I'm so irritated with a doctor in the team I'm in today. That doctor actually had the cheek to blame me for a mistake which the doctor made. Yesterday while seeing a patient the doctor told me that the patient had an abnormal left sided finding. So I recorded that in the notes and I specifically clarief that it was the left side. Today it was discovered during ward rounds with a senior doctor that the patient actually had a right sided problem. The doctor looked at me accusingly and shook the pen at me.
The same doctor then later in the afternoon suddenly said in front of anohter senior doctor that I did not update something properly. Thankfully there was another junior doctor who was ther and that junior doctor knew I did. I wanted to rebut the acussing doctor but I decided to just swallow my pride and let the matter go.. Cos' what good would it do if I said what I wanted to say especially in front of the senior doctor... It would look like I'm being argumentative and unprofessional.
I know I'm perfectly willing to take the blame for something I did wrongly but I will not stand when I'm accuse of something which is not my fault! Is this professional behaviour? I think not. This is the one pronciple that I will not stand to be violated... I'm more than happy to apologise for something which I know is my fault but I'm not going to apologise or accept blame for something which I'm not at fault. I know the saying "The lowest guy on the totem pole gets the blame" but is this right? I know that this happens frequently enough that it may even be expected when you work in any job but does it make it right? I think NOT!
So I have decided that from now on, I'll make sure that I have a witness for everything that that doctor tells me and if possible I'm going to avoid going to see patients with that doctor... I can follow the other doctors...The toher thing I also notice is that that doctor is quick to grab credit and make you seem bad in front of other senior doctors.. No I'm not being overly sensitive... Cos' that doctor is all nice and cozy with you when there are no senior doctors around but changes when there are senior doctors around. For god sakes' I'm a medical student, is there a need for that doctor to be competitive with me? That doctor does this with the other junior doctor as well..Seriously I'm not impressed...
This whole incident reminds me of my time in the army... In order to cover your own ass, anything that is verbally communicated, write it down and get that person to sign for it.. I know it's not practical and impossible to do this in medicine but it really makes my blood boil when I thinnk about the injustice I had to go through...
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