Ever tell a doctor like it is, with surprising results?

[AngelfireRN, MSN, RN, APRN]

:balloons:Anyone have an incident like this happen?

Worked a code from 0700 till 0930 (she coded 3 times), then came out to find a doctor waiting for me at the nurses station. He had a chart in his hand, and asked if a certain 0800 medication had been given. I had to tell him no. He proceeded to run his finger down the order page and READ it to me.

"See, here, I said to give it at 0800, 1200, and 1600."

"Yes, sir, and I apologize. I've been a bit tied up."

"Oh really? Tied up doing what exactly?"

"Chest compressions."

"Oh, well, that's acceptable."

I could not help but think, well, I sure as hell HOPE SO!

I then turned on the charm and told him I would go right then and give the meds, and could I do anything else while I was at it? He blinked at me a couple times and said, "Do you mind giving him the rest of his morning meds?"

"Not at all, anything else?"

"No, no, you just have a good day."

After I gave the meds, I returned to the nurses station to find I had an audience. Come to find out, this doctor was notorious for biting heads off and writing up nurses for little of nothing, and I was the first one he had not done it to. Anything like this happen to anyone else?

[MedSurgeMess]

There is a surgeon in my hospital that is famous for cussing at nurses for calling him for ANY reason. I had to call him at 0200 one night for a pt who had a 105 temp and had uncontrollable bleeding from the wound. Once he called back he started into cussing like I'd never heard. I just sat there a second and said, "while I find your use of English very interesting, I have pt so-and-so who needs immediate attention." Then I gave him the details. He stopped for what seemed like 5 minutes and finally very calmly gave me orders for the pt. He still has a reputation with the other nurses for rude behavior, but he always laughs and asks how I'm doing, etc., when I call or see him

[GingerSue]

Once he called back he started into cussing like I'd never heard. I just sat there a second and said, "while I find your use of English very interesting, I have pt so-and-so who needs immediate attention." Then I gave him the details. He stopped for what seemed like 5 minutes and finally very calmly gave me orders for the pt.

this is a helpful response and I appreciated you sharing it

[agent66]

When i first started in neuro we had an almost retired surgeon who used to make the girls shake in their shoes. He could stare you down and make you feel like an idiot, if you let him. He had no residents either because of his age so you had to call him directly for anything for his patients. He used to call the unit and not say anything , just breath. I knew it was him after awhile and would just hang up and make hime call back. He called one time with his favorite line , "which one of the hairdressers is this" because he thought we all still belonged in white with caps saying yes doctor, I replied " which one of the old farts is this and i'll let you know who i am" He laughed and i never had trouble with him ever again.

[AngelfireRN, MSN, RN, APRN]

" which one of the old farts is this and i'll let you know who i am" He laughed and i never had trouble with him ever again

That is priceless!

[EmmaG, RN]

We had a new surgeon who soon got a reputation for being nasty to the staff. Not in an profane way, but very condescending and had a bad habit of berating the nurses in front of God and everyone.

One evening, we got one of his abdominal surgeries from PACU. He walked in just after the patient had arrived to the room, then quickly turned and marched out to the nurses' station. He loudly demanded to know who the nurse was caring for this patient. One of our LPNs stepped up and told him it was her; he proceeded to blast her for connecting the salem sump incorrectly. She was devastated. I was charge, and went up to him and asked him to please come with me.

I took him down to the chapel, shut the door and calmly but firmly told him I didn't appreciate how he spoke to the nurses. And furthermore, the NGT setup he witnessed in the patient's room was how the PACU nurse had connected it, and that he had walked in just as the patient had arrived, --- if he'd waited a minute or two, we'd have corrected the problem.

We talked for a while. I told him that these were damned good nurses; caring and smart and they deserved respect. And if a mistake were to be made, please talk to the nurse in private, not in front of other staff, visitors and patients.

He kinda sat there with his mouth hung open while I talked. I guess he'd never had anyone approach him about his sucky attitude before; in any case, we came to an understanding. He was actually a very nice guy. He told me how much he liked to teach. I suggested he do so, but not in a condescending manner. He agreed that his actions were inappropriate and apologized to the nurse he'd fussed at.

He turned into one of the best docs we had--- and from that point on, he was wonderful to all the nurses (even when we DID make mistakes).

When we came back up the hall, the whole staff was looking at me with eyes bugged out. I guess they thought we were going to duke it out down there lol.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

years ago, i had a 300 pound patient in ccu who was being worked up for heart surgery. anesthesia was in seeing the patient and wanted to listen to his lungs.

"sit him up," he said to me.

"he's just had a heart cath," i replied. "he still has his sheaths in and he can't sit up. but i'll help you roll him on his side so you can listen."

"help me? what do you mean you'll help me? i'm a doctor! i don't roll patients. you wouldn't ask dr. johnson (the medical director of our unit) to help you roll patients, so why would you ask me?" that patient was 300 pounds of heavily sedated dead weight, and even in my 30s, i couldn't roll him by myself!

it so happened that dr. johnson (whose name has been changed, but who would probably be proud to have his name used in this manner) was standing outside the room and overheard the anesthesiologist's tirade. he came striding into the room, rolled up his sleeves and asked "what do you need help with ruby?" and then the two of us rolled the patient on his side so anesthesia could listen to his lungs.

that anesthesiologist was pretty embarrassed, and never again, as far as i know, threw a fit about helping anyone position a patient again. and he was always quite respectful to me from then on!

[NicoleERRN, RN]

Not all docs are bad, most of our attendings are pretty cool. One resident surprised me, when i went into the room , he was holding a urinal for one of the patients who could not, I offered to take over and he said, " I got it , thank you " WOW ! as a newbie, I was real proud to work there.

[Dalzac, LPN, LVN, RN]

I had to call a doc about a pt. that was crashing fast. and after I paged him the patient started vomiting and I had to run back in there While I was in there the doc called me back and the phone rang 3 times and I ran out to grab it. This egomaniac started screaming at me about me not being there to answer the phone immediately and just kept on yelling until I started yelling "You know, that is all well and good but instead of wasting my time with this how about saving your patient with a B/P of 50?" Since I was in his room doing wht I can to keep him from dying! He shutup and gave me some orders and came in and was nice as pie to me from then on out. I hear he is still a jerk.

[Cindy1008RN]

I am sure we all have had our "encounters" with doctors. One in particular for me was an attitude because I called a doctor for one of his pregnant patients (multip) that was in active labor. (I worked OB/GYN/Post Partum). The monitor was not picking up her contractions intensity (I know external monitors are not accurate for strength) I knew it was business because she got on the phone to call her husband and was pacing her room. I got orders (not without a lot of unspoken attitude on the phone) to transfer her to L and D. Three hours later, she was my post partum patient. That particular doctor did not give me a bit of trouble again.

[llg, PhD, RN]

Great thread. I hope some of our younger nurses can see from the examples here that you don't have to allow yourself to be abused. If you stand up for yourself in the right way, it can work. Usually, it involves using a little humor and maintaining a certain level of politeness while simultaneously "calling" the physician on his/her inappropriate behavior.

It would make a great research project for someone to collect these stories and analyze them to identify the types of responses that are successful. Maybe someone reading this will get the idea and do that for a Masters' thesis or Doctoral disertation someday.

[AliRae]

We have an anesthesiologist who is notorious for his bad attitude. One day, I got a post-op neck biopsy back from the OR. As they rolled her into the room, the anesthesiologist's first words were "I hate the way you people set up your monitors; you always do it wrong." I didn't respond since I was getting my patient settled. He went on "Look, I need to show you how this is totally wrong." I had the tram in my hand to connect her to the central monitor, and this guy tried to take it from me, just to show me what "you people" were doing wrong!

I held onto the tram, and firmly said to him "I'm sorry. Sally is my priority right now. Once I get her settled and you've given report, I'd be happy to discuss the monitor with you. Until then, let go of my equipment." The look on his face was priceless.

I figured it was over, but then he started to walk away without giving report. I called him back and told him that, per policy, he was to talk to an attending or NP. He starting muttering about "you people always making trouble" and "I had the same problem just last week with you people." I smiled wide as I reminded him that I was the one, just last week, who had had this same problem with him, and that, no, the policy hadn't changed since then.

I've never had a problem with him since. He actually smiled and said hello last time I saw him.