When physician's act up/out

blaze · Dec 7, 2004

Call a Code Orange or whatever you want to call it where as many nurses as possible from all over the hospital rush over, surround the guy and just stare at him. I've heard that this really changes their behavior.

:roll :roll :roll :roll :roll

mattsmom81 · Dec 7, 2004

Had a surgeon slam me about a month ago because when i handed her a suture, it didn't have the needle she wanted. Oh, NEVERMIND that was the EXACT needle and suture she had ASKED for, but that didn't stop her from flinging the needleholder and sture to the floor, and yelling "How ****ing stupid ARE you??? I SAID i want THIS!!" I replied "Well that's what that was the exact thing you asked for." She said "Liar, don't you dare tell me you're not wrong". I turned to the circulator and asked her to call for relief (i was 3rd on this case). A tech came in after Avagarding, dressed herself, and took my place after counting everything, and as i was taking my stuff of, the surgeon said "yeah run away, little *****. Can't handle it, gotta leave huh?"
It turns out this was extremely common! This surgeon's been like this with SEVERAL nurses and techs. Although someone failed to tell me i was the 2nd 3rd assistant in her room that day and it wasn't even noon yet.
Went to the supervisor. She went to the hospital board. This surgeon hasn't been back for awhile, no one knows specifically why.
In other words, no, i don't stick around and take it.

OMG Marie...this is awful...she deserves abuse charges/hostile work environment for sure. Hope she stays gone for good.

Deaconess · Dec 8, 2004

So what do you all think is the best way to deal with a doc who starts up with a negative attitude and starts yelling of he doesn't get what he want's? DO you walk away. Do you say "I will not put up with you bad mouthing the nurses..." or what? We had a surgeon come in and start demanding things of us(which we had nothing tho do with and were unaware of) and started telling us how difficult we were and we were just being this way on purpose(yada yada)... No matter what we said we couldn't placate him so we just let him rant and called our manager(while he continued to rant at the air since we all walked away from him). Now this guy has been an A-sole but we never met him before so we had no clue. I am sick of these guys pulling this garbage so I walked away. There was no patient present yet by the way. He acted like we were obstructing justice or something.
After our manager(a male) talked to him I heard he was sweet as pie to my co-worker(I always miss this stuff)

Don't you know the other name for a surgeon?

Seriously, if a surgeon or other physician goes over the line with verbal or physical abuse (throwing sharps or bloody sponges, perhapse) towards nursing staff it is a legally reportable incident. The "legalese" for this is Physician Abusive Behavior. Physician Abusive Behavior does not only impact the staff at which it is directed but also results in poorer patient outcomes. When possible, it is probably best to work out more minor incidents as you and your nurse manager did.

mariedoreen · Dec 8, 2004

If I am directly on the receiving end of the tirade, I stay silent and just wait until it dies down. Then I give him my reply in a really quiet voice. He has to strain to hear what I'm saying and it forces him to shut up and calm down long enough for me to get it out. It's a technique that works well with out of control children too... which, when you think about it, makes perfect sense...

When they're going off at the group in general I'm a walk away kind of person... I have better things to do than deal with tantrums. But I have to say I like the surround-him-and-moon-him suggestion. I'll have to remember that!

niecy_nurse · Dec 8, 2004

I am a RN at a local hospital here in SC. We have one particular ortho DR who tries to get under all the nurses skin. Whenever I am in charge, I let him know that he can not intimidate me. I feel so sorry at times for our new nurses. I just tell them to ignore him and if he keeps acting out, write his behind up. I personally have not had to write him up, but I stand my ground with him.

abundantjoy07, RN · Dec 8, 2004

:chair:My granny worked in the hospital back in the day. She told me that one day a doc was doing a spinal tap and needed assistance. The doctor was one of those that abused drugs. He came into work and could not get the procedure right. He kept poking the poor man with the needle. He got mad and threw the needle and started cursing. My granny said all she could do was walk out the room and alert others (that really needed to know) that the doctor was high. When the right person heard he was sent home.

PJA2004 · Dec 8, 2004

I have been an ER Clerk for over two years and we are very lucky to have kind, respectable doctors staffed. They never talk down to any of the RN's even when things get crazy in the Emergency Room.

We do have a surgeon that works in the ER occassionaly and he would throw charts and have fits out of sleep deprivation I believe. LOL ... He never directed his fits at me, but one night he came out of his room when we were slammed and had a temper tantrum throwing xrays. I looked up at him and said "Hey, If I ever have surgery I use to think I would have you do it, but the way you carry on I wouldnt ever want you around me with sharp objects!" lol... He laughed and must have realized how foolish he looked, because he does not have tantrums anymore.

I would never tolerate working in a hostile enviroment where I am not valued or respected as a teamplayer. It probably does help being thick skinned too. Thats a pre req for working in any ER.LOL...

SleuthRN1 · Dec 11, 2004

I've ben the gambit with docs and their attitudes !!! I try to realize they may be transferring their anger and pettiness from another situation with another nurse. But there is no reason what so ever to take verbal abuse from anyone !!!! I worked a unit where we had several old docs who were good at throwing their weight around. We initated the Code Orange thing a time or two and it did work. One of them stopped in the middle or his barrage at the nurse and asked , " What the he** are you all looking at ??" A nurse in the group said . " A doctor behaving badly , as if we haven't seem one before !! " LOL , He sucked in his breath and left. The nurse he had be beratting, called him to follow up on his orders and the situation and he actually appoligized !!!!

Code Oragne does work , if used consistantly !!!

military girl · Dec 13, 2004

Sounds like a great idea to me. I bet that would help him "see" things differently. I needed a laugh and this hit the spot.

Hang loose. I was stationed in Hawaii back in the mid 80's(Army). Hope it is still as beautiful now as it was then.

Another consideration would be to surround the guy, turn around and "moon" him! :chuckle