I know this has been covered before in detail, but it bears review because it always comes up. I work on a sizable tele unit. Most of the MDs are okay; some complain and go away. Lately however, a certain cardiologist has been showing up and pitching fits, yelling at nurses, yelling at management. He'll ask to see the nurse and then stand there telling her that none of the nurses on this floor are any good, they have no idea what they're doing, that kind of stuff. He'll walk to the manager's office and with the door open so everyone can hear, yells how nurses have been in control for too long and this is going to stop now, then again with the nobody knows what they're doing. He'll demand to see documentation that certain nurses have been written up and educated, for things like calling him at 8 pm on a rhythm change.
Okay- we don't take this crap from familes, if they start raising thir voices to our nurses then security escorts them out. Everyone has to take at least a little from patients though, because of the nature of the business. But doctors? Last I checked, they're employees of the hospital too. We're not working for them. So why should we take this kind of abuse? The cardiologist in question has been written up, but so what? So have other MDs.
My question is, what's the next level? Nurses are about to start getting in his face. Managers don't know what else to do except write him up and tell us he's a "jerk." We have an HR, can they do anything? I consider this abuse, would it stand up if I took it to HR? There's no reason we should have to put up with it.
I know this has been covered before in detail, but it bears review because it always comes up. I work on a sizable tele unit. Most of the MDs are okay; some complain and go away. Lately however, a certain cardiologist has been showing up and pitching fits, yelling at nurses, yelling at management. He'll ask to see the nurse and then stand there telling her that none of the nurses on this floor are any good, they have no idea what they're doing, that kind of stuff. He'll walk to the manager's office and with the door open so everyone can hear, yells how nurses have been in control for too long and this is going to stop now, then again with the nobody knows what they're doing. He'll demand to see documentation that certain nurses have been written up and educated, for things like calling him at 8 pm on a rhythm change.
Okay- we don't take this crap from familes, if they start raising thir voices to our nurses then security escorts them out. Everyone has to take at least a little from patients though, because of the nature of the business. But doctors? Last I checked, they're employees of the hospital too. We're not working for them. So why should we take this kind of abuse? The cardiologist in question has been written up, but so what? So have other MDs.
My question is, what's the next level? Nurses are about to start getting in his face. Managers don't know what else to do except write him up and tell us he's a "jerk." We have an HR, can they do anything? I consider this abuse, would it stand up if I took it to HR? There's no reason we should have to put up with it.
Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Next time he comes in, punch him in the nose. He'll stop acting like an idiot at that point.
When I started at my hospital, I was warned about a certain physician's temper. Apparently, the nurses had been instructed to file incident reports each time he behaved poorly. In their reports they were to include who was a direct witness and whether patients could hear. I was told he was talked to by the higher ups and his privileges were in jeopardy if his behavior did not improve - his attempts to belittle the staff were unprofessional and lowered patient confidence and satisfaction scores. It must have helped because I've seen him get huffy and all red faced, but he held his tongue.
We still have docs who let tempers fly, but I was impressed that this hospital did something with the problem child.
He'll ask to see the nurse and then stand there telling her that none of the nurses on this floor are any good, they have no idea what they're doing, that kind of stuff
To this one I'd be tempted to say, "Well then, I guess that means you're SOL Doc."
Ya'll need some seasoned ICU/ED nurses up there to put these a-hole docs in their place...
I have witnessed this ICU nurse power. This nurse, she just backed that Doc right up against a wall and told him that he was incorrect, and he needed to go rethink his orders! Helped that she was tall, and he was short... it was a sight:lol2:
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
it's been a long time since any nasty doctor yelled at, demeaned or humiliated me. maybe because i'm older now, maybe because i'm now working at an institution where they've made a special point not to tolerate abuse of nursing staff. (i could tell stories about the "good old days," though!) in my experience, what works is documentation and witnesses. if there's a physician having a tantrum, every nurse, secretary and nursing assistant on the unit comes to stand behind the nurse being abused. no one says anything, we just all stood behind her (it was nearly always a "him" doing the abusing and a "her" being abused!) and stood there until the physician wound down. at first, they must have thought it was just a coincidence that so many people came to the nurse's station to witness their tantrums, but after a few demonstrations of nurse solidarity, it made an impression.
i had one cardiologist start winding up for a tantrum, then obviously think the better of it. "i'm ok now," he said. "you don't need to get all your friends to come stare at me."
of course, a less professional option is one that was used with great success by a friend of mine i'll call roscoe. we got a patient from an outside hospital -- she was a trainwreck. not the least of her problems was a chest tube which was incorrectly placed through (yes, all the way through) her stomach. we had a pulmonologist who was given to throwing tantrums, and roscoe who had played football in college and rode to work on a harley in full leathers. dr. dickhead was in full tantrum mode, literally hopping up and down and throwing things. among the things he threw were used sharps and blood-soaked gauze which hit roscoe right in the chest. roscoe didn't say much beyond "hey man, cut it out" or something equally benign. but when the shift ended, he parked his harley between the doctor's parking and the closest exit from the hospital. and waited.
dr. dickhead came in to work the next day with a broken nose and two shiners. i'm told that he sustained his injuries falling out of a tree. but he never ever verbally (or otherwise) abused a nurse in our unit!
You and your fellow nurses should keep a notebook documentating the date, time and nature of the incident and location (ex outside a pt's room). The more in writing the better. And if management still doesnt want to hear it tell them you and your fellow nurses will get the media involved. Also find out if there were complaints from pts and their families.
This is a great idea..I'm going through something similar at work, except it's a small group of hostile coworkers..I waited it out, it didn't improve after going through the proper channels. The next step was the union, and HR. Luckily, I'm someone who documents to the teeth and many of the incidents were witnessed as well.
The best thing to do is to try to remain professional and calm..because the PTB will be looking for an opening to prove that you deserve this somehow. The documentation and union reps are to make sure that sudden "issues" don't pop up in retaliation for you speaking out.
Just an FYI, JCAHO considers this sort of stuff a sentinel event..because bullying at work has been shown to increase medical errors..so this may work in your favor as well.
WoofyMutt80
158 Posts
Like I said before, when a patient gets out of hand like that we call a psych code, so why not call one (if your facility has one) on him!