Doctors who bully doctors

1 minute read

Mental Health podcast The Tea Room

By

Wendy John

Is imposter syndrome the driver for this insidious behaviour from people who should know better?

From parliament house to small businesses, bullying is being revealed as a social epidemic in all workplaces. And healthcare is no exception.

In this episode of The Tea Room we talk to Dr Skye Kinder, a psychiatry registrar who has been named on the Victorian Honour Roll of Women for 2021.

Dr Kinder has been featured on the Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence list and was named as one of Forbes’ 30 under 30.

But above all Skye Kinder is a doctor. Having trained and worked in a variety of healthcare locations, Dr Kinder is sharing her perspective on the insidious and subtle ways doctors bully and are bullied in the medical practice.

You can listen and subscribe to the show by searching for “The Tea Room Medical Republic” in your favourite podcast player.

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John Doe
John Doe
2 years ago

If it’s one thing I absolutely agree on is the comment “it’s impossible to be the perfect doctor”. So by this token, anyone who perpetually makes someone feel inadequate, without assisting them to improve on their inadequacies, are simply a “bully”.

Unfortunately, bullies are unlikely to change their ways as it is likely a personality trait of perpetual abuse onto others. For the bully victims, or for anyone really, best to understand that there are these types of “pretend-perfect people”, or the “superiority show-offs”. Accept it, acknowledge they will always exist, focus on how good of a doctor you can be, and how much of the inadequacies can be improved upon.

I’ll leave with this one thought: a “perfect” doctor isn’t just about the knowledge, but also about the compassion, understanding and willingness to help others. But a perfect doctor will never be, because there will ALWAYS be room for improvement (until the age of dementia).

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Patrick O\'Leary
Patrick O\'Leary
2 years ago

My father sailed in the Merchant Navy when he was 16. He was then a frail young man and vulnerable. He always maintained that all bullies are cowards and to try calling them out for cowardice which I have done and it works. Ironically I’ve been called out for bullying and that worked heavily on me.
There’s just no excuse. Standards are best improved by respectful communication and not bullying.
Moreover,
Confront your own insecurities. Is there a bit of the bully in me? Or you. Most likely.

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Greg Stehle
Greg Stehle
2 years ago

GP Supervisors Australia have created a guide on Bullying and Harassment in General Practice, as well as a compiled a policy and range of other bullying and harassment resources relevant to your state and territory on the following webpage: https://gpsupervisorsaustralia.org.au/bullying-and-harrasment/

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