Makeyourbed
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Do all Dental schools have mean/rude faculty. How to deal with it?
Mean Faculty
- Thread starter Makeyourbed
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yes. theres not much you can do aside from be polite. It's almost like dealing with rude patients, your career is based off of the way you deal with these types of people.
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Keep your head low and try to fly under the radar. Just remember your pain when the school comes asking for financial donations after you've graduated.
Big Hoss
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truth!
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Lay low. Think of them as losers, because only true loser abuses innocent souls who came to learn
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Just remember this about those nasty instructors: "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach."
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“And those who can’t teach, teach gym”
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This!!!
This is so true, well beyond dental school too.
You will run into those losers in the corporate world, in the military, on the sports fields, in government posts, in social organizations, and even among your patients.
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Just curious as to what you felt was "mean"?
Was it that they were trying to inform you that you may have given a wrong answer?, or improperly prepared at tooth? or weren't seeming to grasp a concept that they were teaching? professional ettiquitte? timeliness to class/clinic?
Or was it them making a mean remark about something like appearance? or a non clinical/dental school realted item?
Just curious as context can make a difference, and if it's about a professional matter, then that is their job to instruct you to become a competent clinician, which sometimes does requite them to tell you that you are indeed wrong about something. If it's about a social issue, well then has been previously stated in this thread, some people certainly can come off as jerks as times to others, and that's just their own personalities, and you will likely HAVE to deal with many others with similar personalities in your educational process, your professional career, your social life and your personal life
Was it that they were trying to inform you that you may have given a wrong answer?, or improperly prepared at tooth? or weren't seeming to grasp a concept that they were teaching? professional ettiquitte? timeliness to class/clinic?
Or was it them making a mean remark about something like appearance? or a non clinical/dental school realted item?
Just curious as context can make a difference, and if it's about a professional matter, then that is their job to instruct you to become a competent clinician, which sometimes does requite them to tell you that you are indeed wrong about something. If it's about a social issue, well then has been previously stated in this thread, some people certainly can come off as jerks as times to others, and that's just their own personalities, and you will likely HAVE to deal with many others with similar personalities in your educational process, your professional career, your social life and your personal life
It's good to differentiate between "mean" and the type of useful criticism that you're describing, but usually when someone says "mean" they are describing unprofessional behavior that should not be tolerated in the workplace. I agree that some patients are difficult/mean, but in this situation we're talking about professionals in an academic setting that should be held to a higher standard. A useful heuristic is to treat others the way you would prefer to be treated.
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What will you do when you have mean patients?
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Please refer to GTFOOMO on dental town
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The sooner that clinicians learn to accept that regardless of how you act as a person and treat your patients, that there will always be some patients who are just plain and simply generally "unhappy" with most everything, the better.
The sooner that a clinician learns and accepts that if working on those patients isn't something that you want to do, that it is OK, and won't end up being a financial disaster for yourself, to dismiss those patients, in a professional way, from your practice, the happier you will be in the long run.
The reality is that for 1001 reasons, there will be patients who you will treat, that will leave your office, and that in the big scheme isn't a big deal and just part of practicing dentistry. What we as clinicians often don't seem to grasp is that it is OK if from time to time, we choose to end that doctor-patient relationship as well. It is a 2 way street on this topic and not just a 1 way street.
I probably have 1 or 2 patients a year that I dismiss (and not just because they may have a significant number of no-shows to appointments). That being said, I also have many patients, who I may of thought about dismissing from my practice, but realize that I can put up with whatever idiosyncracy their personality may have that doesn't align very well with my own personality.
The reality is you're very likely NEVER going to have your "dream" patient population (all nice people who have have similar interests in and are cash paying and never question your treatment plans
) but you also certainly don't need to feel that you have to keep treating some "nightmare patients" as well
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Well said.The sooner that clinicians learn to accept that regardless of how you act as a person and treat your patients, that there will always be some patients who are just plain and simply generally "unhappy" with most everything, the better.
The sooner that a clinician learns and accepts that if working on those patients isn't something that you want to do, that it is OK, and won't end up being a financial disaster for yourself, to dismiss those patients, in a professional way, from your practice, the happier you will be in the long run.
The reality is that for 1001 reasons, there will be patients who you will treat, that will leave your office, and that in the big scheme isn't a big deal and just part of practicing dentistry. What we as clinicians often don't seem to grasp is that it is OK if from time to time, we choose to end that doctor-patient relationship as well. It is a 2 way street on this topic and not just a 1 way street.
I probably have 1 or 2 patients a year that I dismiss (and not just because they may have a significant number of no-shows to appointments). That being said, I also have many patients, who I may of thought about dismissing from my practice, but realize that I can put up with whatever idiosyncracy their personality may have that doesn't align very well with my own personality.
The reality is you're very likely NEVER going to have your "dream" patient population (all nice people who have have similar interests in and are cash paying and never question your treatment plans
I'll add that when you do dismiss a patient ... make sure you have all your documentation in order. Progress records. Pt in stable status. Documentation on how you tried your best to remedy the situation. Helping pt find a suitable new dentist. Providing 30 days of emerg care. Etc. Etc. Realize that there are possible negative consequences to dismissing a patient. Possible board complaints. Probable negative social media complaints. Worst: law suit. Happened to myself. I was younger (mid 30's). Doing well. Had an issue with a patient .... and asked her to GTFOOMO. My EGO got in the way. A month later was served with a lawsuit summons. Worst 12 months of my life.
At this point I've learned that I would rather put up with a ****ty patient than risk any possible lawsuits. I look at ****ty patients as a challenge. Seriously. It's EASY to treat nice patients, but where is the challenge in that? It's a challenge. I can tell you I've turned plenty of ****ty patients into nice patients over the years. I pride myself with this ability.
But of course. There will always be those that need to be dismissed. Just DOCUMENT.
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What was the lawsuit for?
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Doesn't matter. Lawyer fees are probably not worth the hassle of treating powder keg patients poorly
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TMJ. My insurance company settled for around $23,000. She wanted $250,000. Her case was very weak . The 23K is small beans for a settlement. But I had to endure 12 long months of emotional negativity before the case settled .
Never again .I practice defensive dentistry.
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Dismiss
