Yes your highness...I mean doctor!! rant!!!

[irish_std/n]

There is this one consultant in the hospital, he has a major reputation around the hospital as not being the most pleasant person to deal with. He treats the nursing staff like dirt and we have to have everything perfect for when he makes his rounds or he completly freaks out.

Yesterday it was my lucky duty to do his round. Anyway I go in and stand next to my patient while he discusses the pt with his team, he then states that he is going to examine the pt, proceeds to walk into me and says "kindly move to the other side of the bed like a good girl, didn;t they teach you in nursing school to always stand on the left hand side of the bed, its very important you know" so I move, and he's says to me ok I'll see the wound now theres a good girl... so I remove the dressing while he stands there tapping his foot. He goes out to wash his hands after the examination, and starts screaming at a random passerby about how there is no paper towel for him to dry his hands and that this is outragous where is the sister in charge etc...

so after his little tantrum he come back in, shouts for a certain referal form and when one of his docs goes to get it he trys to call em back saying oh no the nurse will get that for you, you dont have to get it! anyway doc gets form, consultant shouts more demands, turns to me and says "ok you can dress pt up now like a good girl....well done you did ever so well!!

aaaahhhhhh!!!:angryfire I thought the days of obeying the docs like they were God were well gone yet everyone practically falls to their knees when this guy comes around!! anyone ever experienced this? more importantly was anyone very taught to only stand on the left hand side of the bed when docs make their rounds!!!

[nuangel1, BSN, RN]

Over the years Doctor's come with good & less desirable attitudes. Once both of you get to know each other's style, things lighten up. But, if you run into an older, more traditional & formal Dr.; don't sweat the small stuff. Adjust to their unique styles. It truley saves alot of time & aggrivation. It's not harrassment to have expectations & certain protocol to be followed. Lighten up. Some feel this is showing them the respect that they feel comes with the territory. As a working relationship develops & they feel you're trying to anticipate their needs; trust me; it works wonders!

i could not disagree more .no ne and i repeat no one has the right to demean another especially not a so called professional.i don't care he's a dr

[nuangel1, BSN, RN]

I totally disagree! You should never have to adjust to someone else's style if it means that they are demeaning you!! I don't care if it saves time or aggrivation!! And yes it is harrassment... To be called a "good little girl" is demeaning, degrading, disrespectful and harrassing.

If anyone feels this is showing them respect, then respect is the last thing they deserve.

It's obvious that this doc is using this tactic to make himself look better while making others seem inferior. In todays day and age, no one should have to accept that. I don't blame her for being upset, and I'd be very dissapointed if this were to continue.

absolutely ageree with you well said:yeahthat:

[lauralassie]

Over the years Doctor's come with good & less desirable attitudes. Once both of you get to know each other's style, things lighten up. But, if you run into an older, more traditional & formal Dr.; don't sweat the small stuff. Adjust to their unique styles. It truley saves alot of time & aggrivation. It's not harrassment to have expectations & certain protocol to be followed. Lighten up. Some feel this is showing them the respect that they feel comes with the territory. As a working relationship develops & they feel you're trying to anticipate their needs; trust me; it works wonders!

Lighten up! forget it ..We need to stand up for ouselves!

[Barbiegirlnurse]

I think that we have all encountered physicians like the one discussed at the beginning of this thread. The physician that I worked with at the hospital, had such a reputation for being rude to nurses. As charge nurse, I would have to round with him, hold his clip board, and pretty much listen to him put the unit's nurses down in front of the patients. If anything was wrong or the patients had any problems, he would blame it on the nursing staff. He was especially crude to me, when he found out that I was going to NP school.

We had a patient on the floor who was diabetic and in desperate need of foot care. Not only did he have PVD, but he had suffered frostbite to both of his feet in WWII. His toenails were long and thickened, in addition to several of them being ingrown. When making rounds with the doc, I took the patients TED hose off, as I often do, so that the doc could get a good look at the patient's lower extremities. When we left the room, I suggested to him that the patient could benefit from a consult referral with a foot specialist, as the condition of his feet was hindering his rehab progress. The doctor yelled at me in the hall in front of other nursing staff, patients, and visitors and told me not to make suggestions to him as to what he should do. When he wrote the orders for that patient, he wrote for "Nurse to provide diabetic footcare". Well, this didn't sit well with me, given the vunerabilty of the patient's feet, based on his past medical history. This added to the fact that most nurses don't due diabetic foot care (unless specially trained ), led me to call him and question the order. He said "Well, you wanted to be a doctor, here's your chance" and hung up on me. This infuriated me, so I called him again, hoping to explain to him my reasons for not wanting to follow through with the order. Again he yelled at me and hung up the phone. I notified my supervisor and then the head of nursing at the hospital to explain the situation. Instead of siding with me, they told me to follow through with the order or disciplinary action would be taken against me! Why is it that doctors or anybody for this matter are allowed to treat other professionals like this? On one hand my professional license would be at stake if I performed the ordered care and the patient suffered adverse consequences as a result (infection, amputation, etc.), on the other hand, if I didn't do it my job was at stake. Such a dilemma!

I went ahead and performed the footcare after documenting in the patient's chart the conversations with the physician, my supervisor, and the head of nursing within the organization. I took special care while performing the foot care and no adverse events resulted. Still, after three years I wish that the hospital's nursing administration had sided with me. I feel it would have been in the best interest of the patient. Maybe if they had, the doc would have realized that his "Big bad wolf" tactics were unacceptable and just plain bad medical practice