What shall I do?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I got yelled at by a Doc for the first time this past week.

Here is what happened. We were just out of report and I was headed down the hall to assess patients. Went past a room and the aid told me that the doctor had gone into my patients room. I wanted to go in because I usually make rounds with my doctors. The aid had been filling waters and asked me to take it in the room for the patient.

My hands were full, water in one, my notes, stethoscope and a med for the patient in the other. I walked in without knocking. When I got in the room the doctor was looking at the patient's feet and didn't see me. When she noticed me she yelled, "CANT YOU KNOCK?" I was caught off guard and really wasn't sure she was talking to me. She shouted again " I ASKED YOU CAN'T YOU KNOCK"

I didn't want to make a bigger scene in front of the patient but at the same time I didn't want to roll over and kiss her butt. I said (in a flat tone and calmly) "Well I suppose I could" and looked her in the eye (careful not to show any expression). The doctor glared at me and pointed to the door. I looked at her and she said "GET OUT" I said "I am her nurse" she said " I SAID GET OUT" I walked out and if it hadn't been for what happened next I would have just wrote it off.

As I walked out I heard the doctor saying something about

"Damn male nurses". I went back to the nurse's station and told my supervisor to expect the doctor to complain about me. The doctor went to my supervisor and said "that GUY! Walked in the room without knocking" my supervisor told her "we all need to work on that but he is her nurse not just some guy" The patient later requested a female nurse (the first time this has ever happened to me).

Some people have suggested I make an incident report so that I have documentation if it gets worse. I don't know if I should. To me it was obvious that the problem wasn't really my not knocking but my gender. If it weren't for that fact I wouldn't think of it but now I wonder if this is an indication of the way this doctor will treat me.

This was my first experience with this doctor. If she continues to tell her patients not to accept a male nurse it could really make my job hard not to mention that she would be giving male nurses a bad rap.

Just think of how the patient must have thought of me and male nurses in general. Her doctor (who I'm sure she trusts) protected her from the evil male nurse and then told her not to let male nurses care for her.

I'm not sure what to do. I hope that this doctor will get to know me and see that I'm a good nurse. However, if she keeps treating me like this and telling people not to let me be their nurse or tries hard enough to make trouble for me Id like to have as much documentation as possible.

soundslikesirens , i think you missed the obvious point here. the doc was way out of line,! how many times has a doc or anotherr nurse barged in when i was examining a patient or pushing with her. I have never snapped like that. the most i have said is excuse me, please close the door, or please knock. no way shoulld she have made that ugly comment after yelling several times and make it while he was leaving. if she had a problem she should have did it away from the patient not in front of her that is totally innapropriate. i might have been able to tolerate the first yell but thats as far as it goes. startled is totally different from being unprofessional,*****.

Specializes in CVOR,CNOR,NEURO,TRAUMA,TRANSPLANTS.

Please Please Please

Make a report about the incident and make sure you have a copy of it and keep it with your papers at home..

Maybe this is a one time incident and I certainly hope it was and the Dr talks to you the next time you see her and she explains herself , what happened to you is not the way it should be nore should it be accpeted Im so sorry you were treated that way , I seem to somewhat know the position your in , and I can tell you that anytime you say or do anything at this point , think two ways, the way it should be ( and cover your tracts, and make copies of everything) and thier way..... which could possibly be nothing... which is very likely, the fact that you informed your supervisor of the incident actually puts you ahead in the game...

You were the first to bring it to thier attentions ... I suggest you act the same with that Dr as if nothing occured , hopefully and possibly it was just a bad day and she will be sorry for her actions , but if it contiues then it is possible your Supervisor will speak with her and inform her of Your rights as a Nurse and the position that you have , and that patient care is your only position.

If that Dr assumes that you have broken the cardinal rule for not knocking well then shes crazy, It would be different if your hands weren't full, and you busted into the room like a rocket during a pelvic exam but that isnt the case.

Good luck to you and Keep your chin up

we need as many hands as possible in this game, and I dont care if thier male or female I just want them there!!!!

Hugs Zoe

Mark Ld Rn: I didn't miss the point at all.

I'm just saying that the doctor was probably startled because this nurse walked into the patient's room without saying a word. We are never supposed to do that.

If he chooses to write the doctor up, he needs to be aware that SHE has plenty of grounds to write HIM up, also......and since she is a doctor, the "suits" will probably side with her.

That's been my experience.

Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.

Howdy yall

from deep in the heat of texas

Lets assume there is enough stress in the world right now to affect everybody. I think there certainly is. If that stress accumulates enough than everybody will start yelling. Now this is just not in nursing or the medical profession. Its all professions. I got yelled at 7 11 for holding a door for a person. Do we make an issue out of this or do we assume that that someone is under stress. We can all be stressed. Do we try to make an issue everytime someone yells at us, This would be fruitless in the long run, and would only add to the stress thats already in the world and or workplace.

While yelling at someone is unacceptable behaviour, without proper justification anyway. Why make to big an issue out of it. When you dont fully understand the events that lead up to it. I am not a pacifist by any means. But sometimes the wiser course is to turn a deaf ear, and blow it off not. And not out of proportions.

Ive yelled at people when I shouldnt have. We all have. Usually we regret immediately afterwards. But to go to that person immediately and to apologize isnt always that easy a course to follow. It might be the more appropiate course to follow but it isnt necessarily the easiest. Sometimes its better to wait awhile then deal with it when feelings have chilled out.

Or you can speak softly and carry a 4 iron

doo wah ditty

WAAAY out of line!Do it all!! Whatever it it takes to make sure that Doctor (and I use that loosely, ) gets the message that was not okay to do. How does she treat her male patients. Its docs like that , that make me want to get all the floor to boycott her patients. Unfortunetly that only hurts the pt the doc still might not get it.

Just so it gets said--THANK YOU--- for being a nurse who just happens to be male. THANK YOU to all males who happen to be nurses. Most guys I get to work with make the job fun and I always learn something from a different perspective. Having both sexes only increases our effectiveness to do this difficult yet strangely rewarding job. Plus having guys aorund (I know this is sexist) sure makes it easier moving thosse 400 pound patients. Shheeesh-- LOL Thanks

you should not have said anything in front of the patient. this would have made her look like the fool. you could take it up with her at the nurses station. :devil:

Specializes in ER,.

Instead of creating more animosity between the nurse and the physician, I believe that the nurse should approach the physician and find out if she has a problem with him.

Since this is the first time that this has happened, the doctor may be dealing with a personal problem, or it may have been a personal conversation between the doctor and the patient.

It would be better to find out the specifics instead of writing the physician up.

But I do agree that if it happens again, she should be written up.

to dayray, could it be possible, this female doctor is not heterosexual?

sounds like sirens _ i am sorry but i don't see a lot there to write ray up over . other than not knocking on patients door. but how many times in a day you think that happens. and besides if there doors are like ours you will hear him come in. i always enter slowly never barge in.

TEEITUPTOM - this is quite a bit different than being yelled at an a 7/11 store for holding the door. this is a professional that was way out of line and he will have to deal with again in the future. it needs to be resolved soon. believe me from experience if you turn your back and ignoreit docs like her will just get worse and make things worse for him. it needs to be addressed before it snowballs in to something much bigger. remember some docs have great big egos and often a god complex. I have dealt with ones like her a couple of times, and believe after the first time of letting it slide i will never do it again, I get it resolved and do what ever i can to position my self, so that the out of line doc will be the one looking bad in the end.

Specializes in ER, ICU, L&D, OR.

Howdy yall

from deep in the heat of texas

Yo Mark, pull your overly defensive and overly sensitive horns in bubba. That was an example. Yes It could have been a little Lame. I will admit to that.

What I am trying to say is there is enough stress in the world as is. Yes you can write the doctor up and more than likely to no avail while haveing a heap of stressors piled up on you.. Be juducious in the battles you choose to fight. I pick and choose my fight carefully. I no longer take on one and all. there was a time that I did. But I like to think Im a little wiser now.

doo wah ditty

That is why I say outsmart and outclass the doc right then, right there. If they know you can think on the same level or above and react appropriately vebally the respect gained is immediate...they may not like you, but who really cares.

Rhyolite, the doc derobed her supernatural gown in front of the patient, all that is done is to extend that behavior.

Next time she may hold her tongue, maybe not, but it has been my experience that enough incidents like this of being slammed immediately do eventually modify behavior....which is what they are trying to get you to fall for....I want respect, not necessarily admiration, where I work...and I shall have it.

Write the doctor up!!!

Then ask your supervisor for followup on what happened with the occurence report...did it go to medical staff? did your manager discuss appropriate physician-nurse behaviour at Med staff meeting?

The more you tolerate inappropriate behavior...

the worse it will be for ALL of us!

QUESTION: Why did you leave your patient's room???

Just because the MD said so???

I thought it is customary to round WITH physicians as much as possible!!

I do it...to make sure the patients really understand what the MD says...

AND, for a few MDs, to be sure they aren't bad-mouthing the nurses to the patients! (sad but true...we have a list of MDs that we do NOT allow with patients unsupervised for that very reason...pitiful!)

haze :-)

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