Doctor's attitude towards nurses

[jrsnars2]

Hello fellow nurses. I need opinion from this community on how to handle the situation that transpired today that involves an in-house physician.

I am a RN full-time 7AM-3:30PM shift in a rehab unit of a long-term care

facility for 14 months now. In the nurse station while I was

transcribing an order, I heard a familiar voice (with Indian accent)

and said in a strong tone of voice, "Hey you two, look at me!",

referring to me and a per-diem LPN who was transcribing orders into

the MAR. This lady doctor holding a patient's chart for us to see and

said, "When you see the physician order sheet is full, put a new

one in the chart!." A podiatrist standing in the other side of

nurse station was present and I noticed him with a blank stare

towards the in-house doctor. What bothers me is that I felt treated

like a child the way she addressed me and the LPN and not as

professionals. In addition, the POS is a piece of paper that is

available in the doctor's office where she's currently doing her

work. How hard is it to write the patient's name and put this paper

into the patient's binder? The unit manager of the rehab unit was in

his office which is next to the nurse station and heard about the

doctor's demand. After the incident and the doctor went back to the

office and shut the door, the Unit Manager came to us and said he

felt sorry for us and told us a story of similar situation with

another doctor. I wish this unit manager could have said something to

the doctor.

Nurses in this facility are hesitant to approach this doctor or even ask other nurses about the doctor's mood before approaching her with lab reports or to consult about a patient. Sometimes she puts a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door of the doctor's office which is located in the rehab unit. Most of the times I receive calls from nurses in the long-term care units inquiring if this doctor is busy or what is her mood like.

I feel this incident and the doctor's attitude towards nurses need to be addressed. Should I talk to the doctor in private about the incident? Or should I bring instead this incident to the attention of the DON and/or Nurse Administrator? Your suggestion and opinion r/t this matter is

appreciated.

[PG2018]

Doctors are like any other people. Some are jerks. Some are not. Yet like all jerks who enter one's workplace, as a third party, the jerk-like behavior needs to be addressed just as any other contractor would be.

[jrsnars2]

My polite and friendly gestures to this particular physician continues despite being ignored and greetings were not reciprocated.

[lxpatterson]

Meh, it already happened, I wouldn't bring it up. If a doctor did something like that to me, I'd probably say "oh, the order sheets are right there in the filing cabinet, help yourself."

Haha, exactly! I haven't had run ins like that with my medical staff, but that's exactly what I would say to an uppity locum. I stuff order sheets and things like that on a slow night shift as a courtesy, but it's not my job.

[jrsnars2]

This is exactly what I meant that there are things we do on the job "as courtesy" to the team. But this physician came with the issue as if it's the nurses job to do clerical/secretarial work for her. There were instances that this doctor will ask me to check or get something in the fax machine. Sometimes the documents faxed came from other LTC facilities that she is affiliated.

[wooh, BSN, RN]

So address it at the time it happens. "Oh, let me show you how to use the fax machine." "Oh, here are the papers you need right here," and point to them.

She does it because she gets away with it. If you aren't going to professionally stick up for yourself, she's not going to treat you like a professional because right now, her behavior is getting her what she wants. You can either live with it or change how you respond to her. Once her behavior no longer works for her, she'll stop.