Kiss the doctor's what???

JailRN · Sep 12, 2002

Can we all say, "assault and Battery". Good, now let's try another "terrorist threats" Very good class.

This MD is an a$$. If you let him treat you like this-he will, because "that's the way it's always done. Just prior to my resignation, I would PRAY that he thwer a chart at me. Then I'd own his jag, or whatever and him, too.

eltrip · Sep 12, 2002

Yes, this is abuse. It doesn't matter that we are nurses or even professionals. We are HUMANS and no human deserves to be treated this way!

I agree, document, document, document! Take care of yourself!

karenelizabeth · Sep 12, 2002

all bluff and bluster has upset soooo many nurses and Dr's.

People who yell fall into to catogries

1." I've No F***in idea what there doing so I'll take it out on you"

2. just plain rude and arigant

3. His problem is he is a perfectionist (no excuse for his behaviour though)

He used to terrify me now I handle him (he also has a very bazar sence of humour rather similar to mine this helps)

My responce now if he yells is ".......... do you want my help, if so DONT YELL"

or "be nice or you'll be doing this on your own".

Even told him to "go away and take some be nice to nurses pills" once.

Frequently now I just growl his name if I here him reving LOL He's a bl**dy good Dr who's clinical skills I have alot of trust in (if no one else can get in a canula we call him !! etc and if I had a sick baby he would be one person I would be over joyed to see) with a GSOH (if a little odd at times) it's just a pitty he's so abrupt at times

Feel for you that management dont take the situation seriously though it can make a tough job worse when you are constantly worrieng about being yelled at and get no support from above

ruthless · Sep 12, 2002

maybe pretzl - u could go in to your NM's office and go off your beam at her in the same way this idiot has done with you and after you have threatened to throw things at her...u can finish it up with a 'ooooh dear....must be having a baaaaaadddd day....musn't I???"......and see if she likes it. It is always easier to dismiss it when its not happening/affecting u. Sounds like it is not just the surgeon but also your NM who I would be reporting.

You could forward a letter to the director of surgery at your facility queiring whether this person is mentally stable enough to be acting in this position when he is outwardly threatening violence towards other staff members...GOOD LUCK

sparrow · Sep 12, 2002

This is what the Federal Gov terms a "hostile work environment" which is against the law. You need to go over your nurse manager's head - right to the Administrator and if no satisfactions there to the Labor board and a lawyer. Our Adm will NOT tolerate this kind of behavour. A surgeon who replicated this sort of behavour was asked to leave!

deespoohbear · Sep 13, 2002

I had an incident at work yesterday that reminded me of this thread. I was sitting at the NURSES' station when this young doc walks up and says "I need to sit there, I need to dictate." Now, this particular doctor finds it necessary to tie up my phone instead of using the dictophone at the main station. I responded, "what if I don't want to get up?" He just looked at me. I was telling the DON about this, and her response was "well years ago that would have been expected." Sorry, this is not 1952, it is 2002 and I will give up my seat to people I deem worthy of it (elderly, pregnant, people who looked like they need to sit down) not to some MD who thinks he is world's gift to medicine. This doctor is so arrogant he doesn't even know when he has been insulted. Hell will be in a deep freeze before I give my seat to this doctor.

While we are on the topic of doctors, how about docs who don't talk to one another? Yesterday one of the family practice docs ordered a surgical consult on for one of his patients. At 5 pm yesterday, the family practice doc's nurse calls wanting the progress notes and orders faxed to his office from the surgeon. I told the nurse that the surgeon didn't write any orders or notes, nothing. She said okay. An hour later, another nurse from the same office called and asked for the same info. I told her the same thing, nothing was written. An hour after this call, I receive one from the doctor himself wanting to know what the surgeon said. HELLO? :eek: Is anyone listening to me at that office? For the last freakin time, the surgeon didn't write anything. I don't know if they were testing me to see if they would get the same answer all three times or what, but I was getting just a tad upset. At the time the family practice doc was grilling me on the phone, the consulting surgeon came to the nurses's station and I handed him the phone and said "Talk to this guy." I think I speak fluent English, but these people weren't getting the message!!! If the stupid phone was ringing all the time, maybe I would be able to get some nursing work done and take better care of the patient. Geeesh!!!

st4304 · Sep 14, 2002

When I worked in the cath lab, two of my coworkers were floated up to ICU and helped receive a fresh AAA repair from surgery. Immediately upon arrival to the room, the anesthesiologist gave a brief report and left (our ICU recovers all patient's remaining intubated post op). Within the next few minutes, the patient became extremely unstable, and the decision was made to return him to surgery pronto. BUT in that brief span of time (literally 10 min.) the anesthesiologist had left and the on-call anesth. doc was then on duty. My two coworkers helped return the patient to the OR and then were expected to stay in the room and help until the rest of the OR team arrived. They were slapping units of blood into a rapid infuser bag after bag and they were laying the empty bags on this empty table. All of a sudden, the on-call anesthesiologist barges into the room, starts yelling at my friends "NEVER LAY ANYTHING ON MY TABLE!" He picks up the bags of blood and throws them across the patient hitting my friends! They continued to focus on the patient while he continued to verbally abuse them about his damn table, and when the OR staff arrived, my friends were shoved out of the room without one word of thanks or sorry or anything. When they filed a complaint about that doc, there was a meeting with all the "powers that be", the anesthesiologist, the surgeon, the OR director and manager, the cath lab manager, administration's reps, my two friends, etc. The surgeon stated he did not see or hear anything because he was focused on the patient. The one OR RN in the room at the time also 'did not see or hear anything' -- hmmm. My friend JoAnne kept her blood speckled scrubs from that day and showed them to everyone. The response, "Dr. X was very stressed that day because he didn't know the patient, it was an emergency etc. blah blah blah. You do not work in OR so you don't understand that 'that is how it is'. He was not even made to apologize. To make a long story short, my cath lab manager (God bless her) would not let this drop until Dr. X was reprimanded in some way and made to apologize to my co-workers. She then talked some of the other managers into starting a campaign to get the hosp administrators to address the problem of docs verbally abusing nurses. A survey was completed regarding reasons why nurses were leaving the hosp and many stated doctors verbal abuse/disrespect were contributing factors. Then our VP of Nursing got involved. She stated that with the nursing shortage, doctors were a dime a dozen and she was not going to tolerate one nurse leaving because of any kind of abuse from a doc. There was a memo sent to all physicians that verbal abuse would no longer be tolerated, and that it could result in the loss of hosp privileges. It has been enforced (though I don't think any doc has lost privileges yet), but the atmosphere has become more relaxed and more of team thinking. I am now in the CSU, and we recently had two new cardiac surgeons join our staff whose nasty reputations had preceded them. They have been nothing but polite and courteous...so far.

Sherri

labornurse · Sep 14, 2002

We have had a couple of abusive situations on our unit, that were quickly cured. One involved a crna who was angry about being called in to do an epidural. He basically threw a temper tantrum in the room in front of the pt and threw equipment arount with a lot of verbal abuse to the nurse. Unfortunately for him, he had no idea who he was dealing with. The nurse took him out side and informed him that she would be calling her lawyer immediately and instigating a law suit for harrassment. She also wrote him up of course. When our unit manager heard the story and read the incident report, she banned him from our unit and would not let him come back. He no longer works for the hospital.

We also had one ob who physically assulted a new nurse. He was a coward because he wouldn't touch one of "seasoned nurses". He knew he would come back without a hand, (or possible other body parts he was fond of) but he thought he could intimidate this new nurse. When our manager heard about this she went BALISTIC! He no longer works hear either. Our manager makes it abundantly clear to all, that abuse on our unit WILL NOT BR TOLERATED!!!!! I think that if this is happening to you, and your chain of command is unresponsive, you should utilize the law and the remedies that it affords. We are people with rights not second class citizens.

Sukey · Sep 15, 2002

I would LOVE to see what would happen if a patient refused to let a doctor touch them because they were actually frightened of the "fit throwing" and general agressive behaviour.

Oh that would be so sweet.

NurseRachet · Sep 15, 2002

That manager is way out of touch with reality. She could be part of a harrassment suit...and better get with the program! I would not take that crap from any surgeon. I had a physician once that used to throw things, and one day threw a stool out into the hallway. He was also known for his temper fits, swearing, etc. The one day he threw the stool out in the hallway, it just struck me funny and I couldn't stop laughing. He was so mad at me and asked what I was .... laughing at. I told him I had never in my life seen a grown man act like a 2 year old throwing a temper fit like that! I couldn't understand how any intelligent person could possibly act like that. You know what, he never threw another chair after that and whenever he would start cussing, I would give him a funny little smirk and he would stop in his tracks. We all laugh about that now..and he treats me with great respect. The bottom line is, don't take it...it is verbal abuse. Write him up and let him know you are not going to take it anymore!

mark_LD_RN · Sep 15, 2002

I never tolerat such behavior my self. I am not the doctors servant i am a professional and my concern is the patient. I demand respect and accept nothing less from them. I give docs the respect they desrve but they best treat me the same.

I would hate to say it but if a doc threathened to throw something at me or hit me I would probably encourage him to do so. so i could have a reason to sue him or Kick his butt ,which ever happened first.

LilgirlRN, ADN, RN · Sep 15, 2002

Yes nurses are professionals, yes we are there to take care of and be an advocate for the patient. We are part of a team however, I think the doc that was described needs to sit in the penalty box and think about how she/he would take care of the patients if we were suddenly no longeravailable to care for them!