Docs yelling at nurses....

Medic946RN · Apr 12, 2007

Whenever a doc raises his voice to me. I tell him "You can stop right now. I am an adult. You want to discuss this issue as adults, then fine. But you do NOT yell at me." Has worked everytime. But I must admit as a male nurse I don't get 1/10th the static the girls do. It's a damn shame certain docs think they talk to nurses in a disrespectful manner simply because they're female. It's usually the ego challenged who do the most hollering. Never the ED docs I work with, most always a specialist, surgeon, GI doc, etc.

nosos · Apr 12, 2007

Hi eveybody, here are my experiences of being shouted at during my 10+ years of clinical experience. I have been yelled at by a junior doctor at A&E, just because I handed over a new case to her ( I was triaging patients at the time). My first reaction was to think if her shouting at me was in anyway in the patient's interest. In an emergency situation this could hold some value. Still I immidiately realized that she was just shouting because instead of seeing the patient she was supposed to see, she wanted to attend to one of her friends who just came in at the A&E. All I had to do was reply in a calm but loud manner. Dr x, you are seeing Mr. xx and not your friend. Out patient clinic operates tomorrow, and I am not your clerk you know. My advice is this: When you are 100% you are wright, stand your ground and make people aware of what is happening. without gossiping about it later. Conflicts should resolve idealy on the spot, because after all within the hospital there is only room for one person's interest: the patient.

nosos · Apr 12, 2007

Hi eveybody, here are my experiences of being shouted at during my 10+ years of clinical experience. I have been yelled at by a junior doctor at A&E, just because I handed over a new case to her ( I was triaging patients at the time). My first reaction was to think if her shouting at me was in anyway in the patient's interest. In an emergency situation this could hold some value. Still I immidiately realized that she was just shouting because instead of seeing the patient she was supposed to see, she wanted to attend to one of her friends who just came in at the A&E. All I had to do was reply in a calm but loud manner. Dr x, you are seeing Mr. xx and not your friend. Out patient clinic operates tomorrow, and I am not your clerk you know. My advice is this: When you are 100% you are wright, stand your ground and make people aware of what is happening. without gossiping about it later. Conflicts should resolve idealy on the spot, because after all within the hospital there is only room for one person's interest: the patient.
:smiley_ab [Mistakes are like headlights. The other driver's are always blinding...]:smiley_ab

postmortem_cowboy · Apr 16, 2007

One night working a M/S unit, I had a CNA come to me and tell me one of my patients had gotten up with her assistance and the foley "dropped" out of her, to my dismay and utter disbelief, it sure had, how I don't know but nonetheless there it was balloon still inflated on the floor. This happend around 2 am. I scoured the chart for a foley order, pre-op, post-op nothing. The charge nurse scoured the whole chart looking for anything resembling an order for an indwelling, nothing. I had to call him, but I figured I'd wait until a more appropriate hour to call and get the verbal over the phone, at six fourty-five, he answers the phone with "what the f*** are you calling me for?" I simply explained the situation and stated I need a phone order to put it back in. He said he wouldn't give such an order and it was in before so I should put it back in and called me a name less than nice from a physician.

Now... irregardless of whether he was willing to sign the phone order or not, I still wrote it in the chart. If he didn't want to sign it after telling me to put it back in (and quite frankly the patient was a few days post-op anyhow so he could have opted just to leave it out, which was why I called as well to see if he wanted it still in) If he decided not to sign it, he'd have lost his priveledges to the hospital, so doctors yelling at nurses, nah doesn't really bother me, I don't lower myself to their level if that's the way they are going to choose to be, I just get even, and they find out later that wasn't something they should have done/said.

Another time I'd had an ER doc yell at me in front of patients, big no-no with me, if you want to yell at me fine, do it out of sight of others... he quickly found out that doing so got him no special treatment, i'd play dumb with him and make him go get his own stuff for sutures, or bring the wrong stuff when he didn't specify, etc etc... like size 6 sterile gloves for a man that wears an 8... I promptly got an apology from him, but alot of that came from we had to work together quite often. That and I learned that no matter what docs are under a lot of stress, take what they have to vent with a grain of salt, then later if you really want to see if they meant it, ask them an off the wall question, like did you see the game last night, if they just look at you dumbfounded, you know they meant it, if they chat you up, you know they didn't and were just having a bad day... understanding yer docs is a big thing every nurse should be aware of. Only thing is as a new nurse, you have to learn by trial and error.

Wayne.

MrChicagoRN, RN · Apr 25, 2007

Hi guys,
I have been reading the several posts about doctors yelling at the nurses. I am wondering:
1. As a male nurse, is it any different?
2. Have you ever had to deal with yelling physicians? If yes, what did you do? How did you deal with it? I read several posts stating from mouthing off to cry in the bathroom (mostly women on how they react).
3. It is my second career moving from a corporate environment with lots of politics. We cannot tolerate such things.
The politically correct way that I know is to let the physician know that he doesnt realize that he is yelling and to go to a more private place to discuss it and if he doesnt listen, just walk away from him (ignore him).

1. People shouldn't be yelling at each in the workplace, regardless of status, or gender. MDs may feel they can get away with bullying a female, but I think that behvior is pretty much past.

2. Appropriate confrontation of inappropriate behavior is not wrong. Sometimes just saying something as simple as,

"I treat you with respect, I expect to be treated with the same respect. Now is there something you'd like to discuss with me now?"

I recall two run ins with MDs.

The first (resident on call) accused me of holding her prisoner on the psych unit. Actually, she asked to be buzzed off. I asked her to first sign the chart she was legally required to sign at that time (restrained patient). No yelling, I just reminded her of the need to sign it now. The next day I got several apologies for her bad behavior. From the clin-spec & from the medical director of the unit.

The other was a dumb sexist question by a female doctor asking if I was "the woman of the house" (charge nurse). I told I wasn't going to respond to that at all. She apologized, then got mad at herself for apologizing.

Professionals need to treat each other with respect. Administration needs to enforce this.

msdobson · May 8, 2007

When I was a CNA, I watched a doctor (a young, yuppie-type) really tear into one of my favorite (very young) nurses. She stood there, tears streaming down her face, making little nods and "yes, doctor's." It was so quite at the nurse's station you could've heard a pin drop.

So, I started clapping. :yeah:

Still clapping, I walked up to "Leonard" and said, "Good Job, Doc! You've made a 18-year old girl cry. What do you do for an encore?"

Never saw the moron again. Apparently, he never said anything to the Nurse Manager or the Facility Administrator, as I continued to work there for another two years.

Mike

scholar · May 15, 2007

I'm still a student nurse so feel free to warn or correct me towards the right path. When witnessing a female RN being yelled at by a doctor till the point that tears are rolling down her face, is it best not to intervene? The RN could very well be wrong but I believe that there's no sense in yelling in the work place unless it will help the patient.

pawashrn · May 20, 2007

Every hospital has a policy protecting nurses from verbal abuse, but most nurses don't use it. I made a suggestion to a physician once about how a patient would benefit from IPPB treatments. The physician jerked her stethoscope off her neck and purposely attempted to strike me with it in front of the patient. I simply filled out an incident report in front of the physician. A conference was set up between my manager/the doctor and myself.

A hospital keeps record of the physicians that are communicatively challenged and are obligated to act responsibly. Never cry or scream that only empowers them. The doctor does not work for the hospital. If a doctor every strikes you or verbally slanders you. You can take it outside the hospital and to your own private lawyer. Get names/times and follow hospital policy.

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Jun 17, 2007

I had a doc yell at me last night, for no good reason I could see. He was only 5 feet 6 inches, Im 6 feet 1 inches. Im also at least 25 olders than him. I reached over and patted him on the head, as I looked down on him. One of the older docs, came over and took him away., literally

what you call S.M.S.D.S.

czyja, MSN, RN · Jun 21, 2007

I reached over and patted him on the head, as I looked down on him.

Fabulous - ignoring the fact that you technically committed battery your actions appear to have been effective if not entirely legal. Have you encountered this doc again or has he been frightened off permanently?

teeituptom, BSN, RN · Jun 21, 2007

Fabulous - ignoring the fact that you technically committed battery your actions appear to have been effective if not entirely legal. Have you encountered this doc again or has he been frightened off permanently?

yes and he hasnt yelled at me again

and its not battery as he never told me I couldnt pat him on the head

czyja, MSN, RN · Jun 21, 2007

Aha. I assumed that he asked you stop (in some or another fashion) as you were doing the patting. The visual I am getting on this is still making me laugh. thanks man