Doctors who act childish!

as i read your post i was actually thinking that the doctor was mostly not acting childish at all, but assertive. and, that is something that you need to learn how to do right back at him. what's good for the goose is good for the gander. it might take a little creative thinking to come up with the specific responses to him, but the way you go about being assertive about it doesn't change. one thing i learned over my many years of practice is that some of the hardest skills to master are the ones involving interpersonal communication and behavior. guess your time has come to delve more deeply into this subject. here's some webpages on assertiveness to get you started. you're gonna love the last link!

• http://changingminds.org/techniques/assertiveness/assertiveness.htm - assertiveness
  
• http://www.dlsweb.rmit.edu.au/toolbox/fmi/content/tutorial/assert/assert00.htm - this is a really nice online assertiveness tutorial from australia. click on the links to proceed through the tutorial. includes sound clips of examples.
  
• http://www.gp-training.net/training/leadership/assertiveness/index.htm - assertiveness for doctors. an interesting site that links you into information about being assertive. includes a list of books with information on assertiveness.

don't expect to become an expert at being assertive yourself after one reading of this information. in fact, i'd print some of the information on these webpages out, so you don't lose it as web pages tend to disappear off the internet occasionally. one successfully executed assertive encounter leads to another, then another and another. over time, you get better at it.

i was chuckling about how i'd walk up to this doc while he was in the middle of something and stick a piece of paper in his face and demand an instant reply. if he gave me flak about it, i'd say, "you do it to me all the time." ha! ha! as i said, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. want a childish response to him when you give him back what he gives to you? "if you can do it to me, how come i can't do it to you?" now, that would pop right out of a kid's mouth without hesitation.

Well, I guess I'd just start playing games with him and be like a donkey or a mule and deliberately go slow or act dumb around him. At least I'd get the satisfaction of ticking him off. Has anybody called him "Rooster" to his face yet? I'd like to be around to see that! I'd get a death grip on a chart he tried to pull it out of my hands. The manager is wrong to accuse the nurses for something the doctor and secretary have cooked up between them. The manager needs to tell the secretary what she is and isn't supposed to do. Is there a behavioral psychologist you can talk to for advice on how to handle this guy? Who is this doctor's immediate supervisor? He must have one. That person needs to be told about this doctor's bad behavior. I don't know how things work in Canada, but depending on who signs the doctor's paycheck or gives them admission privileges here in the U.S. has a lot to do with who gets to address his behavior with the nurses.