Doctor Drama continues

With the risk of sounding like a broken record here, I'm going to talk about problems with another doctor. Dr. "Hostile," whom I talked about before has somehow been able to maintain an appropriate attitude while around me ever since our conversation. So, I suppose he is showing me proof that doctors can hear your complaints and change - If they want to. He still has his quirks.... but he is SOO much more respectful... I'll deal with the quirks.

This other doctor, I'll dub "Dr. Miserable." She is just that: miserable. She is a relatively young doctor who hasn't been practicing very long. But, she truly acts like she hates her job. She gets upset when she is called in while she is on call. She audibly sighs and says things like, "Great!" or "It figures" to our request for her presence on the unit. What can I say: women come in and have babies. It is kinda what we do here.

I do agree being an OB/GYN is a demanding job. But, do I have sympathy for her? Ummm, NO! She chose this career. She is being amply compensated for her efforts and I am about done hearing how miserable she is. She made a comment one evening while working late at the hospital that she only saw her daughter 5 hours in the last week. Well, shall we compare notes? I just worked 5 straight 12 hour night shifts. I wake up 1 hour before leaving for work and spend 1/2 an hour getting ready... So, in the last 5 days I've only seen my children 2.5 hours. And, I don't get paid nearly as well as she does to NOT see my family.

The point is everyone on maternity works hard. Everyone is stressed at one point or another. But, the difference is in the actions of the people. If we as nurses acted like the doctors freely do and wear our emotions on our sleeves and huff and puff and sigh and yes - even swear at people when we were asked to do OUR JOB - we wouldn't be working there long... would we? But, it seems to be totally acceptable for the doctors to be able to do that.

We need to work together. Everyone would rather be at home with their families. Everyone would like to be independently wealthy. But, few are. The rest of us have to work together and not make things worse on everyone else by being disrespectful to others because of our own personal misery.

The last night I worked another nurse took Dr. Miserable into an empty room and addressed her actions... So, here is hoping that she listened and will respond appropriately in the future. We shall see. She is so young, though... and has so many years ahead of her to practice medicine... If she truly hates it, I hope she can figure it out and move on to anohter field. For her own good as well as those she has to work with.