at me to the point of slamming a drawer and stomping off so hard the floor was shaking. As I walked past the area she was working, I noticed the sharps container (set in the countertop) was full and a syringe was sticking out. I commented that our manager wouldn't like that. Sure enough, the manager came by a few minutes later (the other nurse had left the area) and asked who left that. I said I was working the other area and offered to change out the sharps, manager told me to leave it. She tracked down the other nurse, showed her, and asked her to fix it. Manager left, other nurse then got mad and made a comment that it should have already been changed and she thought I was going to do it. Really? I'm supposed to change YOUR sharps container?

Specializes in LTC Rehab Med/Surg.

Yes I've had them mad at me.

I can say one thing for certain. Doctors hold grudges longer than any other group of people I've ever seen.

Childlike. That's what I think of when I'm getting flattened over the phone.

Specializes in Public Health, L&D, NICU.

I've never had a real doctor mad at me. Annoyed, yes, and if I was at fault I apologized and corrected the issue. I've had them get annoyed because I've woken them, or called them at home, or some other thing totally out of my control, and it really doesn't bother me. "sorry to bother you, but..." is all they're going to get if I'm in the right. I have had residents, interns, and med students get truly angry with me, to the point of yelling, because I don't suffer fools (or foolish actions) when it comes to my patients. Again, it really doesn't bother me. I've been written up over an encounter with a resident once. Meh, big deal. I was right, my manager agreed I was correct in trying to stop him from what he was doing, but he was THE DOCTOR and I should be respectful. Whatever, I'll take my slap on the wrist and I'll continue on as always.

I got yelled at once by a doctor I kept calling to come look at a patient whose mental status was rapidly changing. "He could just be a sundowner" was his response. The guy is 38 years old, he isn't a sun downer. I couldn't put my finger on it, he was alert and oriented and would open eyes to name but he just wasn't acting the same as he did when I picked him up hours prior. The guy was a GI bleed. Respirations in the 30's. I told doc all this and he is like "Ok. He is fine, you don't need to keep calling." Finally when I saw some pursed lip breathing I called him back and told him everything (I had RT in the room adjusting oxygen needs while im on phone with MD). STILL refused to come see patient and yelled at me on the phone. He was like "What do you want me to do?? You keep calling and the guy is fne. If he is alert and oriented and responding what do you want? Its 3am of course he is more lethargic, you won't let him sleep." I was like..."i'm ordering a set of ABGs I would just feel better if we did." he was like "A set of ABG was done 3 hours ago and it was normal. If you want a set of ABGs, then go ahead but its going to be just fine."

I put in an order for ABG ad it came back critical. Respiratory alkalosis. I paged MD again and was like "Now will you come look at the patient?" then I got yelled at for not coming to him sooner about how critical he was. SERIOUSLY??? my manager got involved and its a good thing I did real time documentation of everytime I paged MD and had 3 nurses to back me up that I did everything I could to get him to come see the patient.

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