When Doctors Humiliate Nurses

When Doctors Humiliate Nurses

LETTERS

When Doctors Humiliate Nurses

Re “Physician, Heel Thyself” (Op-Ed, May 8):

As a nurse for more than 25 years and the author of a book to teach nurses how to combat bullying from physicians and others in health care, I applaud Theresa Brown’s first-person account of her experience.

Beyond humiliating nurses, physicians who abuse nurses endanger the very patients they profess to protect. Leadership from health care administrators, medical staff and policy makers is needed to change this appalling practice. What other profession would tolerate such abuse?

Nurses, too, can rally around an abused nurse in a practice called “code pink.” The word is passed nurse to nurse, and colleagues gather around the beleaguered nurse. Few physicians can stand the scrutiny of neutral-faced nurses standing silent beside one of their own.

At more than three million strong, nurses are the largest group of health care professionals. They, and their patients, deserve better.

ELEANOR J. SULLIVAN

St. Louis, May 8, 2011

The writer is the author of the forthcoming book “Becoming Influential: A Guide for Nurses” (second edition).

To the Editor:

There are some medical issues I wish we could end once and for all. As Theresa Brown wrote, doctor superiority, especially at the expense of nurses and other staff, is one of them.

The best doctors I know consider themselves part of a team and use the team’s knowledge to the advantage of the patient. They think “patient first” and draw on the experience of nurses, laboratory technicians and other medical professionals. The patient receives the doctor’s best treatment advice based on the collective knowledge of the team.

Doctors who accept only their own counsel are putting ego before medicine, possibly at the expense of the patient. Hospital care should be based on collective wisdom to reach the best treatment plan. Nurses, doctors and all highly trained medical professionals each have a role to play, each of which is invaluable to the patient.

HERBERT PARDES

President and Chief Executive

NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital

New York, May 9, 2011

To the Editor:

Today, hospitals pride themselves on providing patient-centered care by a multidisciplinary team, a hallmark of their quality. When one team member bullies another, patient care suffers. As a nurse, I would not want my family member or my nursing students in a hospital where physicians demean and insult their nurse colleagues, thus hampering their ability to care.

A culture of civility and a climate of respect and dignity not only win the day but also ensure patient safety and quality care.

It’s time physicians learned that nurses are on their team, poised to manage complex critical decisions and care for their patients. Please, no bullying — it hurts.

DONNA M. NICKITAS

Old Greenwich, Conn., May 8, 2011

The writer is a nursing professor at Hunter College, Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing.

To the Editor:

I cry out from the absolute bottom of the health care totem pole, a desperate plea from a lowly third-year medical student. The unprofessional behavior cited by Theresa Brown is sent on down the line from the top doctors to the house staff to the nurses and eventually to students like me.

Ms. Brown is right: institutionalized standards of professional behavior and a way to submit confidential incident reports should be in place, but is it really too much to ask health care professionals just to take a stance and pledge to treat one another right, regardless of this arbitrary hierarchy we’ve created?

In the meantime, I’ll pass along some advice I got from my seventh-grade guidance counselor about bullying: “Annie, just kill ’em with kindness.”

ANNIE ONISHI

New York, May 8, 2011

To the Editor:

Of course nurses aren’t the only target of doctor-bullying. Patients, too, cannot guarantee that their doctors will treat them as equals. And sometimes they can be patronized in front of strangers.

During my stint as a linguistic researcher at a rather famous Northeastern hospital, I attended daily rounds for new doctors. One (memorable) morning, the attending physician was proudly displaying to his audience all the skills that had been lost by an elderly man who had recently suffered a stroke. Look at how he cannot repeat after me, how he has trouble holding up two fingers, now three fingers and so on.

The doctor then filled a small cup with water and asked the patient to slowly raise it and drink from it, all the time winking at us that he wouldn’t be able to do so. The cup got halfway to the patient’s mouth, at which point revenge was had: he tossed the water all over the physician.

SUSAN J. BEHRENS

Brooklyn, May 8, 2011

A version of this letter appeared in print on May 15, 2011, on page WK7 of the New York edition with the headline: When Doctors Humiliate Nurses.