When you join a team, there is a mutual understanding that you’re all working towards the same goal. That’s why, if you work as a nurse, it can be challenging when there’s a disagreement with a doctor. You both want what is best for your client, yet you can’t seem to find a middle ground and that goal. So, what can you do to help build trust and smooth over these professional relationships?
Dealing With Difficult Doctors in the Workplace
Dealing with challenging coworkers is one thing. But if there’s a difficulty with a physician, it can impact more than the nurses they work with. Disruptive doctors can result in the following:
- Encourage medical errors
- Lead to poor client satisfaction
- Undermine team effectiveness
5 Ways to Handle Disagreements with a Doctor as a Nurse
1. Learn Their Preferences
It’s likely that the physician in question isn’t intentionally stubborn or disruptive. In many situations, a disagreement with a doctor can be explained by a simple difference of opinion. It’s possible that they simply prefer to do things a certain way. This can pertain, for example, to the way they communicate as well as the way they treat their patients. Additionally, if they also happen to have many years of experience, it could just be that they are drawing on those experiences and may not be treating the client by the book.
Learning how these physicians communicate and how they prefer to work with nurses and other clinicians can make your job easier and help you to provide quality care to your client. The easiest way to discover these preferences is by communicating with the physician directly. Furthermore, if you work with multiple physicians, it can be a good idea to keep notes about how each doctor likes to do things.
2. Review the Policies
What are your policies at work? Are you supposed to update charts several times throughout a shift, or can you update these towards the end? Do policies require you to provide a patient with specific types of medication? A full knowledge of these policies can help you better understand where a physician is coming from when they focus on something that you might have done or said to their patients.
3. Ask Questions
When it comes to working with a challenging peer, communication is always key. Talk to the doctor about their preferences, their background, and ask for feedback on your performance. Creating a rapport with a physician can help you see their point of view and learn how to work with them in a more productive manner. Furthermore, over time, it can make working with this physician far easier and more rewarding.
Also, it pays to remember that doctors have human moments too. In some cases, they might be having a difficult time at home, which is then reflected in their persona at work. Taking the time to talk to them, ask questions, and treat them as a human rather than as a potential adversary can make all the difference.
4. Prepare
Sometimes a doctor’s expectations can impact how they react to the scenarios around them. For example, if it’s their expectation that a nurse should find and notify them of patient changes, they may react poorly if the status of a patient changes, and they are unaware until a solution is put into place. Identifying the expectations of the physician in question and preparing appropriately can often mitigate any issues. Keeping up on your tasks and taking thorough notes can also help to reduce negative incidents, because at the end of the day, nobody on your team wants to feel like they’ve wasted their time.
5. Ask For Help
If you have followed policies, asked for feedback, and have thoroughly attempted to communicate, but the problem persists, then the situation may be out of your control. If you feel like you have exhausted all logical avenues, then talk to your manager or HR and ask for their assistance. They may be able to give you additional insight or instructions on how to handle communications with this peer. Remember that your general well-being matters too, and you can’t care for your patients if you aren’t caring for yourself.
Join the Care Options For Kids Team!
Are you ready for meaningful work that comes with benefits and not burnout? Join the compassionate care team that helps children and families live their best lives. Our clinicians provide best-in-class pediatric nursing, therapy, and school-based services. We bring individualized care to children where they live, work, and play. We have opportunities in homes, schools, and clinics across the country.
Apply now at Care Options for Kids. We make it easy to start so you can make a difference as soon as possible.
