How do you deal with a doctor who sweared on you over the phone?

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Ok I work home health care and usually I communicate with doctors via phone.Today a certain doctor swore at me (this is the first time I ever spoke with him he told me "Get your a.s.s over here and then also he said are you stupid or something.I was in shock by the way he had spoken to me.

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Im sorry I meant swore at me.

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Specializes in Primary Care Nursing.

Swear back.

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Ok I work home health care and usually I communicate with doctors via phone.Today a certain doctor swore at me (this is the first time I ever spoke with him he told me "Get your a.s.s over here and then also he said are you stupid or something.I was in shock by the way he had spoken to me.

I would just be direct and say "I don't appreciate being spoken to that way."

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Swear back.

I'm a new nurse and I dont have too much experience (started working in a home health care few months ago).This doctor wanted me to be present at the time he saw the patient to translate (I'm fluent in another language but didnt let me know in advance and then called me and expected me to fly down there!!!

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Yeah, we get this scenario in class. Swear back. Hang up. Beat the mic on the table and bust his ear drum out. Eff him. You don't work for them. You work for an agency. Run some scenarios in your mind to get them back and leave them speechless. Ignore it and move on. Document it. Call his wife and tell her he's having an affair. There are any number of options out there. It's your call as to what level you'd take it to.

I personally push back when pushed. It's the cop in me. I'm not putting up with that garbage. I've dealt enough with people spitting at me and yelling at me. I'm sure as heck not taking it from some geek in a lab coat. Yeah, I know they say nurses get it from patients, especially the kind I like in the ER, but not from a doctor, nurse, or any other person on my side of the healthcare fence and even very little from a patient.

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Specializes in ER, ICU.

I would have said "I'm sorry but I don't think profanity is appropriate in the workplace, and no, I don't think I am stupid". I know it is hard to think straight when you get slammed like that. I've never had that happen, but as a guy, there is a whole different dynamic with doctors. Any doctor that talks to a guy like that can't be sure he won't get punched out, and that affects their behavior a lot. Female docs are mostly friendly and nice, (perhaps again a guy thing but for different reasons.) Anyway, follow through with your boss, HR, or whomever might be appropriate to help you. If you think it was just a bad day and you can talk with the doc it might work best just to give him the opportunity to apologize. If that's clearly not going to happen, write it up. Good luck.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

I tell them that when they can talk to me as another adult, call me back and I hang up.

I will say though that in almost 20 years of nursing, this has only happened twice.

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I would just be direct and say "I don't appreciate being spoken to that way."

I was just in shock I didnt expect such primitive words from the professional doctor.Well than of course he called me again from the patient house acting like an angel using a soft voice asking me "how much more time will it take me to arrive there" What a hypocrite.Then when I arrived he was nice and all but gave me an evil eye...

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I would just be direct and say "I don't appreciate being spoken to that way."

Yeah I almost said the same exact words but I bit my tongue.

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Specializes in ER, ICU.

Is translation in your job description? In some facilities I've worked translation can only be done by employees that have been approved to do so (I won't get into the details but it is actually for good reason). In that case you could have told him you can't which would have been nice.

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I would have said "excuse me? " or " I didnt hear you" a couple of times so he had to repeat it several times. But well, I am a bit fresh. I probably would have laughed if he had repeated it. Honestly those types of people go through life so angry all the time, nothing you say will change it or have any effect other than making them misbehave more. Can you report him to the agency you work for? Try not to take it personal, he has no right to belittle you. And he doesnt even know you, so forget him! Report him and move on, just make sure you still call next time if you need him, dont be bullied into avoiding calling him if you need to.

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