New Play Portrays Deadly Consequences of Physicians' Arrogance

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by Regina Weiss

NYSNA Report

February, 2004

"In my discussions with hundreds and hundreds of nurses, what comes up every single time is the lack of respect from doctors." So began journalist Suzanne Gordon's introduction to the new work by Nurse! playwright Lisa Hayes-"Bedside Manners". "The nurses in this room know that this has been a significant problem for the past 150 years," Gordon continued, drawing laughs of recognition from the audience.

Hayes' new work was developed largely from interviews with RNs conducted by Gordon, who spoke at NYSNA's convention in October about "what nurses know and must communicate to the public."

In stark dramatic scenes punctuated by occasional comic relief, the play portrays not only the emotional turmoil, but the sometimes deadly medical consequences of the systemic belittlement, abuse, and disregard of RNs and their professional judgment by physicians.

Among the routine physician behaviors the play documents are blaming, name-calling, cursing and other forms of verbal abuse aimed at nurses, as well as temper tantrums and physical assaults. "When nurses are abused by doctors," says one character, "they often react like battered women. And they often leave nursing. But do you know what happens in hospitals where this kind of crap is tolerated?

"People die that shouldn't."

For example, the characters relate the true and terrible tale of 12 babies and young children killed by a doctor at a Canadian hospital in the early 1990s, while the hospital's physician supervisors and administrators refused to listen to the outcries of nurses who witnessed the butchering of these young patients. The nurses' complaints were dismissed with comments such as, "I don't take orders from nurses," "You don't have medical knowledge," and "You're too emotional," while the patients kept dying.

"Bedside Manners" received its first full-fledged reading before an audience of physicians and nurses at the New York Academy of Medicine on Dec. 10, as the centerpiece of a day-long symposium on improving the work environment of nurses in order to improve patient care and increase professional retention. The symposium also featured panel discussions and a keynote address by researcher Linda Aiken, director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

"Bedside Manners" was developed by Hayes and Gordon as a teaching tool, which they hope to present in schools of medicine and nursing.>>>

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[elkpark]

why the double post?

[NurseHardee]

I find that the disrespect many doctors have for nurses is only matched by the disrespect many doctors have for their patients and their patients' families. It's because the doctor is trained to think of himself as part of the business community, and that's how execs think of their workforce. They think of them as expendable.

Nurse Hardee