Why are people mean?

[jojo14]

The Background
Okay, so I have a patient who we admitted who had a high fever and history of febrile seizures with no infectious source that we could find-after a couple days, she's better on ABx, but no source. Last ditch effort- sinus CT for infection source

The Scene
My resident says, hey let's go look at the sinus CT with the radiologist so we can get a quick read and d/c the pt. We are post call. CT is running behind schedule. So we go down there and ask the radiologist to read it when it is finished.

Radiologist says: "Wow, you guys are really chomping at the bit here"

Me: "Yeah, we'd like to d/c the patient if we can. She is anxious to go."

Radiologist (as she takes the 1 minute to read it and proclaim sinusitis) "You know, we have really sick patients here. You can't just come down here and jump ahead in line because you want to go home."

My resident: "This is a sick patient. She's better, but has had a fever of 104"

Radiologist: "Oh, so she might not go home. So the med student just wants to go home."

Uh, WTF? What did I do? Why are people mean for no reason?

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[tx oms]

Why do you think that conversation was important? Do you think your picture with a big black "x" over it has been emailed to every residency program in the country b/c of one conversation. Why do you take everything personally?

 

[BadVB750]

My favorite are the scrub nurses/techs with a chip on their shoulder. The ones watching every move you making just hoping you screw up so they can yell at you. I asked one for a mosquito after the attended had tried three times, but the fat &^%$ was to busy talking to notice. I asked her when she looked at me and she yelled "what do you need that for." The attending looks up and said "I needed it." Her fat *&^ hurried up then.

 

[jojo14]

Why do you think that conversation was important? Do you think your picture with a big black "x" over it has been emailed to every residency program in the country b/c of one conversation. Why do you take everything personally?

i kinda thought it was a really random slam...that's all.

 

[orientedtoself]

i kinda thought it was a really random slam...that's all.

The radiologist probably was just having a bad day and took it out on you. I'm on a radiology month right now, and I can see that when clinicians come down to talk about a film, it breaks up the flow of their work. They have piles of studies to read, and it slows them down. Granted, if the read on the film is important for patient care, all should cooperate.

 

[chicamedica]

i kinda thought it was a really random slam...that's all.

Yeah that was pretty rude. I think it was a case of the rads guy not wanting to look dumb when your resident made him aware of his jump to a conclusion (accompanied by the rude attitude). Some people care so much about not looking like they were mistaken, that they "weasel" out of their mistake at the expense of others, most likely the med student (lowest on the totem pole). Therefore, yeah I know it's easier said than done, but in no way should you take it personally. Anyway, your resident knows the truth and that's all that's important.

(ps. the rads resident seems to have had this rude attitude to begin with because he was behind on the reads. . .which defense mechanisms is this again? Displacement? )

my point is, it's not you, it's not your resident, it's him. Usually radiologists are more than happy to go over a film if you go to the reading room. They dont even need explanations of why you need the read right then. ACtually i've had radiologists come up to me and VOLUNTEER to help me interpret a film i'd be staring at in the reading room. So this was definitely this particular guy's problem, in your case.

 

[OSUdoc08]

The Background
Okay, so I have a patient who we admitted who had a high fever and history of febrile seizures with no infectious source that we could find-after a couple days, she's better on ABx, but no source. Last ditch effort- sinus CT for infection source

The Scene
My resident says, hey let's go look at the sinus CT with the radiologist so we can get a quick read and d/c the pt. We are post call. CT is running behind schedule. So we go down there and ask the radiologist to read it when it is finished.

Radiologist says: "Wow, you guys are really chomping at the bit here"

Me: "Yeah, we'd like to d/c the patient if we can. She is anxious to go."

Radiologist (as she takes the 1 minute to read it and proclaim sinusitis) "You know, we have really sick patients here. You can't just come down here and jump ahead in line because you want to go home."

My resident: "This is a sick patient. She's better, but has had a fever of 104"

Radiologist: "Oh, so she might not go home. So the med student just wants to go home."

Uh, WTF? What did I do? Why are people mean for no reason?

 

[automaton]

The radiologist probably was just having a bad day and took it out on you. I'm on a radiology month right now, and I can see that when clinicians come down to talk about a film, it breaks up the flow of their work.

you mean it breaks up the flow of their internet surfing and coffee break regimen?

 

[BadVB750]

you mean it breaks up the flow of their internet surfing and coffee break regimen?

It is hard god damn work sitting in the dark all day sleeping.

 

[ears]

you mean it breaks up the flow of their internet surfing and coffee break regimen?

It is hard god damn work sitting in the dark all day sleeping.

If you talk like this, people will think you're ignorant and unprofessional. A modern radiology department, especially in an academic center, is incredibly busy. The people reading the studies have to focus hard, and be "on" for long periods of time.

BTW, it sounds like the radiologist in the OP's anecdote was frankly rude. He may have meant it in a joking way, but that doesn't excuse how it seems to have come out.

It seems to me that in modern, team-oriented health care delivery, being able to maintain pleasant, professional relationships with your colleagues and teammates can be critical for patient care. (And being "professional" means that you work at it no matter how busy you are, how long you've been up, or how bad a day you're having.)

Sorry to sound lecture-y; it just really rubs me the wrong way when people make things difficult and unpleasant for everyone for no good reason.

 

[automaton]

they wouldn't be as busy if they didn't "need" one hour breaks for food all the time. if these radiologists at academic centers are so busy then why are they not even there half the time i go look for them? there have been times when the entire room of radiologists all went to lunch and didn't come back for over an hour. obviously if you're going to take such long breaks you're going to have work backed up. others times i go there and they're surfing CNN the entire time i'm there. let's face it, people don't go into radiology so they can work their ass off.

 

[Apollyon]

Our radiologists bust their asses, and are always, always willing to stop what they are doing and pull up a film that we have questions on. There is one fellow now (who was a resident here last year) that does plain film attending that is a total bitch and borderline useless, but, otherwise, as a rule, our rads folks are 1. great and 2. great to work with.

 

[chicamedica]

If you talk like this, people will think you're ignorant and unprofessional. A modern radiology department, especially in an academic center, is incredibly busy. The people reading the studies have to focus hard, and be "on" for long periods of time.

BTW, it sounds like the radiologist in the OP's anecdote was frankly rude. He may have meant it in a joking way, but that doesn't excuse how it seems to have come out.

It seems to me that in modern, team-oriented health care delivery, being able to maintain pleasant, professional relationships with your colleagues and teammates can be critical for patient care. (And being "professional" means that you work at it no matter how busy you are, how long you've been up, or how bad a day you're having.)

Sorry to sound lecture-y; it just really rubs me the wrong way when people make things difficult and unpleasant for everyone for no good reason.

Hear HEAR!

 

[robotsonic]

Off of the original topic, but about radiology...
The radiology residents I have met (at a major academic center) tend to be accomodating and are usually completely willing to pull up an image and talk about it if I walk into the reading room and ask. But it seems like half of the times I try to call radiology, no one picks up. And if it is in the evening or before 9am, the problem is even worse. If radiologists are always "on for long periods of time," then what is happening when I try to call? And seriously, why do they seem to start at 9am? Every other resident starts hours earlier. I'm not insulting radiologists, I'm just trying to reconcile the things people say on this board with what I have experienced.

 

[Ice-1]

My favorite are the scrub nurses/techs with a chip on their shoulder. The ones watching every move you making just hoping you screw up so they can yell at you. I asked one for a mosquito after the attended had tried three times, but the fat &^%$ was to busy talking to notice. I asked her when she looked at me and she yelled "what do you need that for." The attending looks up and said "I needed it." Her fat *&^ hurried up then.

True. But at least you can keep in mind that in X number of months you will be a doctor and then the nurses/techs will have to cut that business out. I doubt that yelling at a doctor would be tolerated for long, even if that behavior does seem to be tolerated against a medical student.

 

[tx oms]

If you talk like this, people will think you're ignorant and unprofessional. A modern radiology department, especially in an academic center, is incredibly busy. The people reading the studies have to focus hard, and be "on" for long periods of time.

Kinda like when I stay up late playing Halo in the dark?

 

[Orange Julius]

 

[EctopicFetus]