Are nurses smarter than resident physicians?

Nurses General Nursing

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  • Specializes in ICU, CVICU, Surgical, LTAC.

You are reading page 3 of Are nurses smarter than resident physicians?

GilaRRT

1,905 Posts

Those are basic skills that can be easily learned. The fund of knowledge they have acquired in medical school, on the other hand, takes years and years of hard work and dedication. You can't equate the two. I couldn't care less if my doctor knows how to give a shot. I do care that he/she knows how to perform a skilled assessment, make an accurate diagnosis and prescribe appropriate treatment.

Post of the year candidate. This is exactly what I want in a physician. I can carry out the prescribed treatment, but I need the physician to make the right call in the first place.

canesdukegirl, BSN, RN

1 Article; 2,543 Posts

Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.
I have had several instances where a resident was completely unprepared or experienced with a situation. I've shown them how to give injections, how to figure out dosing, how to perform a throat culture, how to suture and even how to remove an impaction.

I don't find it irritating so much as I find it disappointing that a "doc" would be sent out into the field without even so much as having seen the "basics". I remember the old time doctors using the phrase "See one, Do one, Teach one". But I don't think that these residents are even passing the "See one" stage before they are let loose on society! Sad really.

I didn't know that MAs were allowed to suture. Is this new?

AmericanRN

396 Posts

as a physician we dont know ALL the medications. Even as an atteding now I dont know ALL the medications and their doses. I had a nurse asked me 1-2 weeks ago what X medication did and I honestly told her: I dont know but I will get back to you in 5 minutes and I did. The medication ended up being a trial drug for lymphoma cancer.

Making fun of residents is pretty bad. I didnt even think of making fun of nurses when I was a resident. I remember during residency having to take out my first central line and asking a young nurse to bring me supplies to take out the central line and she told me "I dont know what you need since this is my first one", I didnt laugh or ridicule her instead we both went to the supply room and got the stuff.

We are a team with different backgrounds and roles, making fun of one or the other only makes patient care worse and the patient is the one that pays the price.

Well said and thank you. As a relatively new nurse (RN) my first nursing job was in an LTC where I was not oriented appropiately and regularly belittled by most of the nurses on staff there with the exception of two. I bring up the RN part only because whenever I did ask questions the only answer I got was "you're an RN and you can't insert a PICC line?" When I would answer well no because that requires an extra certification I would be sneered at like I was lying not they had the cert needed to insert one either. We didn't have the equipment needed even if I did know how. Compare that to the rounding physicians who took time to explain things to me without humiliation. The physicians knew it was a hostile work environment and gave me names of nursing unit managers who were hiring in different places they rounded at so I could get out of there. Now I am at a hospital and am so much happier. I won't ever make fun of a new doc or nurse I know what it's like to walk into a unit full of snarling pitbulls in scrubs.

mazy

932 Posts

I have tremendous respect for anyone who has the guts to say "I don't know" and then make use of the people and resources around them to inform themselves.

Much better than the person who comes through with a "you can't tell me anything" attitude who just won't listen and who usually knows squat.

Here is an opportunity, with a new resident, to establish a respectful and collaborative relationship that will serve you well when he or she finally gets settled into the role of MD.

Sad to throw that opportunity away. And makes all the rest of us other nurses look bad.

canesdukegirl, BSN, RN

1 Article; 2,543 Posts

Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.
I have tremendous respect for anyone who has the guts to say "I don't know" and then make use of the people and resources around them to inform themselves.

Much better than the person who comes through with a "you can't tell me anything" attitude who just won't listen and who usually knows squat.

Here is an opportunity, with a new resident, to establish a respectful and collaborative relationship that will serve you well when he or she finally gets settled into the role of MD.

Sad to throw that opportunity away. And makes all the rest of us other nurses look bad.

VERY well stated, Mazy!

canesdukegirl, BSN, RN

1 Article; 2,543 Posts

Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.
I won't ever make fun of a new doc or nurse I know what it's like to walk into a unit full of snarling pitbulls in scrubs.

Nice analogy!

Hearing from all of you wonderful nurses is really refreshing. As a resident, I recognize that most of you have more practical knowledge than I do, and I always ask for help when I start a new rotation. The culture at my hospital has bred terrible attitudes amongst the nurses, who behave very poorly with us.

brownbook

3,413 Posts

I won't ever make fun of a new doc or nurse I know what it's like to walk into a unit full of snarling pitbulls in scrubs.

This really hurts. The first thing I did this morning was lay on my rug hugging my pitbull and rubbing his belly. We've owned pitbulls for 15 years. The unconditional love they, and almost all dogs, give humans, is beyond words.

Pitbull owners tend to be a little sensitive about negative pitbull references.

But I do completely agree with the rest of your post. :)

LovingLife123

1,592 Posts

Hearing from all of you wonderful nurses is really refreshing. As a resident, I recognize that most of you have more practical knowledge than I do, and I always ask for help when I start a new rotation. The culture at my hospital has bred terrible attitudes amongst the nurses, who behave very poorly with us.

I work st a level one trauma/teaching hospital. I recognize that you guys have to learn. It's the only way you will become good attendings some day. I really don't have problems at all with our residents, it's the med students I really scrutinize the orders with. And I will closely watch the brand new residents.

But, I am always very professional and respectful. And I never act like I know more. Because I don't. We are all one team with the goal of saving lives.

Specializes in IMCU, Oncology.

Even if I ever felt I knew more than a resident, I would never act that way. I would always be respectful and helpful and use it as a positive teaching moment as I hope a physician would do for me! I am still a novice nurse and still have much to learn, and I hope physicians will be patient with me as I grow in my my new role. I would love to see mutual respect in our field instead of a competitiveness. We each have our necessary and very important roles to fill!

I worked one on one with a physician at a clinic recently and it was then that I discovered how much knowledge a physician has compared to a nurse. It was humbling.

Guest219794

2,453 Posts

Okay so i work at a large teaching hospital/level one trauma facility. I rotated through the ED and a patient came in with suspected drug OD. We didn't know what the patient took but tried narcan and it didn't work. I suggested the use of Romazicon to the resident (assuming that if the patient ODed on benzos it would be worth a try) and he looked at me crazy. He had never heard of the drug. What????

Has anyone else found that the residents at your facility are clueless????

Maybe he looked at you crazy because he is well aware of the risk vs benefit of using Romazicon on a patient without a good history. Maybe he was about to say, "In intentional overdoses, it is difficult to ascertain a patient's benzodiazepine history and thus flumazenil is not safe. Likewise it has no role in the management of an unknown overdose, or in patients who are taking proconvulsives. If flumazenil is given in a mixed benzodiazepine and tricyclic antidepressant overdose, the neuro-protective effects of the benzodiazepine will be removed by flumazenil and can allow the tricyclic antidepressant's pro-convulsive properties to predominate. Treating the seizures becomes complicated as benzodiazepines are first-line anti-convulsives yet cannot be used due to receptor blockade."

Maybe that was on the tip of his tongue, but he realized that pointing out the flaws in that suggestion might seem like he was trying to show that residents are, in fact, smarter than nurses.

Just saying.

Specializes in ED, Pedi Vasc access, Paramedic serving 6 towns.

Romazacon is VERY rarely given because of the risk of protracted seizure, especially in someone who uses Benzos chronically, and guess what you wont be able to use if they do seize. Not worth the risk, and most facilities just treat the symptoms of the overdose, rather then risk protracted seizure activity.

Annit

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