What do you guys do about a fellow pathologist who has a lot of mood swings and screams at the staff? I wonder if this is endemic to pathology in particular or medical staff in general.
"Difficult to work with"
- Thread starter oldfatman
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Not endemic to pathology and most hospitals and medical staffs have policies to deal with disruptive physician behavior. In fact, pathologists tend to be the least likely to be reported for disruptive behavior.
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Psych consult? We had an attending who was very similar to what you described. I heard he was a good pathologist and loved to work 16 hour days and basically lived at work. That's not all either..I'll leave it for another thread.
D
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JACHO ( or whatever they call themselves now) now requires that hospitals have a "system" to deal with this. I have sat on a physician peer review committee where we have had these individuals called in on the carpet and straightened their ass out. We WILL refuse to recredential anyone who continues to be such an a**hole.
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Is there a senior pathologist that can tell him this is unacceptable?
Some places have a peer review type process which is more formal, but effective way to deal with it.
Some places have a peer review type process which is more formal, but effective way to deal with it.
D
deleted314957
Your 1st suggestion is how we start out. It only comes to an appearance before the full committee and then the medical exec committee if the offender just does not get it and needs to be hit over the head.
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Depends on where you're thinking of going with it. If you're just hoping it will stop because otherwise they do a good job, then you've got to make it clear that the behavior (be specific, give examples) is unacceptable, starting with some sort of private setting. If you're thinking this may be a job-ending kind of thing at some point, or want to use it as a contributor in the future, then you've got to have some sort of formal procedure. Again, this probably has to start with documented notification, then documented complaints/incidents, documented attempts to correct the behavior, etc., with some kind of defined endpoint. Unless you're in the private setting and the contract is written such that they work at the boss's discretion or similar -- then you just fire them and move on.
If you're not "the boss" then you have a different problem, and probably need to get "the boss" on board.
Having lived on and explored this planet for some years now, I can safely say such behavior in general is not limited to pathologists or the medical profession.
If you're not "the boss" then you have a different problem, and probably need to get "the boss" on board.
Having lived on and explored this planet for some years now, I can safely say such behavior in general is not limited to pathologists or the medical profession.
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is this new to the person involved or a continuing pattern. You need to be aware of new life patterns for this person..such as new life stressors( death in family..cancer in family..etc)
continuing pattern shoudl be dealt with..new life stressors may need counseling
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It depends on who it is and what level they are at. If they are a senior attending or even chairman it becomes difficult to do much about it. But the GME office or your program director would be a start. If it's the program director, then definitely GME. If it's another resident, there are many options.
Overly aggressive individuals are often best dealt with in one of three ways:
1) Be equally or more aggressive back to them. This is generally counterproductive except in extreme circumstances and does not help the patient except in extreme circumstances.
2) Passive aggressive tactics that undermine their behavior, since direct confrontation is unlikely to be of any effect.
3) Ignoring it and learning to work with it, unless it is harming patients at which point you need to go back to #1. If it's just an aggressive person who annoys you, that's more your problem then their problem.
1) Be equally or more aggressive back to them. This is generally counterproductive except in extreme circumstances and does not help the patient except in extreme circumstances.
2) Passive aggressive tactics that undermine their behavior, since direct confrontation is unlikely to be of any effect.
3) Ignoring it and learning to work with it, unless it is harming patients at which point you need to go back to #1. If it's just an aggressive person who annoys you, that's more your problem then their problem.
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The problem has risen to the attention of med exec.
If you choose option #1, you must make sure that you have allies. You must have strength in numbers. The enemy of your enemy is your friend.
I wish you the best of luck. There is a lot of politics in medicine. Tread very carefully.
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I am afraid my enemy is too deeply entrenched for a quick decisive victory. Either I can wait for the enemy to die off and retire or I can retreat and go work someplace else. Even the tactic of "death by a thousand cuts" seems like a major project.
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I've made an enemy an ally, so to speak, a time or two. Not easy and not always successful, though. And sometimes not worth the self-inflicted wounds that can go along with it. Every choice is a trade, and honestly, if you're not sure that you're fighting for something well worth it, finding a new playground can be the better part of valor. Life's too short.
Ah, finding a new playground sounds so wonderful, but I fear I am in a "Hotel California" practice.
