I got a call from one of our NPs that a neurosurgeon was berating him and the icu nurses about why his postop patient was in the icu. He brought one to tears and was yelling at the charge as well. So I called.
Nsg: Who the hell transferred my postop pt to the ICU?
Me: I did.
Nsg: Who gave you permission to transfer my patient?
Me: I’m the admitting physician. You’re a consultant. Are you aware of their other injuries?
Nsg: Listen, hun, I don’t know who you think you are but...
Me: First, don’t call me hun. Second, it’s Dr. Hussein
Nsg: Ok “DOCTOR” I have never admitted pts to the ICU after this procedure. I don’t know what possessed you to make these decisions. But this is not the end of this discussion hun.
Me: Didn’t I tell you not to call me hun?
Nsg (no livid): I’M CALLING THE DIRECTOR AND CMO TO TALK ABOUT THIS!!!!!
Me: Great! Let me know what they say.
Nsg: ~click~
Toxicity doesn’t end, even when you become an attending because this bad behavior is never checked. We just have to learn to check it ourselves.
*now livid*
Edit button
This was awhile back. He’s told I’m right and he backs off. I report his behavior and, surprise, no repercussions for him. Calls me “DOCTOR” every time we interact for a few months and eventually learns to stop trying to get under my skin because I never let him 🤷🏾♀️
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
The story of two attendings. One we’ll call Toxic and the other Nice.
Toxic is your typical surgery bro with a god complex.
Nice is a good surgeon and a patient teacher.
I was on call with Nice when Toxic came to sign out to us on the patient he just operated on. He shared his plans and some labs to follow up on.
I asked if the labs had already been ordered or if I needed to order them.
Things went off the rails quickly. This was routine for him to go off for random reasons. And it didn’t help that he and I never got along for some reason.
Does it have to take a national movement against racism for the discrimination BIPOC women face in medicine to be taken seriously?
Does it have to take a national movement for “all these disparities women face in the workplace are worse for intersectional women” to move from a one-liner in #DEI work to the forefront and for #SystemicRacism to be relevant in the women in medicine movement?
When Black women spoke up about the discrimination we face and asked for allies to hold systems and institutions accountable, why is our go to answer “academia takes time?”