OR nurses treating surgeons as gods

[jennyblue]

hi all I work in a private hospital where the surgeons are treated as the ultimate beings in the theatre. I havr had experiences were a senior rn made me feel stupid for making a mistake just so that she can show that surgeon that she is doing her job properly. I also have had experiences where a surgeon was sarcastic only to me and that same nurse made excuses for him saying he's stressed and has personal problems. but the thing is that surgeon is indian and indian male surgeons are know to be ****** to female indian nurses. Now I believe that I belong to the new generation of or nurses who believes that everyone plays an important role in the OR in making the operating as successful as possible for our patient because they are our first priority. what is your opinion on my looooooong statement guys? do you agree/disagree? why?

[wyosamRN]

Probably my least favorite part of working in the OR. I worked various forms of construction for a lot of years before I became an RN, and I work with surgeons who make me miss the professionalism of a construction site. It seems far more prevalent in the older generation of surgeons, so maybe this problem is on its way out. It's a license to practice medicine, not a license to be a douche bag.

[sop832]

I've been in the OR 30 yrs, and when I first started, there was a lot of shouting and throwing of instruments. The, the next 10-15 years, the surgeons got reprimanded and faced loss of surgical privledges. Now the pendulum is swinging back, with lots of shouting and belittling of nurses. They are infrequently reprimanded, then only if they have several write-ups, because they can operate at other hospitals, and God forbid we lose income! Plus our manager is a man, so he takes kind of a "buddy-buddy" approach which makes me gag.

[ORoxyO]

This is my least favorite part of the OR...the doc double standard. Our surgeons do ridiculous things and treat people like crap, but everyone looks the other way. If I ever said the stuff they say to people, I'd be fired on the spot.

[LandD_RN_chica]

Funny. I worked with a male Indian surgeon who was a male chauvinistic pig and treated all females as inferiors. He even had a female partner and everything that she said he would change. I don't know how she does it. I've had my words with him. In our OR if we have a problem we pull the surgeon to the side and let him know about himself and 9/10 times it works. On the off chance it doesn't work we go to the charge nurse. Manager. Director. Etc.

[OR-RN<3]

I love these posts! I myself get very frustrated with this. There are many nurses who I respect very much that will tolerate bad behavior. They frown upon me writing surgeons up and tell me "I need to learn to let things go" and "the OR requires u to be tough". Both are true, however...I will not tolerate sexism and being treated like I am stupid. Like many of u said, it is the less favorable part of being an OR nurse but u have to find what works for you (letting it go, or having a conservation with the surgeon or writing them up). But personally, even seeing people treat surgeons like gods and having them bow and say "yes doctor" makes me wanna vomit.

[ruralgirl08]

I had to reply to this older thread, because I too had a bad day with anesthesia acting like a "god." Its unfortunate that they get away with belittling nurses. I always try to work it out after, or "take the high road" but its not always helpful while you are waiting for your shift to end. This is one aspect I dislike of the OR, physicians are not held accountable for their conduct. They are freelance workers, we are employees of the hospital. We are easily replaced. Most days I love my job, but on bad days...I sometimes question why I chose this profession. Glad I have many more good days, then bad.