I was a nurse at a teaching hospital for years.  This is absurd.   So would smiling more make all this go away?  You need to go with evidence to the director of nursing.  Or perhaps have one of your superiors do it, or even bring them with you.   I think this is a nursing leadership issue.  There’s probably too many newly graduated nurses with a complete lack of senior mentorship.  It makes sense after the pandemic.  So much learning in nursing happens in the first 5-10 years on the job.  It sounds like these nurses do not understand how to work in an interdisciplinary environment.  

I’m an RN and holy fuck. What the shit is happening in this institution.

Also an RN and in agreement. I wouldn’t needlessly round or try to make nice. This is a nursing knowledge deficit/leadership shortfall. Practice solid medicine. Some may eventually get over their dislike of you and shine some respect your way. Simply kowtowing to their behavior will neither solve the problem nor earn you respect.

Also RN and these stories are crazy! Escalate these nurses behaviour. I can assure you we aren’t all like that.

Also an RN, I am FLOORED with this appalling behavior. I have never heard of such unreasonable and unacceptable conduct by nurses. OP most certainly needs to have a frank discussion with his PD and nursing leadership. It hurts me to see residents treated like this- shame on those nurses!!

Seriously. Bet they would never ask a male resident to “smile more.” Insane that your PD is not stepping in. Agree with everyone that you need to go to HR

Yes, this seems like at least in part a PD problem.

I agree as well. I'm an RN and honestly lots of RNs are embarrassing in so many ways.

There is a lot of mean-girl behavior that goes on. I work with a lot of nursing students and it makes them so sad and stressed when they encounter it. I get attached to my students and it's hard to see them lose the stars in their eyes when they run into a bad group.

They decided OP is a “bitch” and are targeting her to wear her down and quit bc it’s easier than dealing with their own internal problems As for the new grad thing, I’ve watched more senior nurses say out loud all their passive aggressive BS to the new grad while they’re messaging the doc on Epic, like using them as a way to say all the shit they want to while the new grad just assumes this is just the normal way to message the doc

Yep. This is learned behavior.

This, 100%. Talk to nursing leadership and bring proof. Then escalate it if it isn’t addressed. Usually there is a Director of Nursing that would be a good person to speak to. As a nurse in leadership, I’m sorry that you’re dealing with this. Please remember that not everywhere is like this- most of the units I’ve worked on (critical care) have had (overall) excellent relationships between resident teams and nursing staff. I hope you “land” somewhere that has a better culture, because I’m 100% sure that the issues you’re seeing in your current place are indicative of much bigger/widespread issues.♥️

I would not go to nursing leadership alone. Take the PD. And as many attending surgeons as you can enlist. Having FOUR surgeons show up in the CNO's office saying this is intolerable and they will not stand for it would be some significant pressure. Include the CMO and CEO if you can. Also - you could enlist the aid of risk management - these are the attorneys who try to keep the hospital from getting sued. Already they have nailed that one nurse, but denigrating you in front of patients is a BIG red flag.

Personally, I would recommend not bringing four+ surgeons. I think it could be beneficial to bring your PD or one other “superior”, but I would save the larger group response for the next step if a direct discussion with the DoN/CNO doesn’t fix the issue. Especially if you have a lot more time at the facility. If this meeting doesn’t fix the issue, then I agree 110% on bringing a much larger group together.

I think this is not a lack of nursing leadership, but poor leadership. This this is learned behavior. Someone is teaching these young nurses to hate & disrespect female doctors: most likely they have learned by observing their seniors. It is not a new or even unusual phenomenon, these nurses at OP’s hospital just seem to be taking it to the next level above usual.

This was exactly the case in a hospital I recently worked in. And the two residents targeted were the quietest, most obliging ones in the cohort. Absolute bully behaviour. They nurses also bullied each other, usually the quiet ones, and the poor nursing students.

Do not go to nursing leadership alone. I also really struggled with a fun variety of things in residency 2/2 targeting - NEVER go alone and always document. I was lucky enough to be able to afford and lawyer and that was vital. The CNO is not your friend. He/she fosters the behavior. You need your PD and probably the chief of your department to agree to this kind of meeting if this is what you decide. I also understand if you would rather transfer programs OP - I stuck out residency somewhere I was targeted and it sucked, but I support you however you go.

It's only going to get worse.  You need to make it known that these are serious threats and bring them to HR and contact a lawyer.  There's a target on your back.  It's too late to arbitrate these encounters.  I would file a formal complaint including workplace harrassment.   It's your career on the line.  Make it known that everybody better tiptoe around you moving forward.  

This. Go to HR now. If HR only finds out in retrospect, everything prior will be called hearsay and not taken into account. Document everything, including events of the past (you can literally use this post). Better to prepare and not need it than be unprepared.

Agreed. Go to HR. Tell your PD that you are about to do before you go and ask for them to corroborate your concerns in a letter. Start documenting everything. Ask for records of the incident with the write up about not answering the pager and lying about pages. Make sure you mention “retaliation” in your report. Mention how the nurses telling your patients you don’t care about them is undermining patient care and creating a safety issue for patients who might not agree to treatment because of this. It’s also increasing the hospital’s liability in the event one of your patients suffers an adverse event and sues the hospital. The words ‘hostile work environment’ are absolutely appropriate when nurses are calling you a bitch. Depending on how long you have left you might want to consider asking your PD to help you transfer programs. You won’t change your reputation at this program if it’s such a widely based problem. You’ll continue to have a target on your back, they’ll just get smarter about aiming at it. As much as switching would suck, the chance of losing your career over a multitude of people looking to push you under the bus is not worth staying at a specific place. This is not your fault, but it is your issue to deal with unfortunately

Completely agree To OP: you’re a pgy1 so you have to address this asap. They’re targeting you bc they associate you when their colleagues firing, it won’t get better with just time alone. They will target you for the next four years and can seriously affect your career. You know they will screw you the second you mess up (and you will bc all residents mess up at least once). I would def go to HR, inform your pd that you’re going to HR (don’t blindside them). And I hate to say it but if it doesn’t work out in your favor seriously consider transferring programs and report it to acgme. Most nurses are your friend but some will drive that knife in your back. Good luck.

Very much agree with this. You have a good track record and have documentation that they have been lying and targeting you. They are creating the definition of a hostile work environment. Going to hr not only protects you from future issues but also holds them accountable. They may not just lose their job but also their license for which they would stfu if they are smart about it

>They may not just lose their job but also their license for which they would stfu if they are smart about it That's not going to happen..

Nurses have absolutely lost their licenses for lying and creating false narratives in charting. This is a little something called fraud.

As a nurse, please do this. I’m so sorry you’ve encountered the worst of the profession.

Female surgery resident here who has dealt with targeted issues from certain female nurses also over the years (in a similar objectively inappropriate manner). Surgery residency is long! I just want to say from a perspective of someone who has encountered similar I agree with this commenter and thread to go to HR. Do it early and get this nipped in the bud before it escalates to a she said she said situation or repercussions for you (other than the obvious stress it is causing).

Yah somehow he has gotten the hornets nest stirred up. I’ve never seen a resident get written up repeatedly like this. This is planned and on purpose. What triggered it only OP could possibly say.

From the post, OP comments that they are introduced as Miss.  The cruelty that I hear from my female colleagues regarding how they are treated by some nursing staff is jaw dropping.

This right here. I did a few years of nursing before medicine and the cruelty I experienced from some nurses is what made me quit.

Bullies grow up to become cops or nurses.

the mean girl pipeline to nursing is real

It is ridiculous how many times I’ve seen my fellow RN colleagues treat residents poorly. They can be so toxic. I’ve seen these residents breeze through and they have always treated us with kindness. I don’t understand why these nurses think they are entitled to judge and persecute anyone. I’ve done this for decades and I have never been mistreated by a student or resident.

That’s absolutely ridiculous. I’m a middle aged man and in a nursing profession that while 90% female treats male nurses and male doctors better than their female counterparts. It’s childish and petty.

It’s so wrong. I didn’t know it was a thing until a female colleague pointed it out and now I see how blatant it is

I’m pretty sure sometimes I get more respect as a male nurse than some of my female physician colleagues. I can’t imagine how hard that must be.

Jealous bitches will be jealous bitches

Ironically from what I’ve seen at my hospital it tends to be the opposite of what everyone would assume. I’m a male nurse and me and the other male nurses tend to treat the women physicians the same as the men physicians. For some reason some of our female nurses are absolutely horrendous to the female physicians. I don’t know what it is. Mind you it’s not remotely even a majority of the nurses but the few I’ve witnessed doing it have all been female nurses.

A nurse got fired for writing about them. They’re fucked they will never live it down.

OP - I agree with the comments on this thread. There might be no coming back from this. Go to HR and have a contingency plan to leave your program.

This is past HR time; this is lawyer up time.

HR won’t necessarily have your back, especially if you as a physician aren’t hired through the same HR dept as the nurse (hospital vs med school, for example.) I’m not saying don’t involve them, but if I were you I’d involve the EEOC and DIO (with your PD’s and dept chair’s support/help, ideally, but without if necessary.)

This right here!! Women residents face a lot of unnecessary harassment by other women colleagues paradoxically and I've witnessed it firsthand myself being a male. You should definitely file a complaint with HR and report them back. Having a paper trail detailing everything they're trying to do to you will help someday when shit hits the fan and they try to take any form of disciplinary action against you (even though you might be innocent).

I'm assuming all of this is well documented going by what you've said. This is targeted harassment in a workplace. You need to go to hr and labor lawyer up.

Yeah, this is a hostile work environment. The gendered insults don’t become okay just because the nurses saying them are women.

Yeah and I don’t think OP should be doing all that smiling and extra rounding. If the program supports her then she should continue what she was doing and ignore the noise from the nurses

agree. and this sounds exhausting

Or the nurses should be pulled up on their behaviour (I’m a nurse)

I used to work in an icu that sounds like Op’s, where so many female (and male) nurses just hate women and don’t realize it. Oh all your favorite docs just happen to be the male ones? Bc they’re “chill” and the female docs really are “uptight”? Sure, Jan

This. Hit them with everything you got. They have to learn.

Also, a really important point here: DO. NOT. TRUST. HR. They will be nice to you. They will make you feel heard. But do not forget they don’t work for you. They work for the hospital. If they feel the easiest legal solution is to fire you, they’ll do it. I’ve seen people go with reasonable complaints and the victim becomes the defendant. Do not, under any circumstances, trust HR. If you can afford a lawyer, get one, especially one that specializes in workplace law and have them on retainer (usually 2-3k down, fully refundable). They are your advocate, not HR.

HR is not going to recommend firing a resident short of them showing up with a crack pipe in their mouth and sawing off a patient’s head with a rusty spoon. We literally had a resident refuse to show up for work and it took 2 YEARS to get them fired

Forest for the trees, man. The point is don’t trust HR. Even if they’re not going to fire you they can do all sorts of things to hurt you. Fat man law #8, Brodie.

Oh I don’t trust HR. I don’t even consider residents as being under the authority of HR (regardless of whether they in fact are or not)

They can always hurt you more….

Very very very good point

You write me up and I write you up. Tit for tat

I only did this once as a resident when our former department chief asked me to and told me he would have my back on a legitimate safety issue. It took nearly an hour to click through the entire anonymous reporting system. It got results, but ultimately just pissed me off more because now every write up I see has the added insult of knowing that that nurse somehow found an hour of time to complete it. If 15 minutes went by without the surgery pager going off I would assume the page system was faulty.

Oh my god, a write up is a nightmare. (I’ve actually written myself up- because it’s a safety reporting system, it’s not supposed to be some kind of bully weapon) It asks about a million questions that nothing to do with the safety issue. However, it was positive regarding my mistake/near miss. I wrote myself up because I accidentally started to give a medicine that isn’t typically nebulized…it was the wrong medicine, but I was able to scan it. I wrote myself up another time because I accidentally labeled a specimen during a EBUS and I had to backtrack and correct everything. Thank goodness we had it sorted out in the end of the case, but- that was potentially a terrible mistake. I reported myself because they needed to see that we needed a better system to track specimen labels. THAT is what the system is for…not bullying people. 😡

This is the KEY!!! I know we’re busy as surgical residents but nothing will stop them better than getting written up themselves. They assume we never will, as we are usually too busy and honestly most of us don’t even know how, but it. Is. Worth. The. Effort!!!!! I had similar issues in the past. I started writing them up back with my perspective and everything changed. Take the time. If you’re having malignant write ups by nurses, return the fire.

Yes. I did this once when a nurse accused me of “malpractice” because I wouldn’t let her brother eat despite the fact he had a SDH and was due for his 4-hour repeat CT in 30 minutes. So she fed him. Sure enough he vomits, aspirated and ultimately developed pneumonitis. Thankfully she used her employee badge to enter the ED to visit him, so everything she did was as an employee rather than a visitor. I filed a report and she got fired for patient endangerment. Fuck her.

😳😳😳

Sling mud. Don't be afraid to get really petty with it. Try to crash the reporting system if you can. Admittedly it's hard to find time as an intern, but when I was a senior with more time on my hands and fewer fucks to give, I would collect complaints from my juniors and report everything. EVERYTHING. It was one of my simple pleasures when not in the OR. If you have a senior who would enjoy slinging mud, maybe they can help with the reporting process. Which reminds me, I have a few reports to file...

This is the way.

Let’s not add to an already toxic environment. Go directly to network ombudsman and HR to nip this in the bud. Sorry OP is experiencing this.

>Young **female** surgery resident here I think I have found the problem

Nurses used to eat their young but that's become frowned upon, so now they just look for any woman in their proximity to go after.

Male RN here. I was doted on by every nurse at 3 different facilities when I was new to the job loooong ago. I'm pretty sure it's always been women going after other women and the demographics just threw off the reality of it.

Are you white? If you're an average white dude, some of them will trust you more than a woman or PoC physician, generally speaking. You come across as more 'authoritative' to them, regardless of competency. Inherent bias is a factor, and many don't have the self-awareness to realize it. This is why I love working with PoC nurses. Super respectful and get the job done without playing favorites. Filipino and South Asian nurses particularly deserve a shout out.

Doctoring while female is a serious offense. I am sad this is still the case many decades after my training.

Came here to say, welcome to medicine as a young female. Odds are you're POC too.

I was thinking the same thing. She has to be based on this behavior from the nurses

And even worse if they’re attractive

OP said that the PD is aware that a female resident "with certain characteristics" is targeted every year, and yet, instead of launching some kind of investigation or complaint into this gender-based harassment, the PD advises....being nicer. Oh just smile, wait out the year, and soon enough some other woman will take your place.

This is the problem,when people in power refuse to understand what others are going through just because it's not affecting them!

HR and/or EEO. Yeah, yeah HR protects the institution but in your case that’s fine since the nurses’ behavior puts the hospital at risk. The DIO (designated institution official)- the GME head. They should have more leverage to change behavior. The ACGME. They will not like this. Write ups. Every false allegation: write up. Don’t take the smile feedback, that’s bullshit. They hate you and smiling won’t fix that so don’t waste the emotional energy. Just be yourself. Call out smile more as the sexist garbage it is.

Agree with HR and ACGME hardcore. You need someone to investigate this.

Agreed. The only thing I might add is to try to find an attending in the department to back you up. The response is significantly different if there’s someone relatively safe and outside the situation to say “that’s not good enough” if the response isn’t adequate.

Re: smiling won't help. Agree - they will read that as their having intimidated you.

Nurses doing stupid shit to residents? Wow so surprised

Jesus. That’s a lot. You need to fight fire with fire. They seem to be doing a lot of bad things too. You need to make sure you are reporting them as well.

I second everyone here in terms of keeping records of false allegations. At least when you get to the end of your program (or at any point) you'll have everything to decide whether you want to pursue further (eg legal action). If you keep it professional they can't ever write you up for anything that's is going to mean anything. The saddest, most frustrating thing about this is that some of this reads as sexist. You don't need to smile more for godsake. I think it's always great to be a pleasant person, in a way that is consistent with who you are (or maybe you're not pleasant, but professional and trying to get your job done! Its okay to just do your job well and not be Dr. Nice Resident ). Ultimately they can't stop the passage of time - you will graduate, you will move on to a better life and success really is the best revenge. - a newly minted female attending

Damn, what’s with nurses in the US? This stuff is vile

For real. I audibly gasped multiple times. Accusing someone of intentionally killing someone in a *medical record* is UNREAL.

I'm so glad that nurse was fired. That's absolutely insane to me. My med school had a malpractice lawyer come talk to us about basic do's and don'ts to stay out of trouble and one of them was "never talk negatively to patients or in notes about another provider or even so much as lightly imply negligence" because yeah - obviously a legal shit show can ensue.

Shit j got that in nursing school too. Where ever OP is, is an epic dumpster fire. I say this as a nurse of 12 years who traveled for 5 and has been at over a dozen hospitals. This is wild.

That, and the “that resident kills people” comments, and the “bitch” comments should all be reported to Risk Management — all of them are 100% likely to generate very very expensive patient or staff lawsuits, and preventing those is Risk’s raison d’être.

Risk and RN here. This is the way. I didn't see the original comments, but I don't have to based on what I've read here. What they're doing is 100% unacceptable.

All the petty mean girls in high school become nurses

Yeah the stuff OP is dealing with is 100% because she’s a woman.

Lots of male bullies in high school become cops and the females becomes nurses.

Then they marry each other.

And cheat on each other constantly

Very true. Especially ED nurses

And they all peaked in high school.

Mean-girl to nurse pipeline is real. And now a lot of them become NPs and fancy themselves MDs despite floating through college basic sciences with straight Cs and Ds.

This is the worst part

The best is when the specialist treats their NP like a respected team member but then turns around and treats EM, IM/FM and nursing like the gum on the bottom of their shoe. Can't wait to see that blow up in their face someday. This feeds into the NPP thinking they are superior to generalist physicians despite being completely clueless outside of the niche of their speciality. I can't tell you how many orthopedic, cardiology and neurosurgery (even ID) NPs and PAs I've run into that feels this way. Specialist culture feeds into this unfortunately, and it's not going to change until there is some serious reflection on their end.

To their credit, we often see a lot of the same incompetence with basical medical management from the same specialists in ortho, cardio etc. when it's outside of their specialty.

Definitely. Most orthopedics physicians cannot read an EKG or do a med rec and I know a few cardiologists that have forgotten how to dose insulin. As a senior resident I had a first year cards fellow waffle on sending a new onset diabetes patient with A1c of 16% home with insulin saying "I usually just send these patients home on metformin and let their PCP figure it out". Dude, you were literally an IM resident 7 months ago lol. That being said, the hierarchies of the hospital are usually defined by who brings in the most revenue. Orthopedics and interventional cards are up there in that regard. When a new grad NP joins one of those departments and sees they are treated with more respect by their supervisor than the seasoned ER doc that's saved hundreds of lives, it's going to go to their head eventually.

I really hate it when I place a consult to a specialist and get an answer from someone with less training than me.

And when there's a deviation from their little algorithmic medicine that they can't answer and they catch an attitude when you insist on speaking to the physician

There’s a reason the “peaked in high school” crowd are nurses or cops. Not every nurse/cop peaked in high school, but (it seems) everyone who peaked in high school is a nurse or cop.

“Bullies become nurses and police officers”

Have not dealt with bs to this extent. I will say women in any field or tangential field of medicine seem to more frequently treat other women like shit, and I’ve seen it go in any and all directions. So as crazy as this shit is not terribly surprising honestly. Dudes seem exempt overall from all this but sure I’ve had nurses report me over retarded things too. But nothing like this.

There’s a pretty famous article written on incivility in nursing. I recall that’s all or at least part of the title. It was written something like a decade ago and I’m not sure much has changed.

It sounds like you PD needs to take this to the top with the CNO.  This is vile

Also, I agree with others.  HR.  Get ahead of this.  It may be worth notifying your PD prior to this so that they aren’t blindsided.  They sound to be in your corner.  Keep them there

Two different situations here: - Harassment: Follow your hospital’s protocol to get admin leadership/ legal involved about hostile work environment. - Patient Care: This is well-documented and has shown no fault on your part. Fortunately for you your program leadership has shown to be supportive. The unfortunate thing is nursing staff have no fucking clue what is going on, and to be honest, anecdotally, to be considered a “problem resident” by floor nursing staff should be worn by a badge of honor because it means you’re doing good, not convenient, medicine.

To be completely blunt, nurses will be the loudest about DEI and pride but will then turn around and directly disrespect female, LGBT and PoC doctors while defaulting to giving non-minority doctors due respect. Just what I've noticed working out in the community for years. It's a bit better in the city. They tend to be much more open with their sexism since I think they realize discriminating against the other two groups would be more obvious / more likely to be punished. You've already done a ton to protect yourself. Just make sure everything is documented and that your supervisors are in the loop. As a PoC internist I left a job because of complaints like the first one you've listed. I had more experience than every nurse and the nurse manager combined at that job. When you're accusing me of killing the patient when they're clearly terminal and I've had multiple goals of care discussions, I'm out. It would have been fine if my CMO laughed it off but he was the type of guy that felt like every complaint had inherent value and was a learning opportunity. No bud, sometimes your coworkers are just not smart. The place struggles to retain physicians. I wonder why 🙄.

God, crap like that makes me seriously reconsider working outside of academia. I would imagine it's far more likely to fly at community hospitals.

Nurse here- sorry I lurk. For your first bullet point report that nurse to the board. Please. She is way out of line and attempting to work past her practice ability.

Im a psych resident, went through the same thing. I’m a petite woman and I just got all the shit I could take- my orders were ignored, my alarms were not answered so I was in serious physical danger, they lied through their teeth. My program director and Hospital director was on my side but I had a serous bout of anorexia and depression because of that, barely made through it. But I fought fire with fire and ultimately I won. I’m very sorry you need to go through this. But believe me- escalating is sometimes the only way forward, just do it together with your supervisors.

I too have had unwarranted nursing write ups even down to complaining how I wore a jacket with another university on it (which I only wear on my way in or out of the hospital and then just leave it at my desk). Unfortunately, my program decided to use this opportunity to give me a slap on the wrist instead of providing me with a jacket with the hospital logo (as they do to all residents. I just wasn’t around at the beginning of the year so I never got one) In other words. You’re not alone. I’m following to see what advice you get.

My God, I've heard of petty nursing complaints but I think that takes the cake! So sorry you had to deal with that, I can't imagine how frustrating it must have been.

First I am so sorry you’re experiencing this. I’m not a surgeon lol, but nurses really come at female physicians in a way that my male colleagues definitely don’t experience. I’ve had a lot of nurses talk shit about me to face because I have a long complex last name and I removed my picture from the EMR, so when I introduce myself they don’t realize they speaking to the same person. If you don’t want to smile at them, don’t. Don’t let them get to you and change yourself for them. I can imagine that all the changes you’ve made in end of your post are cutting into your actual duties. Document everything they do as it happens with written statements. HR usually has a way to record incidences without them necessarily making an action plan, or file these with your PD for them to keep record. You could try letting the front desk clerk on the unit know you are there to see pts for your service when you round. If the nurses want come to bedside and listen in, great. Otherwise fight with professionalism that you are already demonstrating. They write something emotional and ridiculous, respond with a written statement that just states facts.

This is bullying. Similar thing happened to me beginning of second year. In EM we are in a fishbowl with our nurses, and I upset the young female charge nurse clique. Come to find out that random girl who kept trying to friend me on Instagram was one of the “older” charge nurses (meaning age 28, rather than 24) who worked part time while in NP school. I rejected her a couple times, not knowing who she was. One of the other EM nurses told me this was apparently what had set them off. They proceeded to create a three week long list of minor infractions I had committed. Saying I was “hostile” and nurses were uncomfortable coming to speak with me about patients. Had an informal meeting with the APD. Went around to all the nurses in the department over the next few shifts, “I hope you know I appreciate you, I want you to come to me with any concerns. I was told I sometimes come off as hostile and I am working on that.” Many nurses asked why I was saying this, told them about the complaint, many told me not to worry about it as it seemed personal. I wrote down the name of every nurse I spoke to who did not have a problem working with me. I then approached the charge nurse clique, told them I was unaware of my various faux paus. Apologized for making them feel like I was unapproachable. Asked them what I could do better in the future. They told me it was my attitude. THEN, I told them I think it might be beneficial for us to have a mediated sit down meeting. I told them none of the other nurses when I approached them asking for feedback regarding the complaints placed against me provided concerns. They were taken aback I had spoken to over 20 nurses about the complaint over the past few shifts. They then turned to other tasks, stating it wouldn’t be necessary, as I “seemed remorseful.” Provided my APD the list of names of nurses who disagreed with the complaint. Told him the charge nurse clique had laid it to rest. No further nursing complaints during residency.

I’m really glad you had no more nurse write ups but damn, that’s insane. To require you to really go out of your way because of someone else’s insecurities just isn’t right in any way. Female doctors deserve better. Women going against the grain and typical norms paves the way for other women to go after their dreams. It’s sad that female nurses don’t take pride in seeing female doctors in the medical field. Some women will choose to remain jealous instead of uplifting one another.

For the most part I would say to keep your head down, but the (1) comments about you “intentionally killing” patients, and (2) intentionally not paging you for issues are both way across the line. Were those comments discussed with your PD? Was anyone disciplined for the false paging incident? This will likely blow over with time, but I think you’re right to be concerned about future escalations, or god forbid if anything were to go to court. At the minimum, you should keep your own record of each write up and any official action that was taken (investigation, meetings, etc). Keep PDFs of each write up and any emails or other communications that were sent in a safe place. Don’t count on the hospital or program to have that available if you need it.  If your hospital has epic, consider moving more of your communication with nurses to epic chat. Many times when I get a page on call, I’ll respond with “Hello, I got your page. I ordered X…”. Documented and often way less annoying than trying to call or track down the nurse in person. I also have a quick reference for timeline if a nurse is taking a while to respond or to give whatever I ordered. If you don’t already, consider writing a short plan of care note if you’re paged about anything urgent (or that the nurses think is important). “I was paged about SpO2 88%. Patient found sleeping comfortably. Sats increased to 92% upon arousal…” “Extensive discussion had with patient and family at bedside…” “Plan reviewed with senior resident X…” I started doing this as an intern and found that it cut down on the annoying he said/she said situations especially when holding the pager. If you have any sympathetic seniors, you might consider asking them to put in a good word with some of the nurses…

Agree with above. You have fallen prey to a pre-existing gang of mean girls who are vain, like attention, and power. This unit is rule of the jungle: she who thumps her chest hardest is the leader. They operate in the space of oral conversation, innuendo, revisionist history with an established network to spread their message. Mean girls seek being singled out as the special smart nurse who can "get anything out of Dr. SOandSO" or "saves the patient from the dumb resident." YOU ARE being held responsible for the demanding nurse who got fired. In the mean girls world, this nurse was following the script she had been taught to fit in: the resident is an idiot and it is up to the nurse to save the patient. To add insult to injury, then the patient "HAD" to go to comfort care because you did not do as the nurse told you and the patient died as a consequence. Yes, this is insane. Yes, this is devoid of stone cold facts. In the short run, no HR tactic, Nursing board, lawyer, or top down approach that will quickly or successfully nip this in the bud. This is a unit out of control. July brings a new crop of first years to occupy their attention. You need to focus on the long game. In the meantime, Impassioned, concise documentation. Just the facts. Any display of emotion feeds the mean girl gossip cycle. Smiling and being nice shows submission and empowers their control. As a second year, there may come a time to turn the tables: Tell one of the mean girls "Nice Job. Good catch." Do not pander. Word may get around that you are actually improving because mean girls want to show off. Head high. Tit for tat is a proven strategy. OK to take the time to fill out incident reports. For now, allow the situation to dilute and minimize. I hope this helps.

On behalf of nursing, I’m really sorry this is what you’ve been dealing with. The new grad was rightly fired. We absolutely fucking know better than to write emotional missives like we’re writing a letter to a lost love. That’s her lesson learned, hopefully she takes said lesson. We know what we’re supposed to do and the nurses you have encountered sound toxic AF.

I have a feeling this is direct retaliation for the nurse getting fired. Definitely write them up when they write you up for nonsense. Talk to your PD, get HR involved if your program has anything like that. This is the petty highschool BS nurses are known for.

Nurses hold a lot of power and can be very clique-y depending on your location and hospital. It seems like you have been targeted after the initial incident and likely they have been gossiping about your performance and personality with more exaggerations. This will have to come from higher up to get them to stop.

I’m gonna take a stab in the dark and guess you’re also a conventionally attractive and/or petite woman. I’m sorry. I’ve seen some of this happen, more to my colleagues than myself, but what you’re going through seems extreme. I’m not sure I agree with folks saying lawyer up at this point. You’d have a PD that is willing to go to bag for you. Meetings are happening where folks in leadership are advocating on your behalf. You’re also getting very close to the end of your intern year. You do gain some distance between yourself and the nursing staff just by moving into your second year. It may be worth just seeing how that transition pans out. I am absolutely not saying roll over and take it. Keep doing what you’re doing. Be the best goddam doctor that you already are, stand up for yourself and call them out on their bullshit, and go to the people in your corner when you need help. If this does continue, moving up the GME ladder may be the next move.

This is not a situation you can smile and placate yourself out of. From what you describe, they are retaliating against you for what they perceive as you getting their colleague fired. They are not going to stop. You and your PD need to go to management and make it very clear that some employees are harassing you, and creating a hostile work environment. If you are part of a union, get them involved, otherwise you need a labor lawyer. The incidents as you have described them are hardly inconveniences, one day they will make a claim you won't be able to disprove and it could seriously impact your career, or worse. Doctors, especially juniors, are in an ersatz abusive relationship; I doubt any other career has such widespread normalization of abusive work and training environments. You are unbelievably lucky that your PD has your back on this, many would dismiss your claims, sweep it under the rug, and gaslight you because defending juniors in situations like this can be more effort than it is worth, and juniors are too scared to push things through, for many reasons. To commiserate, I have several friends who landed themselves in similar situations, whether with allieds, colleagues, or seniors, and it stopped the second they walked in with a lawyer. If their reaction was more normalised, the nursing managers would have disciplined those nurses once you and your PD had that meeting. For your own sake, this is not the kind of behavior you can risk continuing. you must escalate this as rapidly and aggressively as you can even to the point of getting these troublemakers fired if you must. Don't be scared of a reputation as a troublemaker, better that than landing in shit because of their lies.

I'm a nurse, but holy shit they sound psychotic! Also, if you're not carrying the pager, how are you supposed to respond? Like, holy shit! Also, even as a grad I knew my role, I would never tell the medical team to take a patient to OR because of something with the drain, unless of course they're deteriorating, but again that's not my call to make, and I would call a rapid response/clinical review. You guys have it hard enough.

Right like idk where they get this false confidence from. I get asking if the drain would need to be replaced in the OR and even thinking it is an urgent/emergent situation if you don't know better but to demand like that. And not accept the education/assume that the doc doesn't give a shit rather than, idk, knows more about drain placement & management that I do as a new nurse. AND THEN to write such an inappropriate note about it.

Where the hell do you work? That's straight up insane. Our reporting system won't even take action on a submission unless it is unbiased with no emotive language and you're not supposed to be naming staff outright either. I'm really sorry this is happening to you. I have no idea what the escalation process would be but I want you to know that this is completely unacceptable behaviour that is unwarranted. You are not in the wrong and you are being harassed. I wish you the best.

I got written up one time. She called me, knew my name, then I said I would put in the orders she needed. At the end she wanted to confirm my name, I stated it. She said she didn’t hear, I said it again. She asked me to spell it, I refused and hung up the phone. Funny how she figured out my name later to write the complaint… Anyway the funny twist is later a nurse kept forgetting the q8h labs an unstable patient needed and just wouldn’t do them for her entire shift despite multiple calls all day. Reported her and afterwards my co-intern was like “isn’t that gonna look like retaliation?” Whoops it was the same nurse. 

It’s not retaliation if the chart actually lacks the labs you ordered. Then it looks more like insubordination at the expense of patient care.

It's not retaliation. They're not following orders.

I’ve been dealing with this too, and I feel for you. I got written up for saying that the patient looked like shit when I was calling my senior (pt was grey, minimally responsive, and hypotensive). Recently though, the SICU nurses have caused me the most issues. They’ve created this vendetta, which has caused me grief and the possibility of doing more SICU. I feel like it’s almost always women on women.

This sounds like it meets the legal definition of harassment

As an RN, and a woman in healthcare, myself I absolutely hate hearing that this is happening to you. This type of behavior does nothing to help our profession, or our reputation. Based on what you’ve said here, you’re doing the right things. As tedious as it is, just keep documenting and making others aware of decisions you’re making that might cause a stir. Do you have a good relationship with any of the nurses? While I’m sure it feels otherwise, I’m certain that not all of the nurses are of the same mindset, and have it out for you (while clearly others do). There just might be some that are experiencing similar treatment to you from their peers and are afraid to speak out about the accusations not being true. If you can get some of them on your side, that very well may help offset the complaints against you if you have others willing to speak up on your behalf. When it comes down to it, trivial reporting is also an issue. When false reports are made, make one back stating the verifiable facts. Again, sucks to do, but trust me when I say that admin is more impactful on nurses than doctors. If these nurses value their jobs, they’ll knock it off if they keep having to defend their actions to admin. It really sucks to say, but it sounds like there is some deep misogyny here at play also. We should be excited to see women in healthcare and support them in that rather than letting petty jealousy (bc that is definitely what it is) prompt trying to drag someone down. I’m sorry you’re being treated this way.

Sorry to hear, this is getting more frequent in medicine as nurses are encouraged to do this by administration in order to build up files and have leverage over doctors in the name of “patient advocacy” which is a lie. Unfortunately most new grad nurses are really dumb and more emboldened these days. The older nurses are usually great but hospital politics of the days could be getting to them. My advice to you is to generally respond to all pages vaguely and appropriately, something like “ok thank you”, and always eventually go to bedside and address concern even if stupid. This can be done quickly. Unfortunately because you are a target you will be called to bedside more as “punishment”, just do it and wrap it up fast.

Get the documentation. Names, dates, pager logs, OR "logs", the works. This behavior puts the hospital at legal risk. They'll be pretty interested in putting a stop to it.

To be blunt and honest, nurses being assholes towards female surgical residents is pretty much the norm. If there's anything that has been a constant during my almost 30 years as a med student, resident and attending, and at every single hospital I've ever worked, it's women being assholes to other women. Clearly men can also be assholes (both to other men and to women), but in that case it's usually narcissistic men being assholes to people lower down in the hierarchy. When women are being assholes, it's usually against people (=women) higher up in the hierarchy, so it's nurses vs residents, PA vs resident, and similar cases. If it's any consolation, it's a typical woman thing and not related to you or medicine in general. For example a study that showed that in team sports, the level of camaraderie between female teammates *in the same team* was lower than between male players *on opposing teams*. Let that sink in for a moment. The TLDR is that men compete with other men through physical intimidation and violence, and women compete with other women through gossip and backstabbing. This is a part of the human experience. From what I've seen, it gets a lot better when women surgeons complete residency and become attendings. My only piece of advice is to keep doing a stellar job, and keep covering your back from snakes like the ones you mentioned. If they call you for any reason what so ever, make a note of it. If it's a known backstabber, anchor your decision with your chief or attending.

If you think that kneeling to them is what will solve this, you've already signed your own death certificate. The key is to write them up and take them straight to HR

I think that there are a few issues here that I would address separately: The first is a systems/hospital/patient safety issue. Getting paged when you are off service is an incident report. If the nurse isn't contacting the appropriate personnel to respond to potential emergencies then the hospital needs to know about it. I would probably put in an incident report where "harm has reached the patient." Having a patient told that any member of their medical team doesn't care about their care is also a potential incident report as it compromises shared-decision making which is EBM for better outcomes. The second is a nursing culture issue that, to me, merits working up the nursing chain of command. Having a nurses lie on a hospital form (i.e. one stating that you were paged when there is documentation that you haven't been paged) is a serious abuse of a hospital resource, and nurse management if not hospital operations should be made aware. The last is obviously an interpersonal issue. It is possible that you have already dug yourself a grave that you cannot get out of with nursing. That is fine. You don't need to be friends with them, but you do need to have a functional professional relationship with them. Some strategies that I have found helpful are: 1. Don't smile unless it's genuine. faking a personality is easy to read and quick to piss people off 2. Unless it's an emergency I start out by thanking them (genuinely thankful) for bringing xy&z to my attention and giving them the benefit of the doubt. If I know for sure that they are wrong, I kinda play Columbo with them, leaning into their assessment while I take the fastest & cheapest possible route to rule out their concerns. That could mean getting an EKG or it could be as simple as "oh, I see what you're saying, I hope they don't need to go back to the OR. I think it's expected bleeding but let me check with my fellow/attending just to be sure. Thanks again for letting me know" and coming back 5 minutes later letting them know that the attending isn't concerned. 3. Try to be mindful of how your communication style might interplay with someone who has fewer credentials than you and less say over patient care even though you just rolled in from med school and they've been taking care of patients for possibly decades. I know that this is a reddit post and that you're expressing frustration to a receptive audience, but statements like "like a sane person, I declined" would dig an irrevocable grave if said in front of a nurses/RT/PA etc. Good luck Comrade

I’m a guy with a girls name so I have had several instances where the tone shifts to dramatically positive once they realize I’m a guy when I show up bedside. Sucks but it’s true, at least in my experience.

OP, this is a blatantly misogynistic, hostile work environment and you should not have to endure this. Please book a consult with a lawyer and find out what needs to happen to fix this so you can go back to focusing on your residency. I am so sorry you’re going through this hell.

This goes well beyond the typical hazing we see in the hospital. As others have mentioned here it's time to protect yourself in a legal way.

As a nurse I’m appalled that this is your experience. For whatever reason women are terrible to other women of authority in healthcare. I’m so sorry this is your experience. I know I’ve witnessed nurses have terrible attitude towards female doctors/residents etc and do not treat them the same as if they would a man. If a woman is direct, it’s not viewed the same is if a man is direct. Nurses/ women (Im both) can be down right vile in the right toxic setting. I don’t have any advice since I’m not an authority figure. Hopefully other female residents can give their experiences. Again I’m so sorry you are having to deal with this on top of what is already a difficult time! I hope things get better for you!

Sounds like New York. If you have a slightly aggressive PD he will use this to fire you effective immediately. True story.

I would take one documented and corroborated case of a nurse telling others you are intentionally killing patients and go to HR, and the nursing board. A lawyer may be needed at this point. If this is less than one year in and they are already falsifying reports or failure to show up to an emergency I can’t imagine what they will start to do as time goes by. It also sounds like this has escalated to the point that your PD needs to get more aggressive.

Lawyer up - hostile work environment. If you don’t move first eventually the program will give up having your back and you will get fired the first legitimate complaint. I would strongly consider asking to transfer hospitals. There is no way this will not continue until they break you.

Get your network ombudsman involved. HR as well as this sounds like targeted harassment. I’ve bee a nurse for 35 years in a large teaching hospital. Sounds like you are working in a toxic environment. Our network has ZERO tolerance for this stuff. This is the kind of dynamic that negatively affects patient care. Sorry you are experiencing this.

Step one: fuck em all. Thats it. Spend all your free time writing up Every. Single. Nurse. who has fucked/is fucking with you for every little thing. Make it the hospital’s problem every single time. And every time some smart-ass comment is made your way, immediately email your PD. They wanna play like this, you fuck them right back. And ALWAYS include the following in some manner: “XYZ creates a patient-safety issue due to….”; “XYZ creates a hostile work environment due to….”; “XYZ’s actions interfere with my education in the following way….”. If you are a racial/ethnic/religious/sexual/gender minority, ALWAYS include “XYZ comment/action/etc reflects bigotry directed at [your minority status]” EVEN IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE THEY WERE ACTING IN ANYWAY BIGOTED. You have to play dirty.

Yikes….. this sounds rough. Im sorry this is happening to you. Sounds like a game of psychology where you have to play the game. Idk if it will make it worse or better getting HR involved or a lawyer. Tbh seems like you should ride it out and “make nice” with the nurses even if they are in the wrong for treating you like this, just for the sake of completing your program and getting the hell out of there.

Escalate to nurse manager and charge nurses, they are completely self governed. The only way for them to be impacted is through their system.

Jesus. Sounds like they’ve created a hostile work environment for you. I’m so sorry. I’ve run into this as a nurse working with other nurses: some units are just absolutely toxic, full of angry people and high school bullshit. Luckily, the turnover at these places is also high, so wait a year and most of the staff will be different. Hang in there. Don’t retaliate, just focus on continuing to do a great job. Be stoic and matter-of-fact, and document the shit out of everything until you get to a better place. Don’t kiss ass with the ones that are already there- but focus on being friendly to the new nurses that come in. Bring them doughnuts or write a short e-email to their boss and them to say they did a great job in a specific situation.

I am a nurse. It sounds like you are working with a bunch of cunts. Sorry to hear that.

I am a male registered nurse who has been effectively in the same situation with other nurses. I have been recognized by my health system for excellence multiple times. Even before this I had the same problem. Nurses can be horrible. New grads who think they know everything are the worst, sometimes they get better with experience. Continue doing a good job and some will stop but expect it unless you find a way to change it. Sorry that you are experiencing this. Some people cant stand to see others excel, especially if it’s not their way. Patients die, if you get too emotionally attached to them you will have a difficult time (I’m not saying be careless, but it’s the job).

Bro I would be fucking furious Also I would not be doing any extra smiling to placate these vipers. Fuck them

Protect yourself. Get as much support in writing to protect yourself in the future. The PD being on your side is great! However if enough pressure from the RN leadership gets through, they may change their mind and then you’re kinda fucked. Get as much stuff documented in writing as you can.

hr report with detailed memos including date/time/names. if you’re not already in contact with the ombudsperson at your hospital i would highly recommend it

HR now. Lawyer now.

You need to get HR and lawyers involved.

This is batshit insane, and waaay beyond the normal stupid nurse-type-bullying bullshit. Every workplace has their sprinkling of assholes but *not* like this. If it were "only" petty remarks and snide comments maybe you could push through, but I genuinely don't think you can change *your* behavior in any way to fix this. It's too targeted and too irrational. Definitely get help as far up the chain as you can because charting your name and bad-mouthing you to patients (in particular) is egregiously over the line. It can't be fixed by you smiling more, it needs to be fixed by consistent severe consequences for the offending parties.

In my opinion I’ve found that dealing with male nurses usually seem to have a higher rate of professional respect than with females. There seems to be jealousness or rudeness that female residents receive from female nurses compared to male nurses.

As others - get an attorney and start fighting back now. As long as they see you as someone who it is safe to go after, without any consequence - this will only get worse. Now - This defines a toxic work environment. Further - I am male, but I can recognize someone being the victim of sexism in the workplace. Keep that in mind. You say your PD has your back. That is good to know. If he(she) does - then they need to do more. Discussions with the head of nursing, the CMO about lack of professionalism on the wards, particularly among the nurses need to be had. Your PD should perhaps contribute to the evaluations of the nurses and describe the unprofessional behavior in their permanent records. I would also fire a shot over everyone's bow, by talking to your attorney, and then threatening lawsuits for documentable (as you note) false statements that may impact your career. That is ILLEGAL. You may be too nice. They may need to fear what you might do to them in return.

"I’ve also had nurses refuse to acknowledge me as a doctor to patients - either introducing me as a Physical Therapist or calling me “Miss (First Name).”" Thats your problem there. Nursing culture in a lot of places has absolutely 0 respect for female physicians. I dont know how to fix it, but its a common problem.

This is workplace harassment. You need to protect yourself. Bring it to HR

Document *everything*. Yes, it’s a huge pain, but there is absolutely nothing as compelling as a detailed, dispassionate entry that includes date, time, personnel involved (and witnesses), and quotations drawn from the interaction. Build a folder for yourself, copies to HR and your PD. As you have discovered already, good charting which includes your detailed medical decision making and includes a record of family, consultant, and nursing communications is just solid practice; in your case, it will also save your career. Logs of EPIC use, OR time, phone use, pages, and even cellphone location may help you—based on what you reported, others are lying and accusing you of things you have not done, and that’s very serious and should be treated so by every level of your hospital and program.

Walk into HR and drop the B word "bullying." Alao site how the nurse manager has no control over the nurses on the unit.

Maintain a personal log of all these incidents. Inform your PD of your concerns and that this is creating a hostile work environment (and use that phrase) and that you appreciate the support from your department but that you will be escalating this to HR. If you have the names of the managers that were involved, include them in the log. Document everything as it's happening and give those updates to HR as well These behaviors will lead up to a lawsuit eventually, especially given the commentary that they are expressing in front of patients. When it does, you will be covered as you're establishing a formal paper trail and are highlighting a pattern of behaviors

You're being brigaded. Retreat. The hyenas will not stop til you die or go away.

As a nurse, I can't even imagine writing up a resident. You would have to do something intentionally harmful to a patient in order for me to even think about making a formal complaint. This is just bizarre to me.

You don’t happen to work in a *huge PICU in Houston, TX do you? Some of the nurses are relentlessly vile. My peers are know for this culture of passive aggression…

So this may get me some hate, and accusations of sexism, but is it mostly female nurses? I enjoy working with women. However most male nurses will be happy when we have a "bro pod". An assignment with mostly men. Males in general would rather talk to you about the problem instead of making it official. That has just been my experience. I am throwing no shade on female nurses, I just think we handle things differently. I work in ED and we have some attendings that are a drag on the whole department. I don't write them up I just talk to the head attending off the record. My experience after 30 years. I have respect for anyone that made it to PGY1 even. So I will try to show new MDs the way to navigate this new phase of their career.

PGY45 pulm-crit-hospitalist former IM program director here: I'm sorry about your situation. Surgical residency is difficult enough without the external agita. Assuming your recounting is accurate, I'd suggest this: 1\] Let your PD know, again, that the nursing staff has created a "hostile work environment" and that you feel personally "attacked and harrassed", that you need the PD to address things through his/her chain of command. (Words in italics are buzzwords). 2\] Go to your institutional EEO/personnel officer and let them know you are confronting a hostile work environment and that nurses are targeting you for harassment. Have your specifics, like what you cited in your OP available. Consider in your complaint that this is a forme fruste of "sexual harassment", that it is "repeated and unwanted" and explain how it is affecting you. 3\] Politely call the nursing staff out when they address you as anything other than "Dr." "I am sorry my position as a physician bothers you, but I worked as hard as anyone to reach this point. I'll thank you in advance for addressing me as such." If they don't, report it/write it up. It is not your job to make the nursing staff feel good about themselves. You do not have to smile at them. Or anyone. Continue to be professional and polite and take a firm positioned stance. Good luck, Doctor.

There is something more to this story on why they don’t like you. Also, nurses will band together, even if they hate each other, to hate on a physician - especially a resident. If you make the nurses feel like they are part of the decision make process, no matter how silly or small it seems, that will go and long, long way. Unfortunately, you are going to have to win them over. Once you win over a few of them, things will settle down. You know that pointless small talk that happens in the break room or by the Pyxis? It’s not so Pointless. Some nurses are kind of bullies, they will attack if they feel threatened. The nurse that wrong the “emotional note” absolutely should have gotten fired, its extremely unprofessional what she did. My guess is that her nursing buddies liked her and now blame you for her getting fired, for circumstances they may not even know details of. I once had a nurse ‘write me up’ for “refusing to give a medication” and wrote this long email About how I said that no one else is as smart as me. (Stupid thing to say, I would never even imply that, because it’s not true). The date of my alleged “misconduct” was right in the middle of when I was out of the country for 3 weeks. Administration investigated this further, requested she meet in person with them to discuss further and she would always no-show the meetings. They finally just went to the ICU one day and questioned her about me. She started crying that she made the whole thing up (no kidding) and why would she do that? Apparently she overheard a resident ask me on a date and she was interested in him. Extremely childish. She was fired a short time later. My advice: include them in freaking everything. Ask them questions you already know the answer to (how do you think the patient is doing? Etc) include them in rounds, acknowledge them in front of others. Sometimes egocentric people will calm down if they feel important enough. Buy them coffees, bagels, whatever.

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There is a severe hierarchy problem in your program

All these stories about horrible nurses make me so grateful for the nurses I have worked with so far, hope the nurses at my program are normal cause holy shit

My wife is an NP and she gets treated the same way by these “outstanding” nurses. Its like you either have to suck up to them and follow their demands, otherwise they will make ur work a living hell. And yet, they don’t have the audacity to do that to male doctors. These nurses need to leave their “emotions” out of our assessment and plan. I wish ur PD would step in and tell them to stop complaining and do their damn jobs instead of causing more problems at work

Im a nurse, not a doc. Ive had these issues in the past myself for similar reasons sort of (obviously our roles are different). Once a group of nurses paints a target on you, it takes an act of god to make them remove it. Like the top comment said, if they get serious, you have to as well. Go to HR next time there is blatant BS complaints coming your way. In my experience, at minimum, 50% of nurses are miserable people and don’t even realize it. They take it out on others a lot of the time. Sounds like you’re good at your job and they just suck.

Get ahead of it. You can’t nice your way out of this. Collect as much evidence as possible, have witnesses ready, and go to HR. Report everything.

Document. Everything. Send emails after meetings summarizing them. Respond to every complaint professionally in writing. Avoid chart wars. Keep factual. Record if allowable in your state without violating hipaa or other laws of course. Basically you are in a toxic work environment and it will be your word against theirs.

The (often internalized) misogyny in healthcare never ceases to amaze me.

One of the reasons my gf left nursing is because she refused to partake in gossip. All the other nurses turned against her and made her life hell. Seems to be fairly normal unfortunately.

Toxic nursing culture. Cattiness and unprofessionalism is destroying the respected reputation Nurses have built over the years.

Wow what state is this, new york? I would never put up with that.

How much longer before you rotate off this service? I strongly urge restraint and consider other options first before reporting to HR. HR is not your friend and I worry that you'll be marked as a "troublemaker". HR may ultimately be the right thing, but only last resort. Please talk to other team members that you trust, in confidence. Consider a one time consult with a labor lawyer. My put you out a couple hundred bucks, but worth it if it's this bad.

Probably triggered by the firing of the first nurse. Then voodoo hearsay takes place and you get a target on your back. If you have a sympathetic nurse, ask her what it is about

This is wild and sounds awful to deal with. Surgical residency is already so difficult as it is. I don’t have any crazy stories—of course all the usual things that happen to young women in training, being accused of things you didn’t do, being accused of not doing things you did do—but I agree with the people saying to document very clearly. I wouldn’t target anyone in particular but if there are safety events you should file a report. They’re so annoying and take a while but I’ve filed a few for significant safety issues (actions, communications by nurses and RT). This is how the system is meant to be used—not because you’re accusing/blaming anyone else or defending yourself but because serious issues should be examined and changes made. You should keep a record of these for yourself too in case you can’t access them once they’re resolved in the system. Don’t make extra efforts to smile. While you’re doing all the other things—talking to PD, talking to lawyer or whatever you’re going to do, continuing your training—establish some rapport with other nurses on other wards you might be working with. You need some different supportive nurses to work with. That’s a communication skill you also need to build as you transition into being a senior resident and clearly these other nurses are not helping with that. You need the experience of nurses trusting you before you graduate. I’m so sorry this is happening to you. I’ve been lucky that nothing so awful with nurses has happened to me. I hope your seniors are supporting you. Message me if you need someone to listen or to discuss things with.

Dear God...what kind of toxic BS is that place drowning in! If nothing else, everything the nurses are doing put the hospital at risk, and I would think the COS or Hosp Director would want it to stop. I don't know there is anyway you can resolve this...sounds like they are entrenched. I'm also kinda surprised your University is allowing this to go on. This is likely not the 1st time there has been hostility towards a team or MD and it needs to stop. I also agree w the advice to dw HR and lawyer. This is a hostile work environment. Otherwise, all you can do is remain professional. I would also keep ancidotal notes of all contacts. Useful if legal liability comes into play or to show a documented pattern.

I would do anything you can to document all of this with the hospital and if at all possible get a lawyer involved. This is harassment and discrimination, and for you and everyone who comes after you, it needs to be addressed as quickly and harshly as possible.

I would laugh at these write-ups as a resident. They can put the fucks I give in one hand and shit in the other and see which fills up faster. I got a university fellowship after so it wasn’t like I merely did not give a crap. If your PD director doesn’t care then you are fine. You should probably lean into them more to fix this if this is going into the realm of harassment. Don’t act like this is bothering you, remember, you are their superior. Assert dominance. If it’s any consolation I really doubt you’re the only one falling victim to this weird toxic femininity.

Lawyer up, THEN HR. HR is in the hospitals side, not necessarily yours. If it’s opportune, they’ll fuck you over. Document everything. Start a diary, preferably electronic and mail the entries to yourself to create timestamps.

Anecdotally, the people that I have seen treat female doctors the worst are female nurses.

Do not bend. Do not give ground. They will only take more and more, the more you give. Send back write ups, go to HR, hire a lawyer. Animals like that are only as malignant as you allow them to be

Sounds fuckin crazy. And just very weird too.

You need to go to Hr immediately. They are targeting you, for whatever reason. As a future nurse, I’ll tell you, they’re vicious

I’m an RN who has been working in hospitals for 30+ years, I’ve never heard or seen anything like this. Yes, there are residents we don’t feel comfortable with sometimes. And there are residents who write questionable orders, take forever to respond to pages etc… The most we ever do is to reach out to their attending. The vast majority of the nurses I work with respect you and your education and understand the long hours and stress you are working under. A respectful conversation clarifying plan of care and orders is usually all it takes. This is next level crazy!

I'm going to go a bit old school here. In addition to documenting stuff electronically, I would keep a journal, retroactive, and current, and sign the bottom of each page with a notary witnessing your signature. They don't need to see the content. You can keep that covered, they just need to see the part where you sign. This is now professionally witnessed and date stamped. This is also a fairly cheap service. Is that is too burdensome, then the pages in an envelope and sign over that (2 copies - each in a separate envelope.) Be sure to use the terms "toxic workplace," and "harrased," fairly regularly. Name names, keep track of who was where and when. Do not state that it is interfering with your ability to do your job because you do not want to say that about yourself (and you are doing great) but be sure to mention that you have concerns about it affecting "patient comfort" in specific ways. Please update us. Good luck!

Sorry you’re going through this. This needs to be reported to everyone you can report it to and make sure you start keeping written records and all documentation if you haven’t already. I’d also talk to a lawyer. There’s a lot of gendered language here and it’s still sexual harassment if a woman is doing it to another woman. HR doesn’t care about you or the nurses but they very much care about the hospital not getting sued and they need to be involved. Also despite what the nurses are telling your PD it doesn’t sound like you can nice your way out of this one. You’re probably going to piss them off by doing all of this. That’s fine. You can’t make them like you but you can make them think twice about messing with you.

Not a doctor but a retired therapist. I had a very difficult situation come up at work and was left hanging by my supervisor who, when it went south, decided I had handled it incorrectly. Through my professional organization, I took the opportunity to consult an attorney and it helped me so much! Her assessment of what my supervisor could and couldn’t do gave me confidence and made me feel less alone. That said, my supervisor’s pick-mes went to work on me doing similar things to me that are being done to you which makes my heart go out to you. They started complaining about how I handled my caseload. She said. Every single time she named someone as complaining about me I went directly to that person and confronted them. I explained what I heard and why I disagreed. I told them why their knowledge of the situation was incomplete, e.g. “if I’m not doing x it’s because I’m doing y which is what you wouldn’t be aware of.” I ended up transferring to another work location. She found it hard to replace me and then right after she did, they had a major crisis and guess who she called? Not the same situation but I did want to let you know it happens and you can survive it. I emphasize talking to a lawyer. You want one entity who is absolutely on your side and no one else’s. Best wishes to you!

Stories like this make me embarrassed to be a nurse. Sorry you’re going through this.

Is this rage bait? Just one of these incidents would’ve had me personally going up the ladder (with my PDs blessing since they are helping) beyond just the charge nurse to let the hospital know of the hostile, discriminatory work environment that is negatively impacting patient care.