Here's a story that will get your blood boiling...
A classmate of mine went to the health service at our school last week. The doctor asked her what she was going to school for, and she told him nursing. He proceeded to quiz her about her condition, but she wasn't feeling well so she was in no mood to answer his questions.
Near the end of the exam, she asked him about a specific drug. He got an attitued and said, "Who's the doctor here! I've been a doctor longer than you've been alive. And what do you know about this drug anyways?" She told him which class it belonged to and that her clinical instructor (with whom she had consulted before coming to the health service) had recommended it. He said "And who was she? A nurse! Nurses are like waitresses. I give them an order and they do what I tell them. That's how it should be". Or something to that effect.
He continued to refer to nurses as waitresses a few more times during the appointment. My classmate was livid, but managed to keep her cool because she needed her prescription. Luckily she has enough confidence in her career choice not to be influenced by what he said. With the encouragement of one of our instructors, she plans to e-mail the dean of the college of nursing to let her know what happened. Hopefully, heads will roll :)
The point of posting this story is not to encourage everyone to start bashing physicians. I would just like to know what we can do as nurses (or future nurses) to improve people's perception of the profession. Also, for the benefit of all the nursing students out there, please tell us how you would have responded to this doctor.
