What is the appropriate action..

[Coulter630]

I haven't posted on here since nursing school, I think. I've been a nurse for two years in Jan. I've been charge nurse for a few months at a rehabilitation hospital. Here's my deal. Yesterday, I encountered a very angry family member who was promised that his mother was coming to our hospital for ABX therapy which we are fully capable of doing. The hospital she was previously at told her that her urine culture came back with 4 different bugs and that she needed to be on IV ABX. However, when we collected her urine, the culture shower mixed urogenital flora. I'm not sure whose is accurate but I needed to get to the bottom of this and promised the family I would do so. So, I called to IM who not to mention has been very rude to other nurses to the point of almost resigning. I knew that no ABX where needed at this time but I wanted to get an order to collect another UA C&S and see what she had to say about this situation. To make a long story short, she screamed at me to the TOP of her lungs asking me "WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO" and I couldn't understand the rest of what she was saying because she was screaming so loudly. I can take rude doctors because let's face it, some of them are that way. What I can't take is someone screaming at me simply because I want what's in the patients best interest and it is my job to do so! I politely told her that I she didn't have to speak to me that way and she continued. She wouldn't even give me another order to collect another specimen...however, I took care of that.

My deal is.....I think I know how I should handle this, but I need confirmation. I asked to meet with the CNO (we currently do not have a nurse manager) to discuss this because this was completely unprofessional. And to make matters worse, one of the family members were walking up to the nurses station as this was happening and heard her screaming and said, "I hope I didn't get you in trouble." YES, it was that loud! It's strange that this has happened to me, because yesterday morning one of the nurses asked that I call this particular doctor in an attempt to avoid her because of a prior incident that occurred a week or so ago with her. She expressed her concerns of this particular doctor and the encounters she's had with her.

What should I do???

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

This physician does need to be reported; however, I doubt the CNO is going to do anything about it other than give lip service.

Physicians are considered the ultimate money-makers of rehab because they're the ones who refer revenue-generating patients to the facility. Due to their money-generating status, management typically avoids confronting them on their bad behavior or doing anything that would cause the doc to refer his/her patients elsewhere.

Good luck to you.

[Coulter630]

Okay, I've talked with the CNO as well as the CEO and they are taking this very seriously. Correction, the physician who did this was Internal Medicine on the case, not the actual attending rehabilitation physician. They were completely unaware this was occurring and with other nurses as well. Thank you for your input. I really didn't doubt that this wouldn't be taken seriously as administration at my hospital is very supportive of their employees. I just needed for someone to say I was doing the right thing. Reporting a physician seems like it can be pretty risky.