Nursing

Approach physicians with confidence

Stressed Out Nurses Weekly, March 10, 2008

It takes a lot of courage to deal with negative behaviors successfully-physicians act out their power in dominant behaviors, which makes it very difficult to approach them.

What are some of the ways physicians maintain their dominance? The majority of these behaviors are nonverbal:

  • Poor eye contact or raised eyebrows
  • Never bothering to learn your name
  • Ignoring you
  • Giving one-word answers
  • Using a sarcastic tone of voice
  • Body language that says, "I am better than you"
  • Eyes that say, "You are bothering me"

Acknowledging this power difference is the first step in learning to communicate with physicians because the vast majority of all communication is nonverbal. As new nurses, sometimes we just can't put our finger on why we hesitate to approach a physician. You may need to remind yourself that these are learned behaviors and not to take them personally.

Source: Stressed Out About Communication Skills, HCPro Inc., 2007. For more information on this book, click here.

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