Doctors Yelling

The last time i got yelled at and took it i was in the army. I had no choice then. Now I would never tolerate that. I dont yell at people and people dont yell at me. If any nurse is being yelled at by a doctor it his or her fault for taking it.

Ugh this is the second thread in a row I just read about doctors yelling. I'm pretty sure it may happen to me one day and I'm not looking forward to it. I'm one of those really sensitive people who cries easily and I'm afraid I might crumble. *sigh* I guess I need to put on my brave face and get some thicker skin because I don't want to add to the stereotype that doctors have some right to yell at nurses.

If a doctor actually yelled at me i would either just turn my back on them and walk off or i would tell them that they are acting like a baby and to speak like an adult. I didn't become an RN to be treated like that.

The only time i'd yell back is if i were scrubbed with them. It's sometimes best to yell back in this situation because it usually shuts them up.

I have NEVER let a doctor yell at me. It's happened twice that they started to, once on the phone, so I just hung up, and once outside a pt's room, so I just walked to the linen closet down the hall w/ the door open just staring at the doc. LOL It was like those times in nursing school when the instructor pulled me into the closet, only I was the teacher :) He was apologizing even before he got to the closet.

The one I couldn't bear was when I had to call my fav doc about a very difficult pt/so (mostly the so, the dominant one). This doc was the one that always had patience, answered all your questions, loved to teach, knew ur name the very first day, I would bend over backwards for him. Anyhoo, I was talking to him on the phone about some issues and he lost it. They had been very frustrating for him, not one of his regulars, but was on call that weekend and so he got all the ones w/o primary docs, and this was Sun, she was admitted late Friday. He didn't yell at me, but his tone was very irritated, short, and definitely rude. I felt horrible, like I had done something wrong. Like when you have a baby that gets a shot and they get that hurt look on their face like "how could you" before they start crying, that kind of hurt. Had me in tears. He showed up at the hospital a few min later, talked w/ the patient, then found me at the nurse's station still crying and gave me a hug. Told me he was sorry and that he didn't mean to lose his temper w/ me, he was just frustrated. Five years I worked at that hospital, and that was the only time I ever knew him to lose his cool.

Well doctors can sometimes loose their cool because of their very hectic schedules...and it's unavoidable and part of human nature and that makes them human. I can forgive a doctor for shouting at me only one time. But when he does constantly to me and other nurses, it is another story.

I had a doctor lose it with me once - I asked him if he wanted that written as an order or if I should include it in the nursing/progress notes.

He stopped.

Take good care,

Shawna

You learn very quickly which docs are most likely to lose it, then try to avoid them like the plague. We have a couple who like to see staff shake with fear when they are around, or if we should have to ask them for something. I had to get hold of one of those docs, and I had no choice to contact him at 3 in the morning, for his pt needed to be medicated for pain and the doc never left orders for ANY pain medications. Before I could even finish my sentence he was ranting about what time I was calling him and such. I stated back at him if he had learned to fill out his order sheets correctly I would not be calling him. Since then he never raised his voice at me, perhaps he was suprised someone would stand up to him??

If some doctors weren't so unapproachable, communication would be so much better. At our hospital, our hospitalists are very overworked and have draining schedules. But, I get so sick of being treated like a subordinate. Just the other day I sat and listened to a doctor rant about film taken by radiology that was a incorrect view from what the doctor wanted. No, it wasn't the nurses who put the order in wrong, it was the radiology tech who read the order wrong. Finally after repeating himself for the 20th time that he was sitting and waiting for a film that was taken wrong- I asked him if there was anything else he needed. I swear they just want someone to yell at and I won't take it.

*I do say some doctors because not all of them are like that.

Doctors are not the only ones yelling. I have heard more NURSES yell than any doctors. In fact, most doctors act way more professional than alot of nurses out there, hate to say it

this is a long one.....

oh wow jus what was on my mind....it was a weekend and they wanted to dc this pt with a bp of 200/120./...granted she was a dialysis pt but i kindly said to the doc (resident on call) im sorry i dont feel comfortable dcing a pt this hypertensive she could stroke ...could we please give her a prn dose and do a 24 observation....now per the dr i got "no way she is being dialyzed tomorrow this is normal for her were going to adjust her daily dose and send her home". Now this WASN"T norm for her, even if it was i wouldnt feel comfortable sending someone out like that, pt was uncomfortable also going home with that but didnt say anything bc of fear. I call the fellow tell him he still "no thats ok shell be fine ill give her some clonidine po and send her home.....i happen to see the attending on the floor ask him and he says oh nooooo way well have her stay and dc her tom after dialysis.....then the resident has the nerve to call me back "i pulled some strings shes gonna stay" more like i pulled some strings so ur pt wouldnt stroke and end up back in the ER..........

next day pts bps better pt ready to be dc'd same resident writing the orders and ups and disappears....... pt aggravated and ready to go AMA, i call resident to tell him and he yells "Im admitting 3 other pts now ill be up later" ok i say ill let the pt know, she wants to leave AMA again i call back now him yelling at me..... "FIne Ill come up there now"...comes up does his thing i kindly have EVERYTHING ready for him so its a quick thing ......hes done i say thanks so much im sorry for the inconvienence....he starts to say "you know what...." pt in hallway pt hears him and starts screamin at him hahah..... jerry springer style... "she was a great nurse it was ur unprofessional behavior u up and left blah blah dont u ever talk to a nurse like that again"

haha gotta love patients lol..... so ever since he wont look at me anymore haha i never got an aplogy and for the record he never apologized to the pt either.......

i always say im a patient advocate not the drs

Been yelled at by some and have cut some off when the yelling started. It depends on if it is a personal attack or the "I'm tired of my orders not being followed" kind of tantrum. There are times when I appriciate a little yelling from the docs. The umpteenth time I have to beg pharmacy for hours to please send up my "STAT" electrolyte replacement on a patient with ectopy problems I think the doc is perfectly in his rights to do a little yelling...at them. Sometimes polite conversation doesn't get the job done.