My doctor is a very aggressive power hugger

[freshpa]

So I need advice on what to do. So I am 11 months out of school and landed my first job before I even graduated.  Landed my first amazing job in orthopedic surgery before I even graduated. took my boards 10 days later and passed very well.  Due to long licensure process in my state, I didn't start working until mid-March.  As soon as I started the job all kinds of problems arose. first I was to take call or be "available" for call 2 weekends in a month. This was not in my contract and I respectfully expressed concerns but I met a push back. finally, I gave in and decided to take call unpaid 2 weekends in a month. There was just so much level of unwelcomeness from both surgeons and staff that I dont want to get into. The biggest thing, however, is that the doctor I work with is a monster and an aggressive power hugger. I work in surgery and clinic and he will never let me do any joint injections. (I averaged 6-7 knee injections a day a student on clinical rotations and I have told him this on 3 to 4 occasions.).  We do Acls, shoulder scopes, knee scopes, fractures, joint replacement etc.  He will never let me put even a simple stitch on a knee scope. the situation is laughable at best. I fear that I am beginning to lose my procedural skills. he just started letting me do cast but its when he is in the semi-good mood. I am like an MA or worse. I feel like I am just there to occupy space. I know I am a new PA in orthopedic surgery but little hands-on tasks like this should be left to a PA. He has never ever taken any time to teach me anything. in some cases when I ask a question, he makes me feel completely stupid.  If he is on call and gets a patient at night, he expects me to go see the patent in the morning (of course he won't tell me he admitted a patient, I am supposed to just somehow magically know). And he yells.  I work in a very big hospital chain and my clinic is one of its minor affiliates. I am not sure what to do from here and I am beginning to feel useless as a PA. Should I leave or should I stay? I hate to leave a jo less than a year, but I feel I have to do whats best for my career as a PA. Is this normally what I should expect? I am at a cross roads,

[JMPAC]

Time for a new job. You don’t deserve that treatment and it’s not all that uncommon for your first job to not quite work out. I’ve heard plenty of stories of new grad jobs that were left in a year or less due to these kinds of issues. Also, I wouldn’t take unpaid call. I don’t know if you’re salaried and they’re lumping it in, but if you’re working you should be paid.

[mmiller3]

Eject. That is a terrible situation.

Unfortunately, I have seen too many surgeons that behave in the same fashion you are describing. I don't know where you are located, but near me, you could throw a stick and hit 5-7 ortho PA jobs.

[south]

Leave.  Today, if you can. These assholes don't deserve one more minute of your time or another thought.

Sorry about it.  I went through something similar.  

[LKPAC]

I agree.  Leave.  Try to schedule an exit interview.  If you explain the truth about why you are leaving, it may make things better for the next PA.

[Patho]

Sorry for your situation, start job searching if you haven't already, doesn't seem like things will change any time soon. I would look at big hospitals and institutions so there's more possibility for movement if needed and you're not stuck in a situation like this again.

I personally would avoid small offices for this reason unless I've had extensive rotations there and knew the staff well. You have 1 SP, and a small number of staff you have to get along with as the outsider. What if you don't get along with them or they don't utilize you properly or take advantage of you in some way (unpaid calls). And you're basically stuck in a bad situation with little support.

I've seen plenty of surgical/ortho  positions in hospitals that are struggling to hire enough PAs where I am. Good luck.

[freshpa]

Thanks guys. I actually live in Texas in a city where there are soo many orthopedic PA jobs. I can easily get another job without much effort.  Except I fear that it maybe the same thing in the new place I go. I am also weary of jumping ship in less than one year.

I feel like the outsider. The scrub tech and medical assistants are so rude and talk to me in the most impolite manner, in his presence and he does not say a thing, if anything he will support them. I am trying to stick it out 5 more months (one year experience). But everyday I come to work is a struggle. I love ortho but this is making me hate it.

I am salary and is supposed to work 40hrs a week. Of course like most salary jobs you work 60hours for the price of 40. But the weekend call. I am not being compensated. I will not even mind putting in all the extra hours. The big issue is I have no teacher, no respect and get yelled at in addition to the long hours.

[jb5158]

I would start looking and at least interviewing since you never know how long it will take, even with tons of jobs available. I start a new job in mid-December......that I started interviewing for in June. They liked me from the get go but HR was incredibly slow. Plus, credentialing can take forever. If I were you I would at least put my resume out there and see how things go. 

[skyblu]

Start looking elsewhere, and if possible, network with other ortho PAs in your area who can give you scoop on good vs bad situations. LinkedIn is a good place to start, as are these boards. There is also a website that rates employers and companies as to how good they are to work for, sorry that I can't recall the name.

As an aside, when I read the title of the thread I thought it was about a doctor who gives very tight hugs in an aggressive manner, and I was uncomfortable on a whole different level imagining that!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[JMPAC]

As an aside, when I read the title of the thread I thought it was about a doctor who gives very tight hugs in an aggressive manner, and I was uncomfortable on a whole different level imagining that!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I thought that, too! Haha

I️ agree with those who are saying to start the job search, basically yesterday. It takes months to interview with enough places to make a decision and they often want you to do several interviews with different people, then a little back and forth about offers and contracts, then the credentialing and other red tape. It could easily take 5 months.

I think if a doc was yelling at me, I would schedule a meeting with them or HR or whoever it is that you can talk to and lay it out there. You’re all supposed to be professionals and you’re not going to be spoken to that way.

[south]

Ha ha, this ^^^ reminded me of one of my favorite stories.

I was working in the ED years ago when a surgical team was emergently paged for something on our patient (that I can't remember - bowel perf?) Anyway a very nice young lady appears, the surgical PA, and politely and professionally asks us to order some tests and other stuff for her so she doesn't have to waste 10-12 minutes signing into the computer.  She was very nice about it, so we are happy to do this.

Enter the surgeon, with his cool biker pants and napoleonic tendencies, literally whipping his Porsche keys through the air so we all see them, I mean just every cliche' in the book.  He's barking orders and throwing charts around and making sure everyone knows this kind of thing is quite beneath him.  Meanwhile, we are working to stabilize this guy who's kinda going in the wrong direction.  

Anyway, there's a lot of rolling eyes behind his back and he comes in the big room where we are and finally lowers himself to allow the PA to speak to him to tell him what the deal is.  He makes some really nasty remark that I didn't quite hear, and the room got a little quiet as people kind of look over. 

The PA, this very nice lady, looks right into his eyes and says without missing a beat - and I quote - "the F*** you think you're talking to?"  Probably 12 people heard this, and you could have heard a pin drop for about 10 or 12 seconds, literally complete silence.  People actually walked in to the room to see what had just happened.  It's a moment I have never forgotten.

She then proceeds to tell him what's going on, in a calm voice, and then leaves, as he stands there dumbstruck and I try my best not to burst out laughing and then ask the PA to marry me. 

We talked to her about it later.  She said that particular reaction was suggested by other members of her team, and had been coming for a long time.  

Sorry for the length but I kind of do that and we're all pretty used to it now.

[AbeTheBabe]

You need to find a new job, simple as that. I got a job in ortho surg similair to what you are doing as a new grad. Doc wanted me to do everything as soon as I was comfortable and we have a very good relationship. I was closing and seeing patients on my own and doing joint injections (including ultrasound guided hip) by 3 months. Also, if other staff are being rude to you like techs, you need to stand up for yourself.

[JMPAC]

The PA, this very nice lady, looks right into his eyes and says without missing a beat - and I quote - "the F*** you think you're talking to?"  Probably 12 people heard this, and you could have heard a pin drop for about 10 or 12 seconds, literally complete silence.  People actually walked in to the room to see what had just happened.  It's a moment I have never forgotten.
She then proceeds to tell him what's going on, in a calm voice, and then leaves, as he stands there dumbstruck and I try my best not to burst out laughing and then ask the PA to marry me. 

I love this story, good for her! She should write a book called The Devil Wears Green Scrubs, a little medical version of Devil Wears Prada, haha.
(The book where the main character tells her boss to eff off, NOT the lame movie where you don’t get the good ending)

[freshpa]

Thanks everyone. I will put my resume out there and see what happens. I am just hoping the less than one year at a facility doesn't turn them off.

Thanks.

 

[sas5814]

"The PA, this very nice lady, looks right into his eyes and says without missing a beat - and I quote - "the F*** you think you're talking to?"

 

This is a tack I have taken to in my later years. We have an ortho surg who is an ass. Ironically his wife is a PA. Everyone in the UC is afraid of him. I had to call and he started his nonsense which usually begins with asking some ortho trivia that nobody would ever know and then saying "call back when you have that information." I said "hope..." silence..."what do you mean nope?" I told him I was either going to write in the chart Dr ____ advised and then his advice or Dr. ___ refused to consult on the patient and then I was going to turn him in for an EMTALA violation. I told him "I stopped squirting in my pants when a doctor barked at me 20 years ago." Haven't had a problem out of him since.

 

I hate to hear about your situation but if you can't remediate it (and I doubt you can) then it is time to go. I understand the 1 year rule but I suspect many of us have had jobs that just turned out to be bad and left sooner than we should. As long as it has a reasonable explanation and it is isn't repeat behavior then it shouldn't cause you much trouble.

[rev ronin]

Moral of the story: Put call compensation in your contract, if you're in a specialty that takes call. Get it out up front, so that if they do WANT you to take call, there's a pre-agreed price tag, and them refusing to pay it is a state labor law violation.

[jmj11]

The thing I have learned over the years, is to always get your own personal lawyer to go over your contract. WIth that said, my most recent contract, I designed (compensation) formula myself and felt like, by this time, I knew what I was doing. Things happened so quickly I felt like I didn't have time to get a lawyer like I did the previous time. I think that was a mistake. Not a big mistake, but I think a good lawyer would have helped me make sure all my bases were covered.

[sk732]

You could get someone to go all Nancy Kerrigan on the boss and some  of the minions...it's hard to do orthopedic surgery when you need it yourself.  Just throwing that out there - violence in and of itself does ultimately solve a lot of problems...if you're willing to deal with the problems that tend ensue afterwards :-D.  All joking aside, it is very appropriate to have a very frank and terse one way conversation with the bottom feeders and the head clownfish regarding workplace respect.  Walking away to a new job not soon afterwards with a couple of negative online reviews and or a complaint to Licensing and Labour Boards would be icing on the cake, since that would be out there for prospective employees to research prior to them applying to work with someone who's, what's the new PC term, oh yeah, developmentally delayed.

 

SK

 

[GetMeOuttaThisMess]

35 minutes ago, sk732 said:

You could get someone to go all Nancy Kerrigan on the boss and some  of the minions...it's hard to do orthopedic surgery when you need it yourself.  Just throwing that out there - violence in and of itself does ultimately solve a lot of problems...if you're willing to deal with the problems that tend ensue afterwards :-D.  All joking aside, it is very appropriate to have a very frank and terse one way conversation with the bottom feeders and the head clownfish regarding workplace respect.  Walking away to a new job not soon afterwards with a couple of negative online reviews and or a complaint to Licensing and Labour Boards would be icing on the cake, since that would be out there for prospective employees to research prior to them applying to work with someone who's, what's the new PC term, oh yeah, developmentally delayed.

 

SK

 

You mean Tonya Harding?  You would actually need the late Jeff Gillooly.

[sk732]

You're right - wrong side of that twisted affair.

 

SK

[CAAdmission]

Slip this picture into your resignation letter:

[south]

On 11/13/2017 at 6:53 AM, sk732 said:

You could get someone to go all Nancy Kerrigan on the boss and some  of the minions...it's hard to do orthopedic surgery when you need it yourself.  Just throwing that out there - violence in and of itself does ultimately solve a lot of problems...

 

Probably wasn't supposed to LOL.  But then LOL'd anyway.

[ventana]

On 11/9/2017 at 8:33 PM, south said:

 

She then proceeds to tell him what's going on, in a calm voice, and then leaves, as he stands there dumbstruck and I try my best not to burst out laughing and then ask the PA to marry me. .

did she say yes???

[south]

Alas, I was somehow unable to convince her that a broken down, not-yet-divorced scribe and full-time student was her best move up the chain.  Bet she regrets not getting a piece of that $8.50 an hour.

She was cute though

[CAdamsPAC]

Say bye-bye to this job!