Hostile work environment - Violent Doctor

[Summer70]

I have come across a delema at work that I have not had experience with. I've been an employee of my hospital a long time...with the last 10 yrs as an RN. We had an incident recently where during a Cesarean Section the Physician put his hands on our Scrub Tech in anger and pushed him away from the field saying "get the **** out of my OR" after the Doctor was asked/reminded that what he was doing was "nonsterile/unsafe" The baby was saftely delivered and the patient stable before this occured. This particular doctor likes to make our OR environment "intense" and it is uncomforable and he acts like a bully. Now there are several of us (techs and RNs) that feel that if he put hands on an employee in anger once he will do it again. Risk Management was involved, but there doesn't seem to be any consequences for his actions as he still has a bullying attitude. The tech & doctor are male...could this be the reason that it isn't taken more seriously?

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Summer

[Ellian]

He's creating an hostile work environment. That's illegal and if he's persisting after the assault incident one is left to assume that he's supported by the administration. It's time to seek legal counsel.

[SeenitallRN]

In my almost 30 years of nursing I have seen a doctor punch a nurse, seen instruments get thrown at other staff, violent verbal outbursts....you name it. I think we all have had these experiences. Truly bad doctors can be hard to get rid of but it can be done. But remember, if the person who was assaulted is satisfied with the outcome, that is really all that matters. Some action will have been taken but you may never know exactly what that was. And please don't judge a doctors entire career on one mistake. We all make mistakes. I've made some doozies myself. I'm sure this physician has done good things too. I have a strong personality, I would have no problem speaking with the physician and telling him his behavior made me uncomfortable. I have told doctors before that they were being jerks and most of the time they will apologize and your relationship will get better. If enough cooling off time has taken place, ask your director to go over the incident with all involved. It might help.

[GaleSRN, BSN, RN]

I went to the Medical Board about a Cardiac surgeon who was being abusive in the OR. His behavior stopped. This should be reported and his behavior should not be tolerated. It is the responsibility of the Chief of Surgery and ultimately the Chief Medical officer of the hospital to insure that you are in a safe environment.

[Txldy]

The question of nursing unions is the item I addressed. I was a nurse in Texas. If you said nurse and union on the same sentence, hospitals looked HARD for a way to fire you, and even find a way to make it as hard as possible to get another job in town.

[dnptobe20]

Txldy said:

The question of nursing unions is the item I addressed. I was a nurse in Texas. If you said nurse and union on the same sentence, hospitals looked HARD for a way to fire you, and even find a way to make it as hard as possible to get another job in town.

Because said hospitals know the power of nurse unions. Administrators and hospital execs naturally avoid unions like the plague. I don't know if the hospital you worked at was unionized.

My first reaction to this story was that this would be a rare occurrence where I work because the union would definitely do due diligence to make sure the nurse feels safe, is taken care of and the surgeon pays for his actions. And our managers are actually also great in responding to situations like this...sometimes even for rude exchanges we have had nurses do a sit-down with the doctor in question, the nursing director and medical director to squash it out.

I really hope that this doc turns their violent and aggressive attitude around pronto. People need to be filing occurrence reports daily!

[kalevra, BSN, RN]

Usually the Physician gets a very "stern talking" to and usually this kind of behavior stops. We have had doctors make unwanted "attentions".

[Dexterosa]

Not sure if I am right, but I think it is mainly because people does not stick together. Some people think that if they will "smartly" put up with it, they will progress :) they will have less issues. Others will want to let the others to take a risk and do the fight so they can only harvest the sweet fruits of others sacrifices. Some will be malicious. Some will be weak. Other people will have other reasons.

[bellabellabijou]

If ANY doctor put his/her hands on me, I'm calling 911 and I'm filing charges of assault. And if my hospital doesn't back me up I'm filing a law suit against the hospital for creating a dangerous and abusive work environment that allowed me to be assaulted. And then I'm filing a lawsuit against the doctor for me having to leave that abusive job and losing money and work time.

Let's see how long this BS continues.

[Guest849204]

If you or anyone else really feel unsafe or you have a legitimate concern that patient safety is at risk, then definitely say something as its your right and you yourself have an obligation to protect current and future patients.

That said, make sure no one is just mad at the doctor and angry that he didn't seem to get in trouble. No one knows what disciplinary actions were taken or what he's got going on in his life. Working in a hospital is stressful and we are just human. That's not to say you all should be his punching bag, but I personally would try to maintain some level of understanding.

Also, you should be able to speak with HR confidentially or "off the record" if you want to discuss an incident without filing an official report and then you can decided what to do from there.

[BackinthedayRN]

It is the responsibility of the Medical Staff President to take care of this matter so you will probably not hear what transpired. The chain of command once again must be followed so keep reporting future problems with this guy. He will only respond to peer pressure. Hopefully the medical staff leadership is strong. They do not want nursing staff upset with them because of one miserable cuss.

[ryrn59]

Just got same experience with horrible Doctors. Why do these doctors act like kings? What recourse do we have? Can we report them to CMS? DOH? Check your facility maybe there is a hotline where you can report anonymously. My experience has been that the nurse is at fault most of the time, even if it's otherwise.

[Hancock330]

One more comment on this thread. If you are a nurse at an institution where there are medical students, interns, or residents providing patient care, one of YOUR responsibilities is to "bring them up right". Do NOT let them get away with being routinely rude, acting out, or being less that appropriately careful and caring of your patients. Set limits. Offer to help them if they'll let you. Bring to their attention ways they can stay out of trouble. Let them learn the hard way only if they insist on doing so.

Ignore them if they're rude to you unless it would endanger a patient. Remind them to say please and thank you. Reward the behaviors you approve of and try to assure any inappropriate behaviors they exhibit don't work. These people are intelligent, even when they lack common sense and behave foolishly. Behaviors that don't work -- that get them ignored -- will change. But if they're allowed to develop bad habits future nurses will have a much harder time getting them to change.

So, work together and bring them up right.