Comments on: Confronting a Rude and Disrespectful Coworker

By: Thomas Benzoni

Thomas Benzoni — Fri, 31 Jul 2015 20:23:30 +0000

One added suggestion: Other employees may carry forward their experiences and expectations. This can sabotage your efforts by forcing her/him back into a defensive position. So other employees have to be convinced to give him/her a second chance.

By: Edward Schneider

Edward Schneider — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 14:39:44 +0000

While I applaud your focus on the rest of the staff you ignore the administrator’s shortsightedness. He asserts that the MD “provides outstanding medical care” and also says “his patient satisfaction scores are horrific.” You do not point out the contradiction. If the patients are not satisfied the medical care is NOT outstanding. It’s unlikely the administrator will point the doctor in the right direction unless the adminstrator sees the issue as well. Yes treat you co-workers with respect. But do not forget the patient.

By: piecework

piecework — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 15:14:01 +0000

As a reformed rude and disrespectful co-worker, I’d like to weigh in. You mentioned this ER MD provides outstanding medical care. Therein lies the reason for his rude and obnoxious behavior. As with my bad behavior, when we know we’re good, we are arrogant. It isn’t until we get thrown on our backs by life (for me it was physical illness) that we have the opportunity to learn humility. After humility, comes respect and empathy for others. There’s more to it, but this is it in a nutshell, from my perspective.

By: Steven Porter

Steven Porter — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 14:31:59 +0000

For meetings, I believe that having a set of guidelines that each person agrees to uphold can lessen the occurrence of behavior that prevents real discussion or is outright abusive.

By: Robert Campbell

Robert Campbell — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 14:31:01 +0000

Another option for the “difficult physician” is a true lack of social or people skills. Some people bring great technical skill value to the team, but may not have an intrinsic programming to deal effectively with other team members. I do believe that we have encountered this individual behavior on several occasions within our medical service line; the individual was unwilling and unable to change and was terminated ultimately due to the caustic impact on the team. We lost world-class expertise but recaptured our team. This was a very hard balancing act, not taken lightly (we used coaches, counselors, disciplinary measures, and interventions—–all unsuccessfully) RMC

By: Linda Zehnbauer

Linda Zehnbauer — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 15:36:00 +0000

I enjoyed reading your suggestions and appreciate how you pointed out the importance of the impact on the rest of the team. I would like to encourage the writer to take your recommendations; from personal experience, it is worth the effort. I had to remove an abusive employee from a team that I inherited. She had worked for the company for 15 years, but previous managers had not documented her behavior. After 2 long years of dealing with the abusive behavior and careful documentation, I was able to remove the problem employee. The rest of the team was amazed, thankful, relieved, and impressed. You will stand out as a leader when you take the necessary action – no matter what course of action the problem employee chooses.

By: Marcia Levetown, MD, FAAHPM

Marcia Levetown, MD, FAAHPM — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 04:34:03 +0000

Subject: Confronting a rude physician colleague

Thanks for the sage advice offered. One additional possibility for that physician is depression. As a medical director and 25 year veteran in the field, I have seen this far too often. Physicians must report their use of psychoactive drugs to licensing agencies and therefore are loathe to receive treatment, even if it would enhance their productivity. We have at least as much psychopathology as the general population. Requiring evaluation and proof of ongoing intervention by a psychiatrist is literally life saving; I have witnessed a medical staff doing this with the result of a transformation of a physician’s personal & professional life- he had been on the verge of losing it all. In contrast, when depression was undiagnosed in another colleague and he lost his privileges, this 32 year old highly trained physician committed suicide the next day. Please include depression in your differential diagnosis of the desribed behavior. You might save lives in doing so.

By: Alan H. Rosenstein MD. MBA

Alan H. Rosenstein MD. MBA — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 02:04:49 +0000

In reply to Mackenzie Lister, RN, BSN.

Thanks for discussing this important topic. The case story on the ED MD is nothing unique. I like your approach and offer some additional suggestions. (1) Approach in a non- confrontational manner (2) listen to their input to gain their perspective (3) Make them aware of potential negative repercussions of their behavior and test their sensitivity to the issue (4) Present appropriate standards of professional care guidelines (5) inquire about any underlying causes of stress, burnout, anger etc. and offer support (6) then set criteria and expectations and hold individual accountable for their actions with one possibility being termination. For more information on this topic see my recent article on disruptive behaviors in the ED setting (Rosenstein, A. Naylor, B. “Incidence and Impact of Physician and Nurse Disruptive Behaviors in the Emergency Department” The Journal of Emergency Medicine Vol. 43 Issue 1 July 2012 p.139-148). Happy to discuss if you like. Alan H. Rosenstein MD. MBA ahrosensteinmd@aol.com or see http://www.physiciandisruptivebehavior.com

By: Mackenzie Lister, RN, BSN

Mackenzie Lister, RN, BSN — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 22:23:33 +0000

I really enjoyed reading your suggested approach. I would like to also add, that as a leader, something tangible must be done to also begin to heal the recipients of this individuals incivility thus counteracting the toxicity this person instilled into the ER workplace and ultimately improving quality outcomes. Examples being a new zero-tolerance policy, team building and education days, discussion with leadership and floor staff, applauding active identification of issues influencing team process. The triple prong approach: identify the issue, address the behavior, and clean up the mess caused by incivility.

By: Kevin Crenshaw (@kcren)

Kevin Crenshaw (@kcren) — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 18:55:11 +0000

Yes!

Note that it all starts by labeling the real problem (“abuse”),and then *deciding* that it must change. That’s hard until you see a good path. But when you have a path based on mutual respect, mutual purpose, and correct principles, fear subsides.

I especially love how you address the needs of everyone involved (the offender as well as those offended); you break down the possible causes (ability, motivation, or both); you clearly communicate the issue and options to the party; then you invite them to choose their path with your full support. That’s key, because only they can make the final choice. Will they improve or not? Once they choose, then your path is clear. Simple principles, simply applied.

Thanks!