The God Complex...

What is it with midwives/nurses/doctors that think they know everything and you know nothing? What is it with all the egotistical health care workers out there?

I am having such a difficult time working with a midwife that takes everything personally. From a great birth, to a suggestion-- everything is a reflection of her. I get pushed down if I even bring up something new that I learned. Now I have learned that I have to keep my mouth shut. Belittling someone does not help you to be a better doctor or midwife or nurse.

I have to remember that when I am a nurse and a midwife I can still learn from the people "under" me, I can learn from everyone. I can be open to new ideas and knowledge and it doesn't necessarily mean that I am doing anything wrong. I will respect everyone, even the pee-on birth assistant.

I won't give any examples of the midwife I work with now, because I don't want to jeopardize my job yet. But, to illustrate my point I will give an example from the nurse I work with. She was demonstrating to these new parents how to take their babies temp. She explained that a rectal temp is the most accurate and this is how you do it... Later I casually mentioned that in my class at school we actually learned that axillary was the recommended way to take a child's temp until they are at least 3 years old (I didn't even explain how its actually less accurate because new babies usually have stool in their rectum, so it reads lower than it is. Nor did I mention that its actually more dangerous because you can perforate their bowel or how invasive it is or that in my conservative text book it says "axillary temps are the preferred method to rectal temps...). I didn't belittle her in front of anyone or push my idea, but her reply was "really? I didn't know that... Well, I don't even believe that because rectal is much more accurate and thats how we were taught..." and then I got the cold shoulder for awhile. Now, this is this nurses first job out of nursing school and she has been at this hospital for 10 years (in fact, I found this to be a common thread-- first job, closed minded, not evidenced-based etc...). She has no children and I bet you she has never read one book on birth or taking any childbirth classes. But, she's the expert telling new parents what to do? And she won't even open her mind to consider using axillary temps vs. rectal temps or even look it up to see the research? Wow...