I have been a nurse for a long time and have a very thick skin when it comes to being treated rudely by doctors. I try to be very respectful and call only if it is absolutely necessary. I don't like having to take time out of my busy shift to call them any more than they wish to be interrupted by a call from me so I do so only when what I need absolutely can't wait until normal business hours.
My problem is this. The hospital I work at now is staffed primarily by hospitalists. They go into this job, I presume, knowing that a large part of their responsibility is to pull call. So, why is it that they get angry no matter what you call for? Seriously. And they sigh and carry on obnoxiously to the point that I can barely maintain my courtesy. They are difficult to understand and will barely stay on the phone long enough to mumble an order at you. Forget reading an order back. They've hung up on you before you get the first syllable out.
All of this is assuming they are awake to hear you. On two or three occasions now I have had doctors fall asleep on me while getting orders from them. One night it took me about 5 minutes to take a simple medication order because the doctor kept falling asleep on me. There were literally 40 second stretches of complete silence on the other end.
I really try not to have an us against them mentality when it comes to doctors. I'm sure they could tell some crazy stories about getting called at ridiculous times of the night for things that could have waited until the morning. However, I don't feel like this gives them the right to be CONSISTENTLY rude when you are calling them for legitimate concerns.
Here's how a call went last night. This was the impetus for this vent. First, let me explain that there are three nurses on the floor that all have the same name, me being one of them. We'll say the name is "Mary".
My phone rings. It is a callback from Dr. Y.
Me: "Hello Dr. Y., this is Mary and..."
Dr. Y.: "Oh my God!!!! Do you realize that you call me more than anyone?! You called me at least six times last night!"
Me: "I'm sorry but that was not me. I didn't work last night and there are three nurses named Mary on this floor."
Dr. Y.: "Well, whatever!!! It doesn't matter! What do you want?"
Me: Going on to ask for an anti hypertensive to address a pt.'s BP that had been running consistently in the 170's to 180's systolic for 2 days without being addressed.
Dr. Y.: "Why are you calling about this now? Why didn't they do something about this during the day?"
You get the idea. There are many responses I could have made to that question. Main one being, why didn't you notice the pt.'s BP for the last two days (this happened to be his patient) was sky high and adjust the meds or write for a prn or WRITE SOME DING-DA-DANG CALL PARAMETERS so I wouldn't have to be calling you in the first place.
It is very aggravating. They really treat us like dogs. Any decent human being would have apologized when they realized they had flamed out the wrong Mary. I feel like pulling him aside the next time I see him and very diplomatically addressing the issue. We are all here in the best interest of the patients (or so we hope). Even the Mary who can be a little over zealous with her calls.
How do you guys handle this and do you notice that some doctors are worse offenders than others? Have you ever pulled a rude doctor aside and, if so, what was the response?
I'm sure this topic has been beaten to death but I felt the need to vent about it. The place that I'm working at now is by far the worst. I've been out of hospital nursing for 4 years until 8 months ago when I started this job. Is it a hospitalist thing? That's the only big difference btwn this hospital and others where I've worked.
Specializes in Ambulatory Surgery, Ophthalmology, Tele.
Ah yes.....the grumpy, rude, mumblers.
All the above stories. I don't miss any of it now. I didn't realize when I started working in an ambulatory surgery center that I would have two doctors within 40 feet of me at all times.
My days of waiting hours for a call back were over. No more condescending tones saying, "You know you don't REALLY need to call me for critical lab values." Or, "What do you mean you can't get an IV? Did you try the neck?" OR, "Oh, she's crazy....just give her some ativan." He's lucky I wasn't on a vocera in front of the "crazy lady" when he said this. These were all from the same doctor.
This doctor had a particular ring back when he received texts/messages on his phone so if I heard this in the nurses station I always went to him for orders. If I didn't catch him I would be waiting hours for a call back And I ALWAYS requested PRNs with parameters to try to decrease the calls. If the doc ordered nitropaste-prn tylenol order for headaches, on a pain med-something for constipation, etc.
I work in a teaching facility with residents and thank God we don't deal with this much (L&D floor so the residents are on our floor available at all times). I am very nonconfrontational so I probably wouldn't call him on the behavior but I would want to. I think that if I did have a doc rude, I would have to say something like "Sorry, but my concern is for the patient, not your sleep" or some such. I don't think you can ever regret calling, but you may regret NOT calling.
I don't like to be addressed by my first name, either. When I first started out, we were called Nurse Last Name; now it is simply "first name." We are required to call all doctors by their title and last name, as in "Dr. So and So." It seems so inappropriate for a much younger doctor to call me simply Firstname, while I have to address him/her as Dr. So and So. (I am in the south, and titles are a big deal here.) I am an older nurse, and it seems silly to me for doctors and patients to call me by my first name, as if we are "friends" instead of co-workers or the patient's nurse.
I was lucky my old facility was a teaching hospital. ALL the residents were nice. The PAs that covered at night were even better. The only time I had an issue was with a surgeon. I just ignored him and showed him where he was WRONG. We have an on call dr. at one of the LTC facilities that I supervise at who is nasty. I don't really care. My concern is for the resident, so yell all you want.
A call had came into to my office about doing an injection in our office that another MD ordered, but mom doesn't want to drive to that docs office for the injection. I tell her that I need to talk to our NM, and will get back to her. Then this woman starts yelling at me that's she's a MD and it's only an IM injection, and it's so easy to do. Ummmm, if it's that easy why don't you just do it yourself doc?
I had a working interview with a doc in the specialty I've enjoyed most of my career. He made a point to tell me how much he was going to pay me and how much over budget that was going to put him and that I should be grateful that he gave me a chance. Repeated that and told me that it's better if I take the insurance that my husband has because he really only pays for the single parents to have cheap coverage. The big problem with him is he pushes a button in the exam room; when the button is pushed the MAs have to drop what they're doing and go to that room. He yelled at the two MAs and myself, in front of a pt, for not diagnosing migraine headaches and subsequently ordering a CT angiogram for it and now the pt is deaf (pt looked at him funny when he said that--she could hear). He read pt's chart from the previous visit, recapped the s/s, and asked the MAs what should have been diagnosed. He then told me that it's important that you (meaning the MAs and myself) get the right diagnosis. I didn't take that job. I should have reminded him that the MD--him--makes the diagnosis, NOT the LPN or MA. The MD orders radiology, LPN/MA can schedule it with the imaging center. NURSES DO NOT MAKE MEDICAL DIAGNOSES! One good thing is I know not to use that practice as a pt!
I'm sorry you have that experience. Our hospitalists are generally mid level providers that work shifts 7-7:30 (both a and p) - there are several - one covers the ED, one covers the ICU and comes to RRT's and one just takes phone calls (and helps out when needed in different departments). Our surgeons generally have a resident that covers for them overnight - I almost never talk to an attending.
That's how it works for us too. Everything pretty much goes through our junior doctors first (house officers) and there is always someone working 24/7 who is on call who you are suppose to contact. Especially for thing like charting meds or setting parameters that is who you ring/page. Any contact with the registrars or consultants usually goes through them. There is usually an on call registrar on too that is working if you need to get in touch with a specialist.
I don't like to be addressed by my first name either. When I first started out, we were called Nurse Last Name; now it is simply "first name." We are required to call all doctors by their title and last name, as in "Dr. So and So." It seems so inappropriate for a much younger doctor to call me simply Firstname, while I have to address him/her as Dr. So and So. (I am in the south, and titles are a big deal here.) I am an older nurse, and it seems silly to me for doctors and patients to call me by my first name, as if we are "friends" instead of co-workers or the patient's nurse.[/quote']
You are required to address them as dr.? Says who? I am about 50/50 at work some I call dr and those I know better I call by their first name, as do other nurses
I don't like to be addressed by my first name, either. When I first started out, we were called Nurse Last Name; now it is simply "first name." We are required to call all doctors by their title and last name, as in "Dr. So and So." It seems so inappropriate for a much younger doctor to call me simply Firstname, while I have to address him/her as Dr. So and So. (I am in the south, and titles are a big deal here.) I am an older nurse, and it seems silly to me for doctors and patients to call me by my first name, as if we are "friends" instead of co-workers or the patient's nurse.
This is one of the differences between military and civilian nursing that worries me.
In the service, I'm called Lieutenant Soldiernurse. Rank, Last name. Pretty easy. The docs are either Doctor Last name or Rank Last name. Makes it so much nicer.
With this arrangement, I never hear my first name at work. If I do, it's usually one of the civilians playing around with me. With the past (ahem) years of my nursing career spent in the service, I am accustomed to the very culture of the military reinforcing that we're coworkers or patient/nurse and will respect each other as such by using the rank/title + last name system. Even for civilians, it's Mr./Mrs./Ms., never First name unless you're friends.
I don't think I'm going to like being called by my first name. I associate that level of familiarity with friends and family, not coworkers, docs, and patients.
nursefrances, BSN, RN
1 Article; 601 Posts
Ah yes.....the grumpy, rude, mumblers.
All the above stories. I don't miss any of it now. I didn't realize when I started working in an ambulatory surgery center that I would have two doctors within 40 feet of me at all times.
My days of waiting hours for a call back were over. No more condescending tones saying, "You know you don't REALLY need to call me for critical lab values." Or, "What do you mean you can't get an IV? Did you try the neck?" OR, "Oh, she's crazy....just give her some ativan." He's lucky I wasn't on a vocera in front of the "crazy lady" when he said this. These were all from the same doctor.
This doctor had a particular ring back when he received texts/messages on his phone so if I heard this in the nurses station I always went to him for orders. If I didn't catch him I would be waiting hours for a call back And I ALWAYS requested PRNs with parameters to try to decrease the calls. If the doc ordered nitropaste-prn tylenol order for headaches, on a pain med-something for constipation, etc.