Nurse Abuse

[udali]

I have worked in hospitals where doctors were allowed to get away with many abuses, and I have worked in hospitals where they weren't allowed to abuse the staff at all. It is wonderful when the management cares enough to support their staff.

[nursinghumor]

June 6, 1999: Emergency Department Nurse Verbally Abused, Physician History Well Documented
Gordon v. Lewiston Hospital, 714 A.2d 539 – PA (1998)
Official tolerance for verbal abuse and sexual harassment is approaching zero. It is clear that both are still prevalent in healthcare settings today. Enforcing and reporting instances of abuse are critical to an end being put to the situation. In this case, a physician had a "history" of verbal abuse in the facility involved. It was the documentation of previous events that made formal action and administration of a suspension feasible.
http://www.nursefriendly.com/nursing...ses/060699.htm

This is a related case I reviewed a while back. True story of a nurse getting fed-up and taking a doctor to court. It does happen once in a while.

Andrew Lopez, RN
http://www.nursingcasestudy.com

[1mg.epi]

It's not just the fact that management did not support the nurse, The prosecuting attorney would not take the case. The nurse attempted civil charges agenst the Dr. and there were not takers. I was 5 feet away when this happened. What is the problem with our system.

[shellbell]

Doctors.
NEVER MIND THEM. I AM SO SICK AND TIRED OF PATIENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES. THEY JUST THINK WE ARE GARBAGE! GRRRRRRRRRRRR:mad:

[nursinghumor]

It's a sad fact of life, that people will treat you as shabbily as you allow them.

It's a sad fact of life that our nurse managers, administrators and coworkers often will not stand behind us when we're being abused by families, patients, physicians and other staff.

It's a fact, that if you call a bully on their abuse, and stand your ground, the abusers will at the very least think twice about using you as a doormat.

I've learned the hard way not to get into shouting matches with family members (it rarely resolves anything), but that doesn't mean I fold and kiss their butts either.

Treat people the way you expect to be treated, and if they don't reciprocate, don't go out of your way to make their lives easier.

Mine isn't the popular view I'm sure. It is one that's helped me get by for a long time in patient care.

Andrew Lopez, RN
http://www.4nursing.com

[kimmiejs]

Over my nursing career I have been fortunate not to be at the receiving end of an irrational doctor gone mad but I have witnessed others that have. If a nurse exhibited this type of behavior we would be fired and more than likely would be reported to the nursing board. I do not understand why doctors are not held to the same standards. Yes, I know they are under stress but who isn't. If a doctor ever hit me I would charge that physician with assault. As nurses we deal with patients and their family members that are under a great deal of emotional stress and turmoil. The last thing we need is a irresponsible and irrational doctor to add fuel to the fire

[shellbell]

no kidding!
I can honestly say that in 26 years of nursing,I have never witnessed a doctor being abusive.You get the odd one who is a little high on himself.But generally the nurses and doctors are pretty tight here.Maybe I have just been lucky.the nurses can get pretty ugly with each other though.:confused: But really, does it matter what you do for a living, there a jerks everywhere.The team I work with is the bomb

[SoldierNurse]

OMG... this is very sad. A man should never, ever lay an unwarranted hand on a female. Plus, any misconduct at the workplace should never, ever be tolerated, either.

I seriously doubt an MD would ever assault me, then again I'm not a female nurse. If I ever see such behavior you better believe I'll do everything [in a professional manner] I can to aid my fellow nurse. I've never seen an MD assault a nurse. I have seen surgeons throw surgical instruments, but not towards a person. However, in the ANC [Army Nurse Corps] RNs are military officers just as the MDs. So, often times an RN out ranks an MD. I do enjoy the mutual respect that exist in the Army Medical Department, which the ANC falls under.

[nursinghumor]

Sad I agree, and grossly under-reported. If domestic violence statistics shed any light, the cases of abuse in the workplace that are reported are simply the tip of the iceberg.

Sincerely,

Andrew Lopez, RN
Nursefriendly, Inc. A New Jersey Corporation.
38 Tattersall Drive, Mantua New Jersey 08051
http://www.nursefriendly.com info@nursefriendly.com ICQ #6116137, AOL “nursefriendly”
856-415-9617, (fax) 415-9618

[medi]

OMG... this is very sad. A man should never, ever lay an unwarranted hand on a female. Plus, any misconduct at the workplace should never, ever be tolerated, either.

I seriously doubt an MD would ever assault me, then again I'm not a female nurse. If I ever see such behavior you better believe I'll do everything [in a professional manner] I can to aid my fellow nurse. I've never seen an MD assault a nurse. I have seen surgeons throw surgical instruments, but not towards a person. However, in the ANC [Army Nurse Corps] RNs are military officers just as the MDs. So, often times an RN out ranks an MD. I do enjoy the mutual respect that exist in the Army Medical Department, which the ANC falls under.

So true... but sadly, being a nurse in a civilian hospital is so different than being one in the military. In the civilian world the hospital administrators (and therefore nursing admin as well) do whatever it takes to keep physicians happy -- you can count on them always supporting a physician and looking the other way if the doc is abusiive to staff (unless its something they absolutely just can't ignore)....

Docs who admit the most patients, or ones who are specialists and do their procedures at the hospital make $$ for the hospital and I have personally seen admin not only paying for doctors office space, but staffing their office at no charge on occassion, and have witnessed hospital admin distribute envelopes containing several thousand dollars in (unaccounted for- and non taxed) cash to "big admitters" at Christmas -- while hospital employees might, if "lucky" get a free turkey that year.

Admin knows they can hire new grads -- or just increase patient load on everybody else- or get agency staff, or make department heads pull shifts in addition to their other duties (have had to do that too) to cover patient care, so they'll do their best to ignore abusive docs, or blame the poor staff member who got abused for "causing the doc to get upset", rather than do anything to upset the doc & lose the money he brings in.

Scarier still is the fact that the employee who presses the matter will most likely soon find their performance evaluation going downhill, their shift being changed, and their working conditions made obnoxious beyond the point of tolerance, if they aren't let go for "being a troublemaker" or "incompetence"....