Is it possible for a doctor to be as personal with patients as nurses are?

Nurses General Nursing

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I am 17. My heart is for the medical field, that I know for sure. A career in Nursing is appealing because of the one-on-one contact with the patients, the compassion required, and the idea that I am not simply writing a prescription and sending them out of the room. However, I also want to be highly qualified and able to provide the best care possible to my patients, and pursuing higher and higher education is not an issue! (Though financially it may be haha)

As a doctor, would I still have impact on patients? What medical careers would allow me to make an impact on my patient's lives other than simply signing a slip of paper and seeing them a couple of times a year? I want to help those people who NEED medical aid, beyond a sore hip or a slight cough. Should nursing remain my career path?

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Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.

Perhaps you need to investigate the different roles doctors and nurses can play. Some doctors work in ICU's or ER's so they are definitely doing more than just writing prescriptions. Or you could be a doctor in an OR and be performing surgery everyday.

However nurses can also get an advanced degree and work as a nurse practitioner in a primary care clinic, an ER, an ICU, as a midwife, a nurse anesthesiologist, research, or more.

You are correct that med school is expensive, but I do want you to see that nurses can have more of a decision making role, and that being a physician isn't all about working in an office.

Good luck

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If I was doing it all over again, I'd just go to med school!

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.

Of course they can.

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Specializes in Emergency, Trauma, Critical Care.

I've met some physicians with excellent bedside manner. A patient who recently had taken a turn for the worse had her ortho physician by her side frequently. I was more than impressed with his compassion and concern.

Nurses honestly are underrated and their role tends to be not known well. In my critical care unit we are frequently called to make decisions about patient care. Our MET (medical emergency team) nurses have protocols where they can make various decisions for patients who have taken a turn on the floor. Their goal is to stabilize them to a level where they can continue to stay on their floor and be brought to the ICU if it is deemed appropriate that their change in status is not a quick fix and requires much closer monitoring.

I will be honest, the role in ICU can be so busy trying to keep the patient alive, that sometimes it seems like you don't get the level of interaction with them you would like. These patients are frequently sedated, on a ventilator, sometimes paralyzed. I always try to talk to my patients, but many of them cannot communicate back.

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Specializes in Medsurg/ICU, Mental Health, Home Health.

I can't answer as to whether you should be a nurse or doctor.

Physicians DO develop good relationships with patients, though. A good example is oncologists/hematologists.

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Specializes in FNP.

Absolutely.

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Specializes in Med Surg.

Yes it's possible. A tale of two doctors:

When my wife spent a month in ICU on a vent I could never catch her respiratory specialist because he always times his rounds to coincide with the no visitors window. He did this so he wouldn't have to deal with families. If the patient was conscious, he would lisen to their lungs, turn around an walk out without saying a word.

A couple of years later I rushed her to the ER with an acute MI. The cardiologist on call spoke to us for a few minutes, told us what was going on and what his plans were, and them accompanied her in the elevator to the cath lab. After the procedure he accompanied her to the ICU before coming back and taking our daughter and me to a consultation room where he showed us the recording of the cath procedure and explained what was happening and what the options for treatment were. He then escorted us to her room in ICU, told us what to expect over the next few days, and only after he was sure we had no more qustions did he leave. The time was 0330 on a weeknight.

So yes, doctors can get personal with their patients. But the sad fact is that a great many choose not to.

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It is really far more about who you are as a person, your motivation, and your ability to convey care and compassion. The profession doesn't matter as much. For some patients the nurses (or a nurse) were the worst part of their hospital experience, for other patients the nurses (or a nurse) were the best part. For others patients it was a doctor who was the best or the worst aspect of their experience. If you want time with your patients you have to pick a specialty that allows that. For doctors, family medicine, oncology, psychiatry are a few that come to mind. Same is true in nursing.

Medicine and nursing are very different fields. Although I have loved aspects of being a nurse, I too would probably have gone to med school if I knew then what I know now. That said there are so many opportunities in nursing that it is in no way a limiting career.

In the end, if you are a person who is caring, considerate and compassionate, who is a good listener, who has good people skills, who is sincere, who is knowledgeable and informed and who is non-judgmental you will find that the personal aspect of being a doctor or nurse is rewarding.

In my experience, doctors and nurses are pretty equal in this area - some are great, some are mediocre and some are terrible.

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"I am 17. My heart is for the medical field, that I know for sure. A career in Nursing is appealing because of the one-on-one contact with the patients, the compassion required..."

Compassion is not required. To many of us (eg, me), it is just a job.

But, it is absolutely possible for a doctor to be as personal with patients. There are numerous doctors who I work with, who are very, very personable.

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"I am 17. My heart is for the medical field, that I know for sure. A career in Nursing is appealing because of the one-on-one contact with the patients, the compassion required..."

Compassion is not required. To many of us (eg, me), it is just a job.

But, it is absolutely possible for a doctor to be as personal with patients. There are numerous doctors who I work with, who are very, very personable.

I disagree. You are dealing with people who are in pain, who are vulnerable, who are hurting, who are scared, who are maybe grieving, etc... Compassion doesn't have to be your motivator for the job/career but you have to be able to be compassionate while at your job. To me that is a skill requirement of a nursing career. Different people express compassion differently and that is fine but if you want to do your job well, you need to have compassion. Nursing is more than completing a list of tasks.

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Specializes in ICU.

I knew a doctor who would spend much time with the patient,speaking with the family and actually ORDERED backrubs BID!

She is a wonderful woman, a pleasure to work with and you can tell she loved what she did because of the patients.

I had the privilage to take care of her mother as she was dying in the ICU. She never left her mothers side and helped me with all care while being kind and sweet to me.

Another Dr always had one to one contact with her patients, and when they would complain about the food, would hand me $10 to order him a good lunch in.

Just because you are a dr, doesn't mean you don't have to be personal and just because you are a nurse, it doesn't mean you do.

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