Surgeons throwing tantrums in OR... (VENT)

[Keely-FutureRN]

I am a CNA (pre-nursing) student and occasionally help out in the OR. (I normally work in PACU and SDS). Well, I was turning over a room with a couple coworkers and we were talking about the case. We were performing a robot assisted surgery and the robot was not working as well as *Dr. Jones* wanted it to. At the end of the case, he grabbed all the drapes and crumpled them up in his hand and threw them on the ground and stomped out. Many surgeons that work here are well known to be "spit fires" :angryfire and will throw things, stomp on the floor, yell at coworkers, etc. This is a frequent occurance but everyone in the OR just lets it go on. EVERYONE has those days and the OR is really stressful (as any area of nursing is) and you don't see the nurses, techs, and crna's on the ground kicking and screaming because they have a bad day. Our nurses are one heck of a team! They have on-call duty and stay til the wee hours of the morning just like the surgeons do (as do the OR techs). What would you do? I'm usually not in there during surgery but the stories are overwhelming and frequent. It seems like everyone else just tolerates them but I would be quite hurt if someone yelled at me because they were having a long shift.

AND THEN!!! I was making surgical packs in SDS and two residents (fellows, surgeons, I'm not sure who they were but in that area...) were waiting outside a pts door (they were almost ready to go to the OR) and were standing right next to me. They were talking to each other and said "Well, the OR techs are certainly taking their time getting the rooms turned over today (rolling eyes and chuckling a little with other resident)...." and I just turned around and looked at him for a second, then turned back around. I wanted to say "They are doing the best they can! We certainly wait for you EVERYDAY when the OR schedule is running HOURS behind!!!!" I wanted to hand him some sani-wipes and gloves and say "If you are so impatient why don't you get off your lazy a** and help them instead of standing here on your high horse!" It just makes me mad because the CNA's in general are at the bottom of the totem pole. Especially in the OR, techs do SO MUCH of the preparing (machines, instruments, cleaning, sterilizing, etc.) It just makes me kind of sad that the CNA's aren't recognized for what we do. This isn't to say that all doctors are this way, just the more rude ones are well populated on my unit.:angryfire

Keely

[pugmum]

At the end of the case, he grabbed all the drapes and crumpled them up in his hand and threw them on the ground and stomped out. Many surgeons that work here are well known to be "spit fires" and will throw things, stomp on the floor, yell at coworkers, etc. This is a frequent occurance but everyone in the OR just lets it go on.

I am so sorry that you had such a bad day. This is childish behaviour at BEST. Is there a manager somewhere around? Do any of these surgeons get written up and why is this behaviour tolerated? I'm not asking this to put you on the spot, but its infuriating to see behaviour such as this tolerated and accepted.

"I wanted to hand him some sani-wipes and gloves and say "If you are so impatient why don't you get off your lazy a** and help them instead of standing here on your high horse!"

...I think you have more self-restraint than I would have had!

[ShayRN]

I am so sorry that you had such a bad day. This is childish behaviour at BEST. Is there a manager somewhere around? Do any of these surgeons get written up and why is this behaviour tolerated? I'm not asking this to put you on the spot, but its infuriating to see behaviour such as this tolerated and accepted.

...I think you have more self-restraint than I would have had!

:yeahthat:

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

If a surgeon or resident gripes about how long it's taking to turn over a room, i WILL say "The more help we get, the faster we can get done". I've said this several times. And what are they going to do? Whine to my supervisor that i stated a fact to them?

We have one surgeon that helps turnover a room, his room, typically by mopping the floor. And it does help. But he's said before "I don't get why my supposed collegues just STAND there and gripe about how slow other people are."

[grimmy, RN]

[color=darkslategray]this is, unfortunately, nothing new. many surgeons, residents, and sometimes nurses, complain about turnover time, and act like children when things don't run perfectly. they need a dose of reality, surely, but as or team-members, you must choose your battles wisely. i work with someone who is arguably the most "troublesome" surgeon on staff. while he has only yelled once while i've worked with him, i have heard many tales, and he has gone through anger management after throwing a malfunctioning thoracoscopic instrument - he wasn't aiming for anyone, didn't hit anyone, but it was alarming. he's not the first, and he definitely won't be the last. i'm glad to say that our facility doesn't tolerate poor, inappropriate behavior. we do have whiners who can be extremely annoying - i think i'd almost rather have a yeller than a whiner. i am happy to report, though, that we have some fantastic surgeons/residents/fellows who help out during turnover, occasionally mopping floors, assisting postioning, finding equipment, etc. i think the our chief attendings are really the impetus behind that. i once had to tell the chief that he was too close to a sterile field and you know what he said to me?

thank you - sincerely.

that's the way it should be, everytime.:)

[1Tulip]

It's been... let's see... well, many, many years since I worked in OR. And this post could have been written just as well then as now. Some things just don't change.

I think the responses have been excellent. And I don't have anything constructive to add. BUT

We had a surgeon who was an SOB and he also had a good bit of hair on his arms and the tops of his hands. Whenever he needed to be re-gloved, the nurse would sruunnnch up the cuff of his gown and his glove reeeeaaal tight, then rip the glove off, pulling out a bunch of hair as she got the sleeve over his hand.

THEN, when he went to reglove, she held the opening of the glove waaaaay wide (so he couldn't contaminate her hands as he put his into his glove.) As he dove down into the glove, she would pull the opening just a little bit wider then snaaaaap it as he got his hand in.

I know it's passive aggressive. I know we shouldn't do this stuff. But it feels so satisfying.

[Keely-FutureRN]

If a surgeon or resident gripes about how long it's taking to turn over a room, i WILL say "The more help we get, the faster we can get done". I've said this several times. And what are they going to do? Whine to my supervisor that i stated a fact to them?

We have one surgeon that helps turnover a room, his room, typically by mopping the floor. And it does help. But he's said before "I don't get why my supposed collegues just STAND there and gripe about how slow other people are."

I think I will follow your example. I want to tell them but I don't want to have a "smart mouth" either... Thank you for the suggestion! I will also talk to my manager next time and let her take it from there because their behavior is really inappropriate. They should at least maintain some type of professionalism if not for the patient, than for their fellow coworkers... Thanks everyone for your imput. I just needed someone to point me in the right direction to handle this... :icon_hug:

Keely