How do you handle Physicians Bad Attitudes?

Nurses General Nursing

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I have been working in med surg for a while now, and we have a Physician who is notorious for being demeaning to nursing while on shift. This is frustrating but bearable on medsurg because there are other nurses around as witnesses, however I am soon to be relocated to ER, and this doc rotates there on weekends and there is only one nurse on. I have heard horror stories about this doc, and I have seen him in action.

My question is how do you handle doctors like this, who make it a point to go out of thier way to insult and demean you in front of patients. I am a relatively new nurse and while I have a great respect for Physicians and thier knowledge base, I refuse to be treated with disrespect...how do I deal with this when I first move down there and he starts in on me....I dont want to wait until it has been going on for 6 months to do something about it, but I want to be professional too. How do I hold my ground??

Specializes in ER/AMS/OPD/UC.

Thank you for all your advice! This Dr on the med/surg floor is very passive aggressive, he complains about everything and writes order like, give pt a robe so that he can ambulate halls, or take accurate o2 stat with good pulse tracing, etc. He tells the nurses they have no clue what is physiologically going on with a pt. It is very frustrating. He treats us like we are very stupid, this goes for all nurses no one individually. The ER nurse who worked with him wrote him up numerous times with no results, and she ended up leaving the floor and going to CCU. So I know he will start in on me but I want to stand my ground. While on med surg he started in one me one day and I stood my ground, in front of my manager....he did not respond to me but but wrote one of those bogus doctors orders that I felt was very insulting.

I just believe that when no one is around it will be a different story..

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Specializes in ER/AMS/OPD/UC.

Sue-Bee,

I just want to understand when you say there is nothing wrong with going back to school and getting out of the proffession...

If I understand you correctly then I will say I went to school to become a nurse not a doctor, I do not claim to have a doctors knowledge, and have respect for thier knowledge, but I wanted to be a nurse.

I do not think we as nurses have to have Masters degrees to get respect.

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Well first of all and for most keep it professional and if continues and you have to call him for orders well 3 am calling for supp. or tylenol and then calling back 15 min later to confirm and then 30 to 45 min later to make sure works all the time Yes I had the same problem with a Dr and well needless to say he is the nicest person he even remembers us for Nurses Week we all got white roses and gift certificates for dinner at a very nice place

Good luck

this was too funny! But you gotta do what works, that's for sure!!!

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.

This ranting can only occur if you allow it. Walk away, cut him off, whatever it takes.

As long as the patient's not crashing, I'd say - to that patient - "I'll be back shortly" and walk away. One of 3 things will happen. 1) the doc will follow you and you can speak with him/her out of earshot of the patient 2) the doc will stop talking and you can address it later 3) the doc will continue ranting to the patient, which only makes him/her look like a jerk.

Someone can only do it to you if you take it.

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Specializes in Med Surg.
it's amazing how nurses will wait until they get the doctor alone to confront them about bad behavior in front of a patient. i say correct them in front of the patient, otherwise the patient walks away thinking nurses are real door mats.

also, i find it interesting how nurses act tough, like "he/she would only do that to me once." in all my years all i have ever seen is nurses talking dirt, but not correcting the problem, but taking their hurt feelings and anger out on each other.

there is nothing wrong with returning to college and getting out of nursing, because the only way doctors and administration will learn their lesson is when it really hurts. there is no need to work in a toxic work environment, as it will affect your mental and physical health.

i don't correct the doctor in front of the patient because that's not in the patient's best interest. he/she is sick enough to be in acute care and i'd rather he think i'm a doormat than unprofessional enough to argue with his md in front of him.

i guess the majority of nurses you work with talk dirt, but trust me, i don't. if i still cried in the bathroom every time an md pissed me off, i wouldn't be nursing any more. now, i do fix the problem, and new residents may talk smack to me once, but they don't do it twice. if they continue to try, i write them off for what they are, and limit my contact with them. eventually they learn that i don't give a rat's behind about their ego, just how they care for my patients.

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Specializes in ER/AMS/OPD/UC.

Well, this is a very old thread but thought I would give an update. After doing my training in a level 2 er for six weeks I came back to work in the ER in my little rural ER and I had a run in with this same doc.

I was recieving a patient from EMS who supossedly had a seizure possible OD and ETOH. In the process of recieving this patient who was very aggressive and beligerant on the way to my ER, we were transfering her from the litter onto my stretcher when her non rebreather came of, in the process of transfering trying to keep it on while getting hit by the patient...(the doc at the end of the stretcher with his back to me and getting report from EMS only one EMS personell helping me...I ask for help in restraining the pt, and the doc turns around and says in front of EMS, god and everybody that I was assaulting the pt.

In disbelief I immediately ask the doc.."are you saying I am assaulting the pt?"

Dumb question I know.....but he says yes, You are assaulting that patient so stop it. Of course the patient is still slamming me, literally freaking out on the stretcher..and I literally back up from the patient and start attending to my other patients who were there. I was absolutely furious, but kept my composure. I called another nurse to care for that pt...the doc was going off shift so I did not have to deal with him later that night...however he went to my supervisor before I left and told him if I wrote him up he would take it to the Attorney General....

I told my manager I was in the right, and not assaultive. I could have persued the issue, but I decided that it would be in my best intrest to take him aside and talk to him.

The talk went well and he told me it was the wrong thing to say...and our working relationship since then has been a good one...of course that can always change, but right now it is good.

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.
I decided that it would be in my best intrest to take him aside and talk to him.

The talk went well and he told me it was the wrong thing to say...and our working relationship since then has been a good one...of course that can always change, but right now it is good.

If you're satisfied that your "working relationship" with this doc has improved, and you don't feel like you're being played like a deck of cards, then more power to you. I hope that your "improved working relationship" fares well the next time that things aren't going exactly to plan with a patient that the two of you are taking care of.

All I can say is that I would have approached this differently.

Good luck to you.

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Specializes in ER/AMS/OPD/UC.

He will be leaving in a couple of months had already put in his notice prior to our "event". This is one of the reasons I didnt persue the issue...since he is the only doc on weekends...I trust him as far as I can throw him.

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