Practice manager driving me bonkers.

Practice manager has her two grandkids come in to be seen, accompanied by their grandmother (who has authority to bring them in). Practice manager's son is the father, and he is divorced from the mother of the two girls. One is 13, one is 11.

Kids come in to be seen for cold and sinus issues. I do my thing and prescribe their meds. One of the girls is a bit surly, and I realize she wasn't feeling well, but one could tell it was really just a lot of brattiness on her part, which she somewhat exhibited towards me ....don't feel it was anything personal ...she's just a 13 year old with poor manners and God knows what else going on.

Grandmother pulls me in after visit is over and we initially discuss why I decided to order a CXR for the younger one (younger girl had been complaining of CP ...which I didn't feel there was much reason for ...anyway, that's beside the point. )

Grandmother then wanted to ask me an additional question about the girls behavior and confided in me that she feels they're being allowed to behave poorly at home -- routine use of F word, throwing things, getting in Grandma's and other faces, aggression, etc. and grandmother is just not sure what to do. Her concerns seemed reasonable and with the behavior I witnessed during the visit, I had to believe her that things were getting more difficult with the kids in some way.

I realized I was getting into a weird area with these being the practice manager's grandkids. I basically counseled her very broadly and told her perhaps she might want to discuss these issues with the girl's mother, and that in general, it's wise to make sure the kids don't need perhaps some counseling, or whatever, to determine why they are behaving this way.

Anyway, practice manager strides back after a few minutes and complains that grandmother was "taking up too much of my time," and advises me not to listen to anything she says ....that she's "crazy" and I should just have stuck to the issues they came in for.

I am just flummoxed by this. Why pull me into the family issues? Practice manager says she's also listed for these kids as a POA and is privy to family issues, but I chose to keep the conversation with the grandmother confidential.

I don't even know if I want to work for this practice anymore after this -- they put me into a position of seeing the family members, yet try to "advise" me on what to do as a clinician towards them. I don't even know what to think!! This just seems wrong on so many levels. I can't say I spent anymore than three minutes talking to the grandmother once she decided to confide in me about the kids.