Verbal abuse in the OR

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After only 6 years in the OR as a circulating nurse, I have burned out and retired. The surgeons have humiliated me and my collegues relentlessly. We just have to take it. Personally I felt powerless until someone in P.T. asked me to write up a certain orthopod.....gee....go figure....an orthopod! Between the both of us writing to administration, he was booted from our hospital. He took his entire ortho group and all of his patients with him. Now we are stuck with all kinds of instruments and special orthopedic helmets, batteries, etc we bought especially for them. Not to mention we enlarged an entire OR room for them at an exhorbitant expense. Does it pay to write them up? I say yes, but we need to go further with it. I've written newspaper columnists about this problem, 20/20 and MSNBC Investigates. Any other ideas from you?

Once I had this anesthesia doc who was pissed b/c the aids didn't hop to when he ordered them to fetch a prep table to put his non-surgery related laptop on. I asked him if he planned on returning it to it's assigned place when he was through for the day. He escallated and started loud whining and complaining, slamming stuff about and getting nasty about my questioning his omnipotence and personal intentions.......I covered my ears and started singing "I can't hear you. I can't hear you." and continued until his jaw fell to the floor and he was quiet. I then offered that if I behaved in the same manner in which he is accustomed to behaving and spoke to others as he does, I would be fired and in some environments arrested for threatening and unruly behavior. And I refrained from doing so at this time for those reasons. I then proceeded to tell him that I would appreciate the same attitude and treatment he expected to receive. I repeated and allowed him to answer my original question as to intention of returning the prep table to it's assigned room when he was finished. Not only did he return the table when he was done for the day, but had a case of Harry and David pears sent to my home, offered me his box to see The Phantom of the Opera when it toured in our area and has treated me with the highest respect from that event to present (several years).

Writing people up for their inappropriate behavior will get you more of the same as well as contempt from those who hear the stories ABOUT YOUR IMPOTENT ACTIONS. TELL THOSE JERKS WHAT BEHAVIORS YOU EXPECT AND ACCEPT NOTHING LESS! THEIR MOTHERS WOULDN'T STAND FOR THEIR RUDE BEHAVIORS AND YOU SHOULDN'T EITHER!

Nuff sed.

You are absolutely right about standing up for myself and I couldn't agree more. BUT, since I am no longer working, the opportunity to put him in his place will not present itself again. At this point, I am trying to support my collegues who have no choice but to work with abusive docs. I wish I had been more assertive in the past because it could have given the other nurses more confidence in standing up to him. But I am a patient advocate in that OR and distracting the big bad doc could have untoward consequences...ie: pt is under anesthesia longer than necessary. My actions were not impotent, this doc was dismissed from our hospital.

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No, unfortunately, this particular surgeon is rather proud of the fact that he has taken his whole team and all of his patients away from our hospital. I had the opportunity to work with him again at a surgery center and he told me so himself! He continues to abuse staff at all of the hospitals he works at. I've worked at all 3 places and his behavior is the same....he hits the door griping about anything he can find. One morning we arrived an hour early to get his case ready. His patient was in the OR, the case was opened...everything was ready. So he griped about the temperature in the room. He went so far as to call the director back and berate her in front of her staff. We had to alert maintenance the day before his total hip or knee cases to turn down the air conditioning!!!! I'm sorry, but when a surgeon hits our doors with that attitude, there is absolutely nothing we can do. We even had to take turns being in his cases, everyone hated him so much. I wrote him up for pointing his finger at me and screaming "SHUT THE DOOR". Nothing has changed...he is still spreading his misery all over this area. I can only hope he gets hit by a bus.

Can you imagine what it must be like to be married to this jerk?

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hello jane,

in trinidad we have the same problem. but here when u complain the head of department move u out of the department instead of solving the problem. so some other sad sap will have to then face the abuse.

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Can you imagine what it must be like to be married to this jerk?

Yeah, I can. A friend of mine made an observation recently...."Move to the left, move to the right, faster, slower, OH NEVERMIND, I'LL DO IT MYSELF! That's what it's like to be married to this jerk. LOL :chuckle

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Specializes in All Surgical Specialties.

Joke: Do you know what the first thing a surgeon's spouse does with their a**hole when they wake up in the morning?

Dress 'em up and send 'em to work.

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I am an Orthopaedic Sales rep with a number of years of OR experience. Abusive behavior is not tolerated in my area, WNC. The surgeon is often required to go to Anger managment classes and sent packing if they abuse the staff repeatedly. Alot of times I recieve the brunt of any frustration they need to vent. They can yell and scream at me without getting in trouble. I work with 1 surgeon in particular who has been to the classes and is on his last chance and he has apologized for the abuse but had to vent on someone. I'm just glad he abused me rather than the staff. I told him he can say what he wants just keep using my stuff. It seems to work out good for everyone.

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I am an Orthopaedic Sales rep with a number of years of OR experience. Abusive behavior is not tolerated in my area, WNC. The surgeon is often required to go to Anger managment classes and sent packing if they abuse the staff repeatedly. Alot of times I recieve the brunt of any frustration they need to vent. They can yell and scream at me without getting in trouble. I work with 1 surgeon in particular who has been to the classes and is on his last chance and he has apologized for the abuse but had to vent on someone. I'm just glad he abused me rather than the staff. I told him he can say what he wants just keep using my stuff. It seems to work out good for everyone.

Well, it seems that as long as you make money you can put up with anything. How very very sad.

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Well, it seems that as long as you make money you can put up with anything. How very very sad.

It's not that I am just glad to take heat that could be directed at the OR nurse or scrub. As for the money, I have a family to feed so if taking some misdirected heat is part of it, so be it.

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dear orthorep thanks for the reply. recently a doctor in gensurge cursed a nursed using the f****** word. he did it in front everyone the nurses the million interns and anaesthetist and attendants, apparently he asked for a suture to be cut. when she cut it he got angry and ask her who told her to cut it. he was having some difficulty with the case and wasnt exactly paying attention to what he asked for. he apologised later of course. privately. they ended up stayin at home for his next surgery day. the patients suffered of course but surgeons need to learn that they need the nurses. they are trying to get control of the OR by being a beast to the nurses. right now i am trying to do a research paper on the verbal abuse in the OR. in one day list we do sometimes 13 patients. we get no break or lunch sometimes just to accomodate them. this week i ended up working through lunch and still leaving an hour later. anyway have a niceday

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your situation is the very reason that i have never considered o.r. nursing. i see that you have alerted the media, but what about your nursing management, are they aware of the problem, what have they done to solve the problem? i hate the fact that we(nurses) have to air that dirty laundry to the media, and the public, because to me it just makes us look weak, like we're whining because the big, bad surgeons are being mean to us, and there's nothing we as a profession can do, so let's expose them.[/QUOT

our nursing management know about the problem and does nothing about the surgeons. what they do instead is move us to another ward and look at us as if we are the problem and the doctors are gods!

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dear orthorep thanks for the reply. recently a doctor in gensurge cursed a nursed using the f****** word. he did it in front everyone the nurses the million interns and anaesthetist and attendants, apparently he asked for a suture to be cut. when she cut it he got angry and ask her who told her to cut it. he was having some difficulty with the case and wasnt exactly paying attention to what he asked for. he apologised later of course. privately. they ended up stayin at home for his next surgery day. the patients suffered of course but surgeons need to learn that they need the nurses. they are trying to get control of the OR by being a beast to the nurses. right now i am trying to do a research paper on the verbal abuse in the OR. in one day list we do sometimes 13 patients. we get no break or lunch sometimes just to accomodate them. this week i ended up working through lunch and still leaving an hour later. anyway have a niceday

Having worked 6 years in the OR as a Rep I truly agree that the Nurses are the ones who recieve alot of wrath from surgeons and the vast majority of time through no fault of theirs. In my area that is changing, I hope it changes for you. I have nothing but respect for the work you folks do. In fact I am planning on going back to school to get my RN, that's what brought me to these boards. I hope that when I am in the OR as a rep now I can help the ones I work with here to avoid as much abuse as poss. Thanks for letting post on your board.

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Where in the blue ridge are you?

Jim

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