Abusive and intimidating physicians do more than make nurses’ jobs more stressful. They can also cause medical errors, says The New York Times.
The Times points out that only about 4% of physicians are abusive—normally they are surgeons or specialists in a stressful field such as neurology. But a survey done by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, a nonprofit organization, found that 40% of medical staff members said they had not spoken up about a possible medication error they noticed because they were intimidated by a physician.
The good news is that the culture of the medical world is beginning to change. Medical schools and residency programs have started teaching skills such as leadership and communication to students. Additionally, the Joint Commission has created a standard to be put in place January 1, 2009 which would require hospitals to have a written code of conduct outlining acceptable behavior, along with a process in place for enforcing it.
However, the American Medical Association (AMA) has asked that the application of the rule be held for a year. The AMA fears the standard won’t be applied fairly and could cause physicians to be punished for speaking out against hospital regulations.
Has a physician’s behavior negatively affected you? How did your hospital deal with it?
December 29th, 2008 at 10:38 am
As an RN for 28 years I’ve seen an increase in bad behavior of physicians. In years past there may have been one or two bad apples within the hospital where I work. Usually these were young hot shots that the hospital eventually got under control before they did too much damage.
Currently, because of increased hiring from outside the country, I see many more conflicts. Sad to say, I really believe it is because the majority of the nurses in my hospital are female. It is difficult to adjust to the fact that women and men are equal if you have not been raised in a culture that believes that. Miscommunication occurs on both sides leading to increasing hard feelings.
Yelling is never acceptable. Degrading comments are not acceptable. Bating is not acceptable. Making a nurse feel she/he is not doing her/his best is not acceptable. That would be like saying to a doctor, why haven’t you cured every patient? And yet, this is what I see my nurses dealing with and I as a Director work with. I love being a nurse, but I can understand why my daughter choose to be a lawyer as her career path.
April 28th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
I’ve been a patient with a chronic illness for 8 years. I’ve worked for doctors for about 15 years. I’m female and have not only witnessed poor behavior by docs towards female staff but nothing prepared me for the way I would be treated as a female patient. Just an example: I saw the head of GI at a Baltimore hospital for severe GI issues. He was the same doctor who ordered a surgery on me years ago. He asked, “Is that your husband sitting out in the waiting room?” I answered yes. He then replied, “There’s your problem there, he’s too old for you”. “You need a carribean cruise”. I couldn’t respond to him or my husband when he asked how the visit went. I was in shock.And the doc knew it would be my word against his. This type of behavior repeated time and time again. Women are usually sent to a psychiatrist. I had lyme’s as well as Hashimotos disease. It took 46 docs before one even checked my B.P. lying, sitting and standing. My B.P. dropped 40 points upon standing - I had developed hypotension before finally being diagnosed. I am sickened by what I have experienced, especially by the older physicians. They are of the opinion that no one will stand up and speak against them so they can act however they wish. And, because a lot of them have so much clout, everyone’s afraid to. The only cases that stand up through the Board of Physicians are blatent cases of sexual misconduct and drug abuse. If there was a website dedicated to women reporting this kind of misconduct, we wouldn’t have to go through the Board or the hospital, we would just avoid them completely.