I’m usually the calm professional at work (on the outside anyway) I’ve only lost my composure once, with an unprofessional bully type colleague.
The older you get, it’s easier to take these people on, call out the behaviour, never comfortable but important to find your voice when someone is taking the piss.
Empathic , tolerant , stoic personalities are targets for abuse in the healthcare setting. Self awareness and personal boundaries are essential.
Backup from a colleague helps, there’s always someone. Don’t suffer in silence, never accept an unprofessional, disrespectful attitude directed at you from ANY member of the multidisciplinary team.
Looking back many things lead up to my situation. The egregious culture of the ward , rude behaviour tolerated and walked past, (we all know the saying) unsafe ratios making it impossible to give adequate safe care, feeling disrespected and undervalued.
Our job means working in harmony with other people, giving colleagues the benefit of the doubt, forgiving small mistakes or ommissions, being kind. Its not hard!
If these basic behaviours can’t be achieved it can impact staff enjoyment of work, the mental health of some and have a negative flow -on effect to patient safety (even leading to death)
A coronial inquest happens if a doctor can’t form an opinion about a cause of death or has concerns about the way it happened.
For professionals working in direct patient care, these reports are learning tools , the concluding recommendations hopefully absorbed preventing similar mistakes being made again, stark reminders keeping us on our toes
Often it’s found all staff acted appropriately , did nothing wrong, communicated well , the death sadly inevitable.
But sometimes mistakes have been made , small mistakes, mistakes of omission, mistakes of communication , or a catalogue of them, swiss cheese holes lining up leading to tragic unnecessary deaths.
In healthcare we have colour coded early warning observation tools, labelling of multiple lines , communication training, risk assessments, supervision of new grads , adequate staff- patient ratios but still mistakes happen.
Everyone has an equally important role when it comes to safety. Learning to speak up is vital, communicating assertively to a team leaders if extra staff is needed, escalating further if not being heard . Doctors need to be open to listening too, no matter how senior they are or how long they’ve been in the job.
My hospital encourages submission of workload concern forms as evidence of need for extra staff to learn from, to see trends, track data.
Nursing/ midwifery attracts hard working humans , the caring nurturers, determined to cope and carry on till they drop, medal winning people pleasers (to their detriment) Ego sometimes involved, the too good to need help types? Often new staff don’t want to be seen as “acopic”
Goes against the grain for any of them to ask for assistance even if it’s clearly needed. That old fashioned badge of hard working, people pleasing honour needs to be chucked in the bin , out the window, off a cliff!
We can learn from assertive colleagues to speak the hell up. What’s the worst that can happen? Improved working conditions , improved safety for consumers of health , improved psychological safety and work satisfaction! That’s what can happen
The day I lost my shit, my stoic , I will tolerate (martyrish?) nature was finally pushed to its limit
The shift in question was 7 years ago on a busy public postnatal ward , the proverbial shift from hell , getting progressively busier as it went on , me getting further and further behind, juggling many balls in the air at once ( women and babies!) with too many competing priorities, probably hadn’t had a meal break either.
I was two hours overdue giving IV antibiotics , thwarted continually every time I tried to give them, either the doctor had the chart or the patient wasn’t there or I was answering buzzers like a crazy woman.
Thinking back , the solutions are obvious but at the time I felt trapped in a ward culture where staff had been tolerating this way of working for ever, complaining amongst each other, not formally, complaints fell on deaf ears.
In my current hospital we work in care partnerships, two of us sharing the patient allocation, a team mate looking out for the patients when you’re gone, proper meal breaks are a priority and extra staff can be sourced if needed.
Handing over to the oncoming shift when it’s been busy , colleagues are usually sympathetic saying “don’t worry it’s a 24 hr service , time for you to go home” or if it’s an ongoing busy situation maybe they’ll be tight lipped “yep yep yep”, listening but already planning , flick flicking through charts concerned for what’s ahead of them.
Rarely ever are you met with outright aggression.
I was uncomfortable handing my situation over to the oncoming midwife but her reaction was out of order. She STABBED her finger on the medication chart , said in a raised voice “this is ridiculous, these MUST be given on time!”
Yeah no shit Sherlock, a second pair of hands might’ve helped me achieve that.
It was the straw that broke the freakin camels back. What I needed was a hug, a sit down , a coffee , a sympathetic listening ear not angry ranty pants woman shouting at me.
Her tone was contagious, I didn’t match the volume but slammed charts on the desk, swore in my head, said “RIGHT! THAT’s IT, WE’RE GOING TO THE MANAGERS OFFICE!!”
I stormed off , her in my wake, horrified by now, backing down quickly as many bullies do when challenged , “NO , NO , WAIT A MINUTE!
Disappointingly the managers office was empty so back up the corridor we marched. I managed to gave her handover, she intently hung on my every word.
Must add none of this happened in earshot of the women.
Spoke to the manager before I went home, relayed the whole situation , told my husband, journaled with pen stabbing cathartic fury at home. What I didn’t and should have done was complete and submit a workplace concern form. The chat I had with the manager wasn’t going to change a thing
I also regret not making a formal complaint against that midwife. Makes me mad and sad to think how many others she may have upset
Be kind to your colleagues , be the listening ear , encourage , praise , be sympathetic at handover, and if that’s difficult at least be respectful.
Recognise when you need help , learn to articulate clearly and specifically why then ask for it
Finally, I love this image by UK midwife Jennifer Clarke
Lindsey Crossan Registered Nurse/Midwife