7 Habits of Highly Annoying Doctors

OK, it’s time to revisit Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Last time, we looked at nurses. But this time we’re going to examine some habits of those doctors that get right under our skin, the annoying ones that everyone complains about, the doctors that are nowhere to be found in Mr. Covey’s book. Just to help you identify the people we are talking about, here are the 7 Habits of Highly Annoying Doctors:

• Calling consults before even seeing the patient.
• Going on vacation without arranging coverage… assuming that residents or hospitalists will cover.
• Despicable penmanship.
• Using prohibited abbreviations (and then having the kahonies to get angry when nurses or pharmacists call them on it).
• Always being late for meetings, appointments, and important events. Always.
• Asking a staff member a question without greeting them first (“Hello”, “Excuse me”, “Pardon me”, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but…” no greeting what so ever, none).
• Introducing themselves as “Doctor” after another doctor initiates the introduction using their first name (Goes like this… “Hi, I’m John Smith, one of the ER docs here. Nice to meet you.” “Oh, Hi. I’m Dr. Snobwalla, Chief of Surgery.”)

Feel free to list their other annoying traits. Send me an email or just post a comment below. If there are any other professions… say NPs, PAs, EMTs, etc that you think need a list of their own, let me know. :0)

Related posts:

1. 7 Habits of Highly Annoying Nurses
2. Doctors’ Favorite TV Shows By Specialty