Dr. Victor Trastek is a thoracic surgeon at the Mayo Clinic. To his surpise, an important part of his professional education came from a nurse, Shelly Olson, well after he became an attending physician. They tell their story in this video.
Congratulations to Shelly for having the guts to stand up to an abusive and powerful member of the medical staff. Congratulations to Vic for having the guts to tell the world an embarrassing story about himself--for the purpose of helping others see the way.
Congratulations to Shelly for having the guts to stand up to an abusive and powerful member of the medical staff. Congratulations to Vic for having the guts to tell the world an embarrassing story about himself--for the purpose of helping others see the way.
4 comments:
If we want more of these encounters, hospital management from the CEO on down must make it abundantly clear that nurses, techs and others will be supported and protected when they speak up to doctors when appropriate. Surgeons have an image of being the macho fighter pilots within the physician community and sometimes behave in an arrogant and obnoxious manner toward lower ranking employees. When it happens, they need to be called out on it.
My personal experience is that such behavior is far from the norm. I have a seen surgeons act more like this in large hospital systems with closed referral networks. In smaller hospitals where we the nurses at church and school surgeons don't manifest such behavior.
Kudos to RN Shelly Olson for speaking honestly to DR Trastek. I just wish it wouldn't have taken so long. I think too many of us are afraid of confrontation and allow things to fester, sometimes until an unfortunate situation occurs. Maybe having staff read "Crucial Conversations" might be good...
I am a nurse from a family of nurses. Every one of us tells this story. Some time it is simple ego on the doctor's part. More often it is a way of trying to deal with the burden of being responsible for the patient's outcome. If the doctor can be convinced everyone is working for the same goal things end like this story did. Unfortunately not everyone can see past their nose.
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