I can barely even breathe I am just outraged and upset and everything else. I shadowed in ob/gyn (my choice for working after graduation, if I am so lucky) and lucked out shadowing an amazing team of nurses. Its a big downtown hospital, very busy. Anyway, the backstory is that a first time mom was getting in induction, did not like her perinatologist, who is known to frankly be a big jerk and is legendary for being really rude, disruptive and awful to the nurses, paitents, other drs (and I mean other dr's saying they refuse to work with this dr anymore or refer their perinatologist cases onwards).
SO,the patient was literally crying to not have to see dr ------- again, and the nurse said she had no choice but would be there thru it all, helping and coaching (it was really amazing to see her caring bedside manner!)
Etc etc I ASSUME the nurse waited til the last minute to call the dr, the high risk dr whizzes in, I should say.. STORMS IN SCREAMING "wHO IS HAVING A BABY AND HOW DARE YOU NOT TELL ME"
does not say or look at the patient, who bursts into huge sobbing tears.
at this particular hospital, they handle lots of serious high risk (which this patient was not, just had the misfortune of selecting this dr by accident) so in comes the hi risk patient team.
I at this point am behind the nurse (out of the way yet involved by looking) when the dr stormed in slamming stuff. Literally screaming.
delivery happens. Perfect delivery, mom and baby fine, great.
Dr then proceeds to stitch up the patient, the dr is still VERY IRATE and yells at the nurse who is holding a sponge says "Give it to me then if you cant hold it right" the nurse sarcastically says "ok dr X, I am gonna tell you right now I wont take this tonite"
and here is where I come in.
The dr takes the SPONGE filled with blood out of her hands and throws it down, BUT THE SPONGE HITS ME IN THE ARM and splashes BLOOD ON ME
EVERYONE started arguing. The patient was crying again, thinking something was happening to HER
I am STUNNED.
no one apologized and the dr didnt even LOOK at me. The other nurses were horrorfied on my behalf. I do NOT know what to do.
Maybe nursing is NOT for me. This is not how another human should be treated. And get this, the PATIENT who just had a baby and getting stiched up says "EXCUSE ME, if you want to argue you do it outside of THIS ROOM, do you understand me?"
she was the coolest out of them all.
If this is how high flying peri's treat their nurses , this is not my field, I refuse to be talked to like this and I refuse to have wet fresh blood flung at me.
I quit. This is enough. I am switching to OT school. Done
Well it went better than anticipated. I told her that what she did was unprofessional and embarassing. She said she has been working long nites on call etc etc. I said it seems her reputation is getting a bit murky from this type of thing and she was pretty quiet while she listened to me. Anyway, I said its probably a classic case of boundary issue with some burnt out thrown in etc. All is well and you will not believe this. Offered me a job at/with her practice. I said "thats nice of you and appreciated, thats not the direction I am going in right now but I do appreciate that"
as she liked my direct style. Anyway I did not have to throw in the husband part as did not want to and really want to keep tha under my hat as it is. I dont need that against me in school.
Well it went better than anticipated. I told her that what she did was unprofessional and embarassing. She said she has been working long nites on call etc etc. I said it seems her reputation is getting a bit murky from this type of thing and she was pretty quiet while she listened to me. Anyway, I said its probably a classic case of boundary issue with some burnt out thrown in etc. All is well and you will not believe this. Offered me a job at/with her practice. I said "thats nice of you and appreciated, thats not the direction I am going in right now but I do appreciate that"
as she liked my direct style. Anyway I did not have to throw in the husband part as did not want to and really want to keep tha under my hat as it is. I dont need that against me in school.
cheers!
Did she even apologize? What makes you think she is going to change her behavior? What's to say she is not going to continue to behave inappropriately? Were there hospital administrators at the meeting? Was there anything to make you believe she is going to improve?
From the description above, I don't see any evidence that things are going to improve for the nurses. The OP will move on ... and the doctor will continue to behave badly.
Good for you for standing up for yourself!! There is no reason to accept being treated like this just because somebody has MD after their name. Maybe when more nurses start standing up and refuse to accept this type of behavior they will get the message and start acting like other people are human and not dirt on the bottom of their shoes.
What I want to know is: CAN we stand up for ourselves? I have read alot of posts on this forum about abusive behavior from patients, their families, doctors, and even other nurses. Some of the nurses on here indicate that abuse is not tolerated at their place of work - that sometimes charges are filed (if there is assault/battery) or doctors are disciplined, etc. if they have good management. But it doesn't sound like it's always that way. It's real easy to say that we shouldn't put up with it, and find another job if we have to. But if you're worried about having any job at all, then what? 'Cause, believe me, I worry ALOT about having a job when I graduate. I would love to stand up for myself if I am assaulted in any way. But how often are you backed up by management?
Its a complex issue that goes down many paths, we are adults and need somewhat of a thick skin, I can tolerate quite a bit of verbal abuse if I *HAVE* to.
Now what I *HAVE* to tolerate from a patient is different then what I have to tolerate from a coworker or another professional. A patient may be emotionally disturbed, or just a PIA and they need to be cared for. If a doc is behaving poorly in a verbal manor, we can discuss that once outside the patient room as I have no problem explaining that I am not their verbal punching bag. This does not always need to be a managment issue, its like the kid that only acts up with certian people because they know they can get away with it.
Now moving up the scale to doc throwing / swining things ect.
This becomes battery, if it is any blood or body fluid soaked items this ups the threat level as you don't know if it contains HIV or HEP B or any other assorted baddies. This could be considered assualt with a deadly weapon....or at least assault with a dangerous instrument or aggravated battery. If faced with any of these situations I will do what is necessary to stop the above assault/battery. If I can stop it verbally....great, if items continue to fly and I feel like I am in danger I will physically stop it and then let the police deal with it.
The same way I would not allow a coworker to stand around an throw tools at me in my previous profession, I will not stand around and let a doc throw his tools at me.
If nursing was largely a male profession I doubt this would be the problem that it is now.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
John-- yeah- I thought it was battery, too. Thanks for clarifying. Blood-soaked anything being thrown raises it to a whole 'nother level.
Greenykilt - I like your style. . . way to go! Triple marks for not playing the status card with regards to your husband's employment there as an MD. .most people start name-dropping as their first strategy.
I am waiting for the day when a doctor throws something an instrument or bloody object at me or someone else. Why? Because after reading all these sorts of posts on allnurses I have an action plan. None of this 'try and to de-esculate crap. You throw something at me, prepare to be dealt with very harshly. As the CN I'm responible to maintain personal safety to my patient and staff. An out of control surgoen is not safe to operate and intimidated staff are not going to be focused on the job.
So heres what I'd do:
1. Remove instrument/objects immediately from them. Unless there is emergency bleeding that needs to be fixed right now they will not get another instrument if I'm scrubbed. If I'm circulating I'll contaminate the whole set up and yes even push it out the door away from them. We can always get another sterile set up if we have to and x-ray. This will take time but I am not going to allow someone to be hurt because a surgeon can't handle themselves.
2. Call a code black (personal threat). Get security in there immediatley.
3. If it's a junior surgeon get the senior registrar in to finish the case. If it's a consultant then call the head of surgery in to finish the case.
4. Incident report
5. Report this as a risk to the hospital's risk management department. Because sometimes incident reports get swept under the rug.
6. Inform my nursing union and get them involved.
7. If someone has been physically harmed file a police report.
8. Refuse to work with this person again until every person in the room has had a letter of apology and they have undergone some sort of behavioural management.
This is no longer the dark ages. Surgeons cannot get away with this crap anymore. Any nurse who tolerates it or condones it is enabling this behaviour.
Well done OP for confronting them. This may not stop their behaviour but if you decide to become a nurse you'll be one of those who will be respected.
I am waiting for the day when a doctor throws something an instrument or bloody object at me or someone else. Why? Because after reading all these sorts of posts on allnurses I have an action plan. None of this 'try and to de-esculate crap. You throw something at me, prepare to be dealt with very harshly. As the CN I'm responible to maintain personal safety to my patient and staff. An out of control surgoen is not safe to operate and intimidated staff are not going to be focused on the job.
So heres what I'd do:
1. Remove instrument/objects immediately from them. Unless there is emergency bleeding that needs to be fixed right now they will not get another instrument if I'm scrubbed. If I'm circulating I'll contaminate the whole set up and yes even push it out the door away from them. We can always get another sterile set up if we have to and x-ray. This will take time but I am not going to allow someone to be hurt because a surgeon can't handle themselves.
2. Call a code black (personal threat). Get security in there immediatley.
3. If it's a junior surgeon get the senior registrar in to finish the case. If it's a consultant then call the head of surgery in to finish the case.
4. Incident report
5. Report this as a risk to the hospital's risk management department. Because sometimes incident reports get swept under the rug.
6. Inform my nursing union and get them involved.
7. If someone has been physically harmed file a police report.
8. Refuse to work with this person again until every person in the room has had a letter of apology and they have undergone some sort of behavioural management.
This is no longer the dark ages. Surgeons cannot get away with this crap anymore. Any nurse who tolerates it or condones it is enabling this behaviour.
Well done OP for confronting them. This may not stop their behaviour but if you decide to become a nurse you'll be one of those who will be respected.
I sure hope I get to work for someone like you someday! It's hard to feel like you can stand up to abuse if you're not being backed up and have to worry about getting fired.
Its a complex issue that goes down many paths, we are adults and need somewhat of a thick skin, I can tolerate quite a bit of verbal abuse if I *HAVE* to.
Now what I *HAVE* to tolerate from a patient is different then what I have to tolerate from a coworker or another professional. A patient may be emotionally disturbed, or just a PIA and they need to be cared for. If a doc is behaving poorly in a verbal manor, we can discuss that once outside the patient room as I have no problem explaining that I am not their verbal punching bag. This does not always need to be a managment issue, its like the kid that only acts up with certian people because they know they can get away with it.
Now moving up the scale to doc throwing / swining things ect.
This becomes battery, if it is any blood or body fluid soaked items this ups the threat level as you don't know if it contains HIV or HEP B or any other assorted baddies. This could be considered assualt with a deadly weapon....or at least assault with a dangerous instrument or aggravated battery. If faced with any of these situations I will do what is necessary to stop the above assault/battery. If I can stop it verbally....great, if items continue to fly and I feel like I am in danger I will physically stop it and then let the police deal with it.
The same way I would not allow a coworker to stand around an throw tools at me in my previous profession, I will not stand around and let a doc throw his tools at me.
If nursing was largely a male profession I doubt this would be the problem that it is now.
Good post. I just live in a very conservative area, and I don't know if we could get fired for standing up to the almighty M.D. I agree that there are some things we just have to take, if a patient is confused, sick, etc. I'm not that big a baby. But I figured that dealing with abusive co-workers is something we just have to put up with. I sure hope not!
DolceVita, ADN, BSN, RN
1,565 Posts
Gosh I hope it went OK. Sounds like you have your wits about you.