What MD speciality do you find the most difficult to work with?

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in all things maternity.

Reading through the posts this morning I read something about cardiologists being hard to work with. For most of my nursing career I have worked with obstetricians and gynecologists and find the majority of them easy to work with. The specialist group I loath working with are orthopedic surgeons. In the few years I worked on a general med surg unit and had to deal with these guys I found them very hard to work with. The two worst of the worst would stand in the hall and bellow at nurses and one of them would stand right outside of pts rooms and very loudly scream at nurses about how "undesirable" the pt was and how he would never "get paid a dime for taking care of such trash." Also, he would scream and swear at me each time I called him and once he let the phone ring over 50 times....I can be persistent when I need to...before he answered the phone with "what the hell do you want now!"

Am I being skewed on my perception of ortho docs because of my bad experiences with them?

Who are your favorite and least favorite types of docs to work with? Just curious!

:balloons:

My favorite kinds are the ones who respect the staff who watches over their patients. The ones who remember how to say, and often say, thank you. The ones who know that nurses and CNA's are the eyes, ears, and hands of the hospital. The ones that understand that you don't like to call at 2 a.m. and wouldn't if it wasn't necessary. The ones who understand that team includes them, doesn't make them the outsider ruling over their domain. I especially like the ones who speak with respect and treat others with some semblance of dignity. The ones that remember everyone has a bad day now and then. The ones the remember your name or at least take a half a second to look at your name badge as opposed to calling you lady or nurse. The ones who don't act surprised that you have done ALL the things asked of you without complaint. The ones who return your call within a reasonable amount of time, especially the ones deemed 911. The ones that talk to you and not AT you. The ones who realize that although tough as nails on the outside, people DO have feelings. My favorite of all are the ones that at least TRY to live up to any of the above. The ones that apologize when they are rude or own up to their mistakes.

Everyone else falls in the I don't like category!. LOL

I would like to add that I am still on an ongoing search for such physicians. If you or anyone you know has seen some, even one, please feel free to contact me so that I can rush by and take a snapshot. These docs can be slippery.....

MERRY CHRISTMAS>

Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.

Orthopedic Surgeons are usually so pompous

Specializes in ED, ICU, Heme/Onc.
Reading through the posts this morning I read something about cardiologists being hard to work with. For most of my nursing career I have worked with obstetricians and gynecologists and find the majority of them easy to work with. The specialist group I loath working with are orthopedic surgeons. In the few years I worked on a general med surg unit and had to deal with these guys I found them very hard to work with. The two worst of the worst would stand in the hall and bellow at nurses and one of them would stand right outside of pts rooms and very loudly scream at nurses about how "undesirable" the pt was and how he would never "get paid a dime for taking care of such trash." Also, he would scream and swear at me each time I called him and once he let the phone ring over 50 times....I can be persistent when I need to...before he answered the phone with "what the hell do you want now!"

Am I being skewed on my perception of ortho docs because of my bad experiences with them?

Who are your favorite and least favorite types of docs to work with? Just curious!

:balloons:

I think like in all professions, you are going to get a cross section of personalities. In my hospital, there is one OB/GYN where I make myself scarce when she comes down to examine a patient - except if the patient is mine, then I keep it brief, because she is just not nice. And there's that ortho surgery doc who is just a pleasant person who will come through Fast Track when he's not busy to chat with the NPs and PAs and look at the xrays to see if anything "interesting" is going on.

I don't think it goes by specialty - but that's just been my experience.

Blee

I agree; just like in any group, you're going to find good and bad.

The surgeons were a bit much. For some reason, the GI docs were out of their minds too.

Our neurosurgeons are the worst although our neurosurgery fellow is the best! You have your good and bad in all specialties, but typically the bad is the only one that gets mentioned.

I agree that there are good and bad in each - but the two docs I really detested were both surgeons.

I loved the cardiologists I worked with!

Specializes in Med-Surg/Peds/O.R./Legal/cardiology.

Surgeons of any sort can be difficult to work with. I agree that a lot (not all) orthopaedic surgeons are rather pompous. Never figured out why that is... In the O.R., they tend to become frustrated more easily than your average bear. I guess orthopaedics is SO individualized and you can never be FULLY prepared for what you may encounter. No excuse for some of their attitudes, though (ie: grabbing, cursing, and throwing heavy instruments)

ebear

Orthopedic Surgeons are usually so pompous

Really? Our nurses love us.

The medical nurses . . . maybe not so much. :)

Specializes in Med-Surg/Peds/O.R./Legal/cardiology.

Y'all must be an awesome group then! Now, lighten up on the medical nurses, doc! :lol2:

Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

I always found surgeons the hardest to deal with........especially orthopods and neurosurgeons! I'm not intimidated by them---I figure they put their pants on one leg at a time and are made pretty much the same as the rest of us, so that God-complex stuff doesn't really impress me---but they can be exceedingly nasty when things don't go their way.

By contrast, I love hospitalists, and overall, the internal med docs in my area are fantastic. Most of them treat us nurses as if we actually have a brain, and there is no quicker route to my good graces than for an MD to ask ME what I want for the patient.;)

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