What shall I do?

Nurses General Nursing

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I got yelled at by a Doc for the first time this past week.

Here is what happened. We were just out of report and I was headed down the hall to assess patients. Went past a room and the aid told me that the doctor had gone into my patients room. I wanted to go in because I usually make rounds with my doctors. The aid had been filling waters and asked me to take it in the room for the patient.

My hands were full, water in one, my notes, stethoscope and a med for the patient in the other. I walked in without knocking. When I got in the room the doctor was looking at the patient's feet and didn't see me. When she noticed me she yelled, "CANT YOU KNOCK?" I was caught off guard and really wasn't sure she was talking to me. She shouted again " I ASKED YOU CAN'T YOU KNOCK"

I didn't want to make a bigger scene in front of the patient but at the same time I didn't want to roll over and kiss her butt. I said (in a flat tone and calmly) "Well I suppose I could" and looked her in the eye (careful not to show any expression). The doctor glared at me and pointed to the door. I looked at her and she said "GET OUT" I said "I am her nurse" she said " I SAID GET OUT" I walked out and if it hadn't been for what happened next I would have just wrote it off.

As I walked out I heard the doctor saying something about

"Damn male nurses". I went back to the nurse's station and told my supervisor to expect the doctor to complain about me. The doctor went to my supervisor and said "that GUY! Walked in the room without knocking" my supervisor told her "we all need to work on that but he is her nurse not just some guy" The patient later requested a female nurse (the first time this has ever happened to me).

Some people have suggested I make an incident report so that I have documentation if it gets worse. I don't know if I should. To me it was obvious that the problem wasn't really my not knocking but my gender. If it weren't for that fact I wouldn't think of it but now I wonder if this is an indication of the way this doctor will treat me.

This was my first experience with this doctor. If she continues to tell her patients not to accept a male nurse it could really make my job hard not to mention that she would be giving male nurses a bad rap.

Just think of how the patient must have thought of me and male nurses in general. Her doctor (who I'm sure she trusts) protected her from the evil male nurse and then told her not to let male nurses care for her.

I'm not sure what to do. I hope that this doctor will get to know me and see that I'm a good nurse. However, if she keeps treating me like this and telling people not to let me be their nurse or tries hard enough to make trouble for me Id like to have as much documentation as possible.

i would report her by all means! that was very unprofessional on her part. that is my one weak spot is being treated disrespectful by another supposed professional. I had a doctor throw a chart at me once. he was lucky there were several nurses around to keep me away from him. it worked out pretty well i reported him and my coworkers supported me. I insisted he appologize in writing and in front of everyone present or i would get a lawyer. he did it and we never had another problem out of him.

well good luck with your dilemma let us know how it goes.

i would never enter a patient's room unannounced. even if your hands are full (and they usually are), you still have a mouth. i always announce when i am entering a room. just walking in with no explanation can startle the patients.....sounds like that's what happened with the doctor. you probably startled her.

NUP, i wouldnt waste my time dragging her aside for a little chit chat .... i wouldnt waste my breath on the pathetic person ... ppl like her wouldnt give you the time of day anyway ... sheer arrogance .... personally , i think your best bet is to write the cow up ..... she will learn soon enough that ppl will not tolerate her crap .....

mm in the meantime ... id be inclined to give the evil eye n just be plain obnoxious back ..... this tho ... is me!! :p ..... probably shouldnt even bother with that as it is rather petty and would have no impact anyway as she sounds so into herself and so full of her own importance ... ciao :cool:

Write her up if you like. But be aware she can also write you up for barging into a patient's room, unannounced....

I have always thought on a tit for tat situation like this it is best to embarrass the doc immediately in front of the patient in a professional manner of course. I remember an incident as a new grad where an internist started hollering and questioning the difference in bp in the leg vs arm, and made a real scene. The patient looked at me like I was the idiot. I was totally embarrassed and shocked anyone could be so unprofessional.

It really bothered me, so I reheorificed a proper response assuming it would happen again... and it did...with the same doc.

My response:

Take 2 steps backward and in an Asian type manuver with hands clasped in a prayer type position and said "o yes o Holy Doctor! Since you can obviously walk on water it will be easy for you to meet me at the nurse's station after we are finished. My presence here is to forward the health of Mr. Smith and my job requires that I do much of the heavy lifting, I was unaware that I would also be coerced into a demonstration of my leadership qualities and mentor physicians who missed out on breast feeding"

It's worked twice

Another one was to pursue what I was doing and look eye to eye and say "My Job description does not include having to deal with small minds" smile, and keep on working!

Mario's humble pie

There is this nurse at my unit who always looks mean at me. When I arrive at 7, this RN is just coming off graveyard. I say good morning to everyone I see, but this RN turns her face and frowns like I just reminded her of an impending doom. Very mean, and only to me. She'll smile and be gay with all the women nurses.

Anyway, today was no exception. Same mean look...same uneasy feeling....like she wants to kill me. In the blink of an eye, I signed on to a terminal, (she saw me) then she walked away quickly and by the time she walked back to the nurses station, I had already signed off and started collecting PT data from the board and some male doctor had come to the unit and signed on, and had moved to get a chart or something.

Mean nurse, thinking I left the computer signed in, exclaims loudly, "who is at this computer!?" The doctor said he was, and then proceeded to scold mean nurse for her tone of voice in the morning.

I often wonder how I would be received if I had the authority to enforce decent behavior on morning staff that look and act like death warmed over. :-)

Specializes in correctional, psych, ICU, CCU, ER.

I agree. Write her up. Who in the heck does she think she is?? What she did is sexual harassment. Wonder how she'd like it if you said, "Damn women docs>>>" and told the pt to change doctors??? Do not stand for it. I'm sure your hospital has a policy about sexual harrassment-find it, then quote it in your report, mention the patient by name and her roommate, if she had one.

As for knocking...well I guess you could have kicked the door with a spare foot since your hands were occupied.

she's an a$$. write her up! man, and they have hosp. admin's and doc's on the tv c/o that there's a nursing shortage! golly gee, gomer i wonder why no one would want to be tx'd like this. she sounds like she doesn't like men or nurses period. she's probably a real b!thch to the female nurses too. in this day and age.OUTRAGEOUS!!!

Originally posted by mattsmom81

I hear what you're saying Dr. Kate. But the reality is nurses work in hostile workplaces every day...at least in my area.

Yes, we can write docs up. I have done so ....there are often some negative consequences so be aware of that.....

The only time I have seen nurses 'win' and really positively effect the behavior of a nasty abusive doc is:

1) deal with them face to face and find common ground. You can have a witness with you....choose a highly respected nurse. I always start here ... 8 out of 10 times I see SOME positive results.

2) do a 'group write up' with as many staff members you can documenting incidents of bad behavior of this doc. Numbers count....as if it's just one complaining, it's easy to railroad that 'one'.

Docs CAN act very childishly and vindictively when they are written up...and nurses can come out losers unless they have a lot of support and witnesses to help them.

I hope to see things changing soon re: abusive, hostile environments in the hospital. I'm glad to see policies springing up and hotlines for reporting of incidents at some facilities. Has anyone seen positive results from these?

In my agency travels over the past 15 years 'doc abuse with the NURSE blamed' seems to be a common problem ...in my metro area anyway. :(

How sad....we just had a surgeon come into our ER and act do badly that a new nurse up and quit...l think it was her first day...guess what?????....this DR. God had a ''come to Jesus'' meetin with some of our ER docs...and was basically told....''we can replace Dr's easier than we can replace nurses.''..woohoo...who'd a thought it?......this happens primarily cause we allow it......LR

originally posted by soundslikesirens

i would never enter a patient's room unannounced. even if your hands are full (and they usually are), you still have a mouth. i always announce when i am entering a room. just walking in with no explanation can startle the patients.....sounds like that's what happened with the doctor. you probably startled her.

while this is true, sirens, the fact is that this doc's response was still unprofessional and disproportionate to the situation. screaming not once, but 3 times, and that nasty muttered comment as dayray left--at that point, she had had several moments to recover her poise and was apparently unable to do so. if she is really so easily startled or surprised into unprofessional behavior, then she doesn't have any business going into any field other than pathology!

write her up specifically for the "male nurses" comment, distribute it generously, and keep a copy for yourself. i would also start keeping a detailed log if there are any other future occurrences--you may need it someday to prove "hostile work environment."

but the reality is nurses work in hostile workplaces every day...at least in my area.
i, too, found this comment profoundly disturbing. mattsmom--can you explain what you mean--and why the nurses put up with it?

I have a friend that I value much, she has been a nurse for 37 years +++ and her attitude and secret to me is to stand the ground in the moment when you see it fit.........

but otherwise it is the nature of the game..........

I KNOW WE ALL WISH IT WAS MORE PRIM AND PROPER AND MORE SCIENTFICIC for our aim.........

but her years of experience to me lends way too' much credence to her claim

she has been my stalwarth friend.........

and in her no variability bends...............

so now I forgot once what i intend.....

so micro ends...........

Write her up and forward a copy to HR. Most companies (what hospitals are becomming!) have sexual harrasment policies. Comments like "That male nurse"...along with her indiscriminate candor, deserves to be addressed at all angles!

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