Physician HEEL Thyself: Bullying in the Workplace

[mellowsong]

IT was morning rounds in the hospital and the entire medical team stood in the patient’s room. A test result was late, and the patient, a friendly, middle-aged man, jokingly asked his doctor whom he should yell at.

Turning and pointing at the patient’s nurse, the doctor replied, “If you want to scream at anyone, scream at her.”

This vignette is not a scene from the medical drama “House,” nor did it take place 30 years ago, when nurses were considered subservient to doctors. Rather, it happened just a few months ago, at my hospital, to me.

As we walked out of the patient’s room I asked the doctor if I could quote him in an article. “Sure,” he answered. “It’s a time-honored tradition — blame the nurse whenever anything goes wrong.”

I felt stunned and insulted. But my own feelings are one thing; more important is the problem such attitudes pose to patient health. They reinforce the stereotype of nurses as little more than candy stripers, creating a hostile and even dangerous environment in a setting where close cooperation can make the difference between life and death. And while many hospitals have anti-bullying policies on the books, too few see it as a serious issue.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/opinion/08Brown.html?_r=2

[mellowsong]

A friend sent me this knowing some of the things I endured as a nurse. It is right on. I just posted because I know there are other nurses/health care professionals here.

[Reesacat]

It is very true-all you need is one or two morons with MD after their names and the medical students learn the same jackass behavior.

[bmc65]

Boy this could not be more timely. I've been really depressed the last several days over some nurse on nurse I just received at work. I was reprimanded the other night by not one, but three nursing supervisors. One even complained to one of my coworkers ( loud enough to overhear) about my "mistake". There was a medication count-back discrepancy on my floor that I discovered. When I went to handle it the way it has always been handled on my floor (like by nurses, managers and other supervisors who have yrs more experience than me), I was on this one occasion told by a fellow nurse that I needed to report it to the nursing office. I did as she suggested and thus brought the hammer down on myself. I was lectured, spoken down to, and read policy to (which does not give any applicable direction by the way). This may all be vague, but the details would take a lot of writing. Suffice to say I came across another discrepancy the very next time I came to work. I reported it immediately as I was lectured to do and guess what, it was handled in the "old way" by a supervisor and a manager. The very same way I was severely lectured to about.

[LabDoc]

Sometimes I really feel so sorry for you guys. Despite these 'enlightened' times, there is still a group of MD's who have the philosophy 'We are God, anyone else is fair game". I nearly had my socks knocked off many years ago when I officially reported a Registrar (probably your equivalent of an attending) for unprofessional behaviour, inappropriate language and harassment. Two days later his Consultant came to see me with profuse apologies, stating that if any such problems occurred again, to telephone him straight away. Now I am sure my complaint wasn't the reason but two months later when applications for the coming years jobs were published, said Registrar had failed to secure either of the two positions he applied for and was never seen or heard of again. I smiled to myself. I passed the Consultant in the corridor not long after, he winked at me and said "Our problem seems to have been solved".
I often used to tackle the 'put down' problem (which would also apply to Nurses) by thinking to myself, How would this hospital function if we just walked off the job. No need to give you an answer.

[Reesacat]

Bmc65-that stuff happened to me all the time......I hope your work situation gets better!
Good for you, LabDoc!

[bmc65]

Reesacat, thanks just hearing that from you is a huge help.

[highlander]

Turning and pointing at the patient’s nurse, the doctor replied, “If you want to scream at anyone, scream at her.”

That just made the doctor look like an idiot. Publicly blaming a subordinate in any heirarchy is a faux pas.
Arrogance does not belong in health care. Probably the same doctors and nurses who talk down to their patients are the same ones who bully.

bmc...I'm really sorry about what happened. If I were in NYC I could arrange to be a fly in their ointment.

[bmc65]

Highlander, thank you. between you and Reesacat I'm feeling tons better.

[Islander]

That's just brutal, and so unfair. Blame is common in the workplace, and it will probably never disappear, but that does not make it right. When I was in education, and kids entered a grade below standards, the high school teachers blamed the middle school teachers, who blamed the elementary school teachers, who blamed the parents. The same in every work situation I have ever been in. Shit always flows downhill.

[highlander]

When I was in education, and kids entered a grade below standards, the high school teachers blamed the middle school teachers, who blamed the elementary school teachers, who blamed the parents.
That reminds me of a public meeting I attended a few years ago. A local rural charter school had just hired a new administrator from a large school district. She found out that there are a lot of homeschoolers in this area and supposedly wanted to "reach out" to them. What I found was a woman who was already hostile to homeschooling but did actually listen to some parents. Her big complaint was that in her previous position she often saw homeschoolers that later enrolled in public schools struggle in math. But yet in her very district the average 10th grade math proficiency levels were only about 20% for public schooled kids. :eek: The pot calling the kettle black yet again. A more productive attitude would be to accept that kids aren't learning math at the levels hoped for, find out why, and come up with ideas on how can we do better. :deadhorse: (This horse is named Math during this rant.) It would also help tremendously if educational professionals would realize that non-professionals often have good ideas and fresh insights.

[Reesacat]

@ highlander-you are being logical and rational again! No wonder they can't understand you!

The education system trains the people pursuing higher degrees that the only knowledge worth getting is through their system.
Life experience is dismissed-and that is a shame since I think life experience is one of the best sources of knowledge.

[highlander]

The education system trains the people pursuing higher degrees that the only knowledge worth getting is through their system.
I just can't understand why people don't question what they're told. I realized in the first grade that teachers are wrong sometimes. By the time I was three I realized my Mom was often wrong, too. Of course I didn't tell them that but the older I got the more I filtered their input. Sometimes I think I'm a different species.

[Islander]

Sometimes I think I'm a different species.
No, it's ok, I'm the same species as you. So there are at least two of us. I think there are more out there, but they are afraid to speak up.

[Julieanne]

highlander, I know how you feel. I sometimes make myself unpopular by asking questions and speaking up, even when I do it politely and tactfully. When I was a child, there was a radio programme (in UK) - the theme song was 'If ignorance is bliss, it's folly to be wise'. Took me years to understand what that was about!

[bmc65]

I sometimes think my name should have been Cassandra, so I know what you guys are saying.

[highlander]

I sometimes make myself unpopular by asking questions and speaking up...
I find that it makes me popular with some people (usually the rebellious types) and unpopular with others (usually the authoritarian types).

[mellowsong]

highlander, I know how you feel. I sometimes make myself unpopular by asking questions and speaking up, even when I do it politely and tactfully. !

I have lost more than one job for doing exactly that Julieanne! As a nurse, being a true patient advocate just wasn't tolerated, nor was questioning either patient or staff abuse.

[highlander]

I have lost more than one job for doing exactly that Julieanne! As a nurse, being a true patient advocate just wasn't tolerated, nor was questioning either patient or staff abuse.
You rock.