Doc-zilla

Originally posted 4/7/2012 I'm going to steal a term for a particular physician I have to work with occasionally. I told "R" I was, so it's okay.
There is one surgeon at work, who has been described as being very nice and funny outside the OR, but in the OR he is Doc-Zilla. The first time I worked with him I was doing my scrub rotation, he seemed a bit intimidating, but not too scary. I left without fear of returning. My scrub preceptor always works with him on Tuesdays so I would be returning. I felt bad for his residents, though, he yells at them all case long.
The next time I worked with him was a disaster, for me, the patient did fine. My preceptor did most of the work, helped me get the case set up and stood back to watch. She had asked the surgeon prior to the start of the case what the chances were of converting to an open procedure. He stated that there is always a chance that we will open. Later when he got into bleeding and had to convert to an open case we had to wait a little for instruments, he spent hours ragging on her.
During another time I was scrubbed in for him, his pager went off and our circulator, a nurse who works with him all the time made the call. It was from a nurse taking care of one his post-op patients on the floor. The nurse described what sounded to me like a possible mild allergic reaction to a medication and wanted something for the patient. He told the nurse to put some lotion on the patient's skin. He then proceeded to complain about how nurses couldn't do anything for themselves any more. I should've kept my mouth shut, but I spoke up to say that hospital policy dictates what we can do without a physician order and maybe we should work to change that. He then turned his anger on me.
I was horrified at how he humiliated me and spent the rest of the day not speaking to anyone, even outside of the OR in fear that I would start crying.
On another occasion, after a long day of working with him he said something like: you're abandoning this case like rats from a sinking ship. Someone once asked me if maybe this is his way of trying to be funny. It may be, but when I am already in fear of his anger, it doesn't sound like anything except an insult.
Worked with him again more recently. The day went better: I didn't talk to him unless I absolutely needed to, did my job quietly in the corner but it wasn't perfect. He would ask for something, then immediately yell for it again. At one point during the case I was running over cords and around equipment from one side of the room to the other to do two things right after each other. I was afraid I was going to trip and land on my face, but I made it.As the case went the pager for one of his residents went off. I really hate answering the pagers, I really hate being the "middle-man" between the surgeons and their other patients. I would really rather be focused on caring for the patient I am in the room with. I answered the pager, relayed the information and made the call back to the nurse who paged. I explained to her that the doctor was scrubbed in surgery and she immediately said: oh, I just wanted to talk to him about my patient...when will surgery be done. I'll try back then. I gave her an estimate and hung up. I then relayed the message to the resident. Then I got yelled at by Doc-Zilla because this patient had surgery yesterday and might be having a complication and why would the nurse page us while we are in surgery unless it was an emergency... I explained, again, what the nurse had said and sat down to continue charting.
Later I overheard him, amongst his yelling at the residents, say: well, even a blind squirrel gets a nut once in a while. I was appalled. He immediately said: not that I think you're a squirrel, or anything. Again, when I later relayed this to someone, they asked if maybe this was his way of being funny. I don't think it's funny. Even taking back part of it, it was the wrong part to take back! He was basically saying that his resident was lucky, rather than admitting that they had done a good job.
I am done with the Gen-surgery rotation and am hoping I am not required to work with him EVER again. I know that is not realistic, but I do hope my "opportunities" to work with him are rare from now on. He scares me. He's Doc-Zilla.