DisastermanRN

I've been in the emergency room nurse for 15 years now and I've had to tell dozens of people that their loved ones have died. The most important thing to remember is be professional ,the whole situation is not about you... And keep your distance when you tell them, at least two arms length. you never know how people are going to react to hearing someone they love has died. Know in your heart you did the very best you could for that person while they were here on earth and now their pain is over.

I've only had one physician actually get abusive with me on the phone. In the midst of him yelling and screaming and cussing I actually started laughing at it. He actually asked me if I would like him to come down and say it to my face? I laughed and said I could really enjoy that... What he didn't know was I am a 280 pound former Olympic wrestler and I teach Brazilian jujitsu and coach at a mixed martial arts school now my spare time. When he came down to the unit he was yelling and screaming and saying he wanted to see me and when I stood up he turned kind of pale and I laughed I said are you sure you still want to have a conversation with me doc? He actually turned out to be a pretty good guy and we have a good laugh about it now and again. The point is never tolerate abusive behavior from the physician always report it and never let administration intimidate you!

I have never allowed a physician or an administrator to be rude to me ... Ever. One administrator decided he was going to raise his voice to me one time. I very quietly went and got my CNO and ask this administrator if he had a professional or personal problem with me? I let him know if we had a professional issue with each other that we could go in another room and civilly speak to one another. And personal matters are best handled outside the hospital. I'm about 280 pounds and run a martial arts school in my spare time he looked very shocked and surprisingly he decided he wanted to apologize for his behavior. A nurse should never tolerate this kind of behavior from anyone ever!!! I've worked my hospital for about 10 years now and deal with administration on a daily basis and I've never had another problem since.

Sarcasm tends to work for me...I kill them with syrupy kindness:sneaky:

I am a Emergency Preparedness Coordinator at a hospital in TN. The hardest thing for us is to get administrative buy in to what we would like to do. My facility will do 1 large scale community mass casualty drill(multiple agencys) , 1 decon drill and two active shooters this yr. I do various educational oppertunities with staff on START triage,evacuation,ect... I think alot of hospitals function in a silo.I make it a point to train and interact with all our partners in the communiy ie;fire,ems,police. I have a really supportive administration ...