Stood up for myself today, and it felt GREAT!!

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Specializes in Operating Room.

So here's the scenario. Our anesthesiologists and CRNAs are a bunch of ******** (for lack of a better word). They don't work for the hospital so they don't have to follow the rules and they are known to treat OR staff like crap, especially this one MD. So today I went to pick up my pt from the holding area and when I spoke to her, she told me she hadn't spoken with the anesthesiologist yet and hadn't signed a permit for them. So I told her I would get the anesthesiologist and be back to get her to sign. I called him, he said he would be over. I then went to the bathroom since there would be a tiny delay. When I went back, I started back talking to the pt thinking that the Dr still hadn't come since he was now standing around lollygagging. At that time I noticed that her speech was slurred and my heart sank. I asked her "have they given you any medicine?" and she said "yes, they said something to relax me." I proceeded to tell the anesthesiologist that she hadn't signed a permit (with a ****** off look on my face) and he looks at me and says "Don't look at me like that, find out who is with her and have them sign." I said to him, "wait a minute, don't get an attitude with me because you didn't do what you were supposed to. If you had looked for the permit before you sedated her, we wouldn't have this problem." He stormed off to report me to mgmt. I don't care cause it FELT GREAT! I am so sick of them trying to pawn everything off on us! He gave the drugs so it was his responsibility!

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Specializes in Peri-op/Sub-Acute ANP.

You go!

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Specializes in LTAC, OR.

Good for you!

I had a little "mini victory" last week too...there's one surgeon who made me cry like 6 months ago when I first started...well last week was my first time working with him since I've been off orientation. He kept sighing, rolling his eyes, and making snippy comments. Finally I got so POed I informed him and his resident that I couldn't do two things at once, thank you very much. The best part of the case was the anesthesiologist passing me a note on a spin card that read, "Do not, repeat, NOT let him get to you. You have been working your little tail off for this case and are doing an excellent job. He's just a big, arrogant ASS. Destroy this upon reading. ;)"

A couple days later I had to work with this surgeon again and he actually said, "Good job, Bridget, thanks for your help." Maybe he realized what a butt he was being. :)

I think we should start a "standing up to ******* doctors" thread!

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Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.
So here's the scenario. Our anesthesiologists and CRNAs are a bunch of ******** (for lack of a better word). They don't work for the hospital so they don't have to follow the rules and they are known to treat OR staff like crap, especially this one MD. So today I went to pick up my pt from the holding area and when I spoke to her, she told me she hadn't spoken with the anesthesiologist yet and hadn't signed a permit for them. So I told her I would get the anesthesiologist and be back to get her to sign. I called him, he said he would be over. I then went to the bathroom since there would be a tiny delay. When I went back, I started back talking to the pt thinking that the Dr still hadn't come since he was now standing around lollygagging. At that time I noticed that her speech was slurred and my heart sank. I asked her "have they given you any medicine?" and she said "yes, they said something to relax me." I proceeded to tell the anesthesiologist that she hadn't signed a permit (with a ****** off look on my face) and he looks at me and says "Don't look at me like that, find out who is with her and have them sign." I said to him, "wait a minute, don't get an attitude with me because you didn't do what you were supposed to. If you had looked for the permit before you sedated her, we wouldn't have this problem." He stormed off to report me to mgmt. I don't care cause it FELT GREAT! I am so sick of them trying to pawn everything off on us! He gave the drugs so it was his responsibility!

You advocated for the patient who was sedated for surgery without actually having consented to same. He screwed up. What does he think he is going to be reporting to management...that you were following typical preop protocols for safety and that was inconvenient for him?...that you wanted the actual AAO patient to provide informed consent rather than "family" but he was in too much of a hurry for that?...that you were uncomfortable with sedation of a patient before consent was obtained? He does not have a leg to stand on...

Bottom line is this...you are a professional charged by your employer with advocating for your patients. If your employer reprimands you for this physician's sloppy work and bad attitude...you do not want to work there.

Good job! All nurses need to have the confidence to stand up to unsafe practice, poor attitudes, and verbal assaults. History says that this doc will likely steer clear of similar interactions with you in the future.

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Specializes in Operating Room Nursing.

I hope you filed an incident report about the anaethetist giving the patient drugs without a consent.

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Specializes in Operating Room.

I've been meaning to come back on here and follow up.

Scrubby, you bet your behind I wrote an incident report.

Also, the anesthesiologist did report me to my director saying that I had a disrespectful attitude towards him during the encounter. Eh, whatever. She just asked me to be mindful of my body language so as not to give them anything to complain about. She also congratulated me on saying something because a lot of the nurses wouldn't have because this guy can be a real jerk. Either way, I knew I did the right thing.

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Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.
I've been meaning to come back on here and follow up.

Scrubby, you bet your behind I wrote an incident report.

Also, the anesthesiologist did report me to my director saying that I had a disrespectful attitude towards him during the encounter. Eh, whatever. She just asked me to be mindful of my body language so as not to give them anything to complain about. She also congratulated me on saying something because a lot of the nurses wouldn't have because this guy can be a real jerk. Either way, I knew I did the right thing.

Excellent. I hope that you feel even more empowered to advocate for your patients. I am very pleased that you have a supportive director.

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