ADVANCING HEALTH-CARE PRACTICE

1.4     Helen's Story

I went to work a few days later and one of the nurses was so mad because Dr. Dale refused to work with her and so the charge nurse had to switch assignments. It was really busy and there were no free nurses so everyone had to switch assignments. She said he was lecturing her on what her nursing responsibilities were and he was doing it in front of the patient. She didn't want to upset the patient so she didn't say anything. Last night he started in on her again. She was so tired that she went to get the charge nurse and had to take a break because she was crying. She said if he is on again on her next night shift she is going to call in sick. I don't blame her. How can he refuse to work with her? It turned out that day I was assigned to work with him and I was really dreading it. To my surprise, everything went well and he even complimented me on how I set up the room, remarking that he wished other nurses were more like me.

Another time, he came in with a can of red paint on a weekend when he wasn't even working, and painted little marks on the OR floor so he could make sure we put the OR tables in exactly the right place to give him perfect lighting when he was inserting epidurals or spinals. We couldn't believe it. Then he came out and lectured all of us about how he had told us all so many times but we couldn't seem to get it right so maybe now we'd be able to position the tables and the patients properly. We all laughed after he left. It was so busy that day so we were all tired...it was the last thing we needed.