Why do you think so many healthcare workers are mean and arrogant?

[mikethern]

Not all of course, but many physicians, nurses, and other health care workers have mean and arrogant personalities.

Why do you think this is?

Is it that....

1. You have to be very competitive to get into medical or nursing school. Competitive people are often cut-throat.

2. The stress of the job causes workers to be cranky and mean.

3. Unhappy people act arrogant to feel better about their lives.

4. Workers learn to be mean from other coworkers. It's a conformity thing.

5. Most people in the world these days lack manners.

Any opinions?

[lamazeteacher]

I feel like Health Care workers are rude and arrogant because that's the self defense mechanism we use against a miserable patient crowd. While pleasant and grateful patients do exist, they come few and far between. The rudeness and hostility is how we try to get through the day without the inappreciative and angry patients' wearing us down.

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As in, the best defense is offense? or

Like attracts like?

Hopefully we can rise above those types of interactions. When emotional and physical pain co-exist, there is friction. It is our work and role to defuse it. THERE IS NO EXCUSE TO "GET THROUGH THE DAY WITHOUT........"............being "WORN DOWN".

If that is the case, go into another type of work, or go into therapy! or both!!!!:angryfire

[nursegia]

Honestly,

I never understood the mean and arrogant people in the Health Care profession. Most of them are so bad that I almost considered not working in Health Care. But the rationale that I came up with is that maybe Doctors feel like they are so knowledgeable and have so much power that they look down or believe no one can be as smart as them. As for nurses, they are at the top of the food chain in their profession, so they also feel the same way doctors feel. I really hate seeing ignorant people like that in the field. Then I think that these people are so fake because they are like this for the majority of the time with their co-workers ( I pray they are not like this often with their patients) but as soon as they hit the patients room its all smiles and they change their tone. I hope it will change and I want to be one of the people to help the change. I want to be a doctor, but because I didn't want to be like most of the ignorant doctors I've seen, I decided to be a nurse's aide 1st, a nurse, and then a doctor. The reason for this is because I will know how each person feels and how to treat them because I was once in their position. One person cant make a difference, but its a start.

[nursegia]

Mike, you sound like a bundle of nerves. I read the responses here, and they weren't snippy. Yet, you labeled them as such. Maybe your workplace is wearing you out and making you hypersensitive.

You started a thread making it sound like healthcare workers (the reading audience here) are extraordinarily mean and arrogent. That's not actually a general fact in most healthcare settings.

OR is it's own world, you must realize that!

I didn't think people were being snippy either. But In nursing school I definitely felt that the view I got was that the majority of Doctors were mean, and that some of the nurses were mean. Thats another reason why clinicals were so scary.

[sharona97, BSN, RN]

You know, I have tried to do exactly as you describe, with the same attitude. I was told that it was unfair to hold other people to the same standards as I have for myself, and that "a person's perception is their reality." In other words, if you hold them to the same standard that you operate by, you can be perceived as mean, and that perception will be judged accurate because it is that person's view of you-accurate, or not!

Have you ever heard such hogwash?

Oh yeah bigsis,

I had to learn that all people did not have to work like I did (I carry a pretty high standard for myself probably too high) they just had to do the same chores of responsibility. It really drove itself home after taking the Briggs-Meyers test. That as people we each see things and solutions in our own way. That does not exclude responibility or treating others with respect.

Did they talk about me behind my back, I'm sure of it. But I ignored it graciously. And to be honest, at times it did hurt, but I wasn't going to waste my time with cattiness. And at times these were the same exact people who came to me scared out of their bejeebers(is that a word?) and I just said sure let's go. Many times after working long enough at a facility it was a non-issue. Someone new popped up and they started on that person.

I carry these same things strait across the board and taught my son to do the same. It's ok to be angry, just not displaced IMO.:cheers:

[sharona97, BSN, RN]

Also I learned strait from a Doc's mouth, if it appears I'm ignoring you or don't answer you right away, it's probably cause I'm thinking. That doesn't exclude the jerky ones but Doc's and Nurses have very critical thoughts.

[sharona97, BSN, RN]

I didn't think people were being snippy either. But In nursing school I definitely felt that the view I got was that the majority of Doctors were mean, and that some of the nurses were mean. Thats another reason why clinicals were so scary.

Again IMO perceived to be. If you weren't good at your job Mike, I don;t think you would have started this thread. I took it as a vent.:cheers:

[lighterbeing]

At my facility there is becoming a much lower tolerance for bad behavior, thank goodness.

I think we notice the bad behavior in health care workers more because we know in our hearts we need to be so much better than that, and we must have high expectations for ourselves. People need for us to be caring and compassionate, we need to be that way for each other, it is a difficult job and we see so much human suffering. Do you think it is a defense mechanism?

Ok, I will admit, the MD'S can get a bit full of themselves, but did they go into their profession for the same reasons nurses went into nursing?

[sharona97, BSN, RN]

You would hope so, but................

[lamazeteacher]

stress

manners

time pressure

patients demanding

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How about immaturity and lack of professionalism?

[lamazeteacher]

At my facility there is becoming a much lower tolerance for bad behavior, thank goodness.

I think we notice the bad behavior in health care workers more because we know in our hearts we need to be so much better than that, and we must have high expectations for ourselves. People need for us to be caring and compassionate, we need to be that way for each other, it is a difficult job and we see so much human suffering. Do you think it is a defense mechanism?

Ok, I will admit, the MD'S can get a bit full of themselves, but did they go into their profession for the same reasons nurses went into nursing?

___________________________________________________________

Most of them went in to make lots of money and it sounds like they're taking it out on others.

[Haldolallergy]

I don't agree that so many healthcare workers are mean and arrogant, per se. But there are certainly a few bad apples who are. And I can almost see why...they've done so much education and training and collaborative stuff to improve the relationship between doctors and nurses at my hospital that our relationship is overall very good. However, the nurses get a constant barrage of grief from the "support" staff, and therein lies the conflict...

Cleaning woman comes out and yells at the RN b/c there is a spot of blood on the floor and "we don't clean blood--you do!" Or a urinal with an inch of urine in it after a discharge, again, not their job to empty urine, get the RN to go in there and dump the 30cc in the toilet in front of the cleaning staff. Or the secretary paging you to see if diet orders are entered, while you are in comforting a patient who just received a diagnosis of terminal illness. The overhead pages becoming louder and louder until you finally come out and get blasted by the secretary who is "just doing her job". You all know what I mean...we take the hits from above and below and some days we snap at each other since we can't snap at the patients.

Maybe we will all head off to work and think of this thread and bite our tongues and do one nice thing today for someone....

[oncrn17]

I have been a nurse for many years. In my experience, most healthcare workers were quite pleasant to work with and loved their jobs and patients because they did not need to work. Now in this day and age of loved ones being sicker, unemployed, etc, the healthcare workers have to work FT instead of PT, pick up extra O.T., and go home to loved ones who crave and demand more attention from us. Just my perception of the change in job status. We have no free time anylonger for ourselves! We are always on the go at home and work!