Dr threatening

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So last night I found a blank prescription pad that was signed and had a doctors DEA # on it as I was walking out the door. I handed it to a nurse that he had been talking to and told her, please keep this safe, it could be an incident report.

She thought I told her to "handle it". So she told him "my boss told me she was gonna write you up for this". So I get an angry text from him asking what I had to write him up for and to call him when I can.

I I told the nurse, please tell him I will discuss this with him tomorrow. He's already screamed at his NP in the middle of a nurses station and threatened to fire him, he's clearly in a bad mood and I would rather discuss this in person.

Later hat night I get a text "thanks for calling me, I'm filing a complaint, I should be able to reach a director 24/7". Some background on that, I'm a manager, not a director. My position gives me just a little more power than a charge nurse. But very little more. If he wanted a directo, then he should have called my boss, the director.

Im not worried about him actually filing a complaint, because he won't report his wrong doing and he would have to first. Also how immature does it make him look to do that?

Ugh. I'm tired of babysitting these doctors!

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He has to be held accountable for his actions just like anyone else. Perhaps he misinterpreted what the nurse told him and it sounds like he was in some defensive kind of funk. Yes, it does get old, how much immature attitude do we truly have to handle from this group of professionals?? Are the script pads kept on the unit or does he carry his own? I would probably attempt to make some type of light-hearted comment like "do you need a beeper on your script pads to return them to your pocket?" That way he gets the message in a nonthreatening way etc. Just an idea. You still have to work with him and you don't want his attitude haunting you on a daily basis.

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When I need to explain something to someone but don't want to have a huge fight in the middle of my explanation I use a service called slydial. It connects you automatically to the persons voicemail.

I leave a message to explain things and then they have the option of calling me back later if need be. Do I still deal with people blowing up- of course but it does this limits how many times it happens.

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You have every right as a manager to wait to return a colleague's call/text if it is not a matter of patient/staff safety. Just because you are available 24/7, doesn't mean you are working 24/7. It sounds like speaking in person was the right decision. I would also circle back with the RN that you handed the prescription to before leaving and apologize to him/her for not being clear.

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I worked at many of hospitals (non clinical on the administrative side) and one particular hospital (which I will not name but it's a world renowened hospital and has been voted the number 1 hospital in the USA for many years. Hint Hint) this particular hospital had the most arrogant doctors I have ever witnessed in my many years of health care and the doctor/nurse relationships there were just deplorable. I witnessed many docs screaming at nurses in front of other staff and family members with no repercussions for their actions. Hopefully things have changed for the better.

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That was my point exactly, and exactly what I did. Glad to know I wasn't crazy!

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what a cool service!

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The pads are kept in the pyxis on the unit. What my director told me I should have done was to tell him "I kept this SAFE for you since it has your number on it" and hand it back to him, and that would have gotten my point across.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.

I agree that you did the doc a favor but that communication issues may have muddied that fact for him.

There is certainly no reason that you had to jump at his command to call, he is not God nor is he your supervisor.

It seems reasonable to circle back around to the nurse that "handled" it with the doc as the message delivered was decidedly not the message that you believe you provided. That is worrisome.

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