Do physicians have authority over nurses in the hospital?

[sjalv]

Hi there. In a hospital setting, do physicians have direct authority over an RN/LPN? I realize there are charge nurses/a DoN/a clinical manager, and I also realize physicians tell the RN what to do regarding the patient's diagnosis, but would a physician ever have the authority to tell a nurse something like "You aren't working fast enough." / "You are spending too much time with that patient." / "You are going to the bathroom too often." or other general statements, provided the physician's patient is NOT being endangered by whatever the nurse is being counseled on?

Sorry for the mega sentence. I am assuming it is not a physician's place to make these accusations/statements but some might anyway. I don't have hospital experience and am just a student nurse, but this piques my curiosity.

[ricksy]

They make their rounds, and then 'make like a tree' and leave. LOL

[Christy1019, ASN, RN]

I didn't think they did based on when I worked at a large level one trauma teaching hospital, but now that I'm at a small, community hospital I keep hearing how this is the "doctor's ER", which is super annoying since I disagree with a lot more of what these doctors say than I did at the last hospital....

[MikeyBSN]

Generally, no. Physicians in a hospital are often independent contractors; unlike nurses who are often employed by the hospital. The hospital administration is your "boss". That doesn't mean a physician cannot make a complaint against you, but you don't work for them. You must, of course, follow the policies and procedures of the hospital. But a physician isn't the boss of you just because he or she has "MD" or "DO" after his or her name.

[Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN]

No, physicians do not directly supervise RNs.

[VANurse2010]

You have to do what they tell you - provided it's not grossly ridiculous - but they have no direct control over your employment.

[Wile E Coyote, ASN, RN]

At it's basic level, the physician is there for the medical management of the patient. They can direct and critique your care of the patient. Depending on hospital politics, said critique may extend quite a bit further, ie medical director of a service or chief medical officer over the hospital. Your nursing leadership's style and overall peer regard will most definitely have an effect on the weight of the medical staff's opinion on specific nurse's performance. I've not experienced the physician having direct hiring/firing abilities in typical acute care settings.

[MikeyBSN]

You have to do what they tell you - provided it's not grossly ridiculous - but they have no direct control over your employment.

This isn't true.

[Caffeine_IV]

They have authority over the medical plan of care in regards to the patient.

They do not dictate our assignments, lunch, time management etc. The doctor is not the direct supervisor of nurses in the hospital.

We do not give up our chairs and computers for doctors unless so inclined nor stand up when they enter your area.

[Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN]

My boss is a nurse, and so is her boss...pretty sure her boss is too. The CEO of my hospital is a physician. His signature is on my paychecks but he has no direct authority over me.

[DoeRN]

I worked at one hospital for a brief moment that let one physician dictate which nurses would be able to care for his patients. To the point that if he was doing surgery on a particular day he specified which nurses he wanted working that day. And if he didn't like a particular nurse then oh boy! He brought in a lot of revenue for this small community hospital.

I quickly left this hospital.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

[VANurse2010]

This isn't true.

According to you.