Okay, one of my pet peeves (among several in the healthcare field) is the superiority complex doctors tend to think they should have over nurses.
I'd like to hear other nurses experiences with this subject matter.
How many nurses believe doctors are superior to them?
How many nurses continue to think they are not just as important to the patients healthcare process as the doctors, therefore "cowtow" to doctors when they speak?
How many nurses are afraid of doctors....and why?
When will nurses STOP being afraid of doctors?
When will nurses begin to see themselves along with doctors as two members of the patients healthcare team, and not feel subordinate to the doctors?
Do you experience a difference with the new female docs today who think they have to assert themselves for fear we will not recognize them as doctors or confuse them with being nurses?
Bluesky and sbic56...........ditto on that one! Nurses do tend to abuse one another and demote one another intellectually and mentally far more than doctors do with each other. This is one reason why nurses have a looooooooooooooong way to go when it comes to "professionalizing" our chosen field of nursing.
But, I am also old enough to recall the days when MDs demoted and made D.O.s feel "inferior" to them, and it took them awhile to finally acknowledge a respect for their "different" professional degree choices, but not nearly as long as it is taking nurses to become "one".
I do not fear doctors. I have a great deal of respect for the profession of medicine, but this past year have met a few doctors that I have no respect for due to their treatment of nurses as if nurses are "inferior" to them just because they chose a different career path than we did.
I do not cowtow to any doctors. I have met a couple of female interns ---- relatively young looking, so obviously not out of school long ------ who think they ARE superior to nurses, and are quick to point out to the nurses that they ARE doctors and NOT nurses.............God forbid! It is attitudes such as theirs that makes me want to puke on them. :chuckle
Doctors today need to change in their approach to other healthcare workers, especially nurses who are directly responsible for the care of the patients the doctors admit to the hospital for treatment. NOT getting along only prolongs the drama between healthcare workers, doctors, and that trickles down to the patient population and their family members.
Working AS A TEAM and NOT enemies of one another should be the healthy approach towards working together for the benefit of the patients we care for.
Doctors may have more formal education than me but that does NOT make them better than me. They are human "beans" just like me. The only difference is either they had rich parents to put them thru umpteen years of college or they and/or their first wives worked like dogs to pay for it, and I didn't.
And after watching a doc throw a temper tantrum and rip pages right out of the chart and throw them in the floor last night:eek:, I think some of them need some anger management and "growing up" classes!!!!!!!!
But, I am also old enough to recall the days when MDs demoted and made D.O.s feel "inferior" to them, and it took them awhile to finally acknowledge a respect for their "different" professional degree choices, but not nearly as long as it is taking nurses to become "one".
cheerful
I had to chuckle on that one! I work in an Osteopathic hospital and remember the days of the MD's looking down on the DO's. I always thought that was odd because DO's actually attend an additional year of training over what MD's are required!
sbic56........ I too use to work in an osteopathic hospital years ago, and noticed the treatment/heard the talk about how MDs snubbed their noses at DOs. DOs had much more class, more bedside positive and professional manner than any MD had that I had been around in those days. I was actually SHOCKED when that feud between them passed, but at the same time really glad it did. Now, today.........look how far they've come. :)
Now........when will nurses realize the same respect for one another?
Interesting comment on that they are better educated.
I would question whether the education is relavent or appropiate to modern healthcare.
I would agree that most is, but they still don't learn Commication, Clinical skills and how to deal with real people.
They are started to realise this otherwise why do they come to me as a nurse to teach them???
I don't see myself nessessary as equal to doctors in some areas the nurse is the expert in some areas the doctors is, we are both part of the healthcare team.
Doctors and nurses should work together both professions have skills which complement each other and working as a team will benefit the important group - the patient.
...but they still don't learn Communication, Clinical Skills, and how to deal with Real People.
This I can definately agree with !
But then, when you only see your patient the allotted timeframe of MAYBE 15 minutes at the Dr.'s Office, and even LESS at the bedside... hey... what the heck does one need COMMUNICATION SKILLS for ??? :chuckle And communicate with nurses? What on earth FOR ? What could they POSSIBLY have in common?
Hmmm. IMHO, this is a strange sort of question. I'm just going into nursing now (yeay, second career!) and have spent a good deal of time working in the corporate and theatre world. To ask "Are Doctors better than Nurses?" seems as odd to me as asking "Are Lighting Designers better than Stage Managers?" or "Are Development Directors better than Human Resource Directors?" One of these positions may earn more money, and/or require more school. But that doesn't make the job holder quantifiably "better".
Every job requires a different skill set. Every job has its own challenges and rewards.
I don't know about you guys, but they owe me respect therefore they will give it to me. I started with the yes sir no sir stuff after school. It doesn't work. If you empower them, they will try to dominate. It's nature. No more Dr. stuff unless I'm near a pt. If you make it Jim, Tony...It brings them down to eye level. Stop the I'm sorry to wake you sir - crap. I'm up at that time of the night nobody is sorry for me. If they are on call it's their job to be up. If they bark at you get right back in their faces. I can't count the number of MD butts I've saved so far because they have ordered something wrong, something inappropriate, or something they shouldn't have...
Pt's. and families are the same way. They help give the Dr's. their god complexes. Pt's. don't seem to understand that if they we're alone in the room with an MD. The Dr. would watch them die as they're barking out orders to the wall. It's only because my peers and I are in the room that they might walk out alive. 99% of Doc's can't even start a line. They owe us respect - demand it!
Oh yah, quit giving up your chairs to them. It's called the Nurses Station. If you think after 8-12 hours of busting my butt without a lunch, I'm giving up my chair to them you need to put the crack pipe down now.
We are as career choices definetly different. But I have a question for the folks who feel that they are inferior to doctors. Do you feel that your support staff is inferior to you?
I work in long term care but I have seen nurses in med-surg learn how to appropriatly and safely transfer a dependent patient from bed to chair from (oh my god) a CNA. I've seen ER nurses unable to draw blood and the phleb walk in and do it without blinking an eye. I've seen unit clerks get me the supplies I need now, NOW (when I've tried for the last 4 hours).
I've seen CNAs pick up on specific changes in my residents that have been then ignored by the weekday nurse, because they are just CNAs.
The roles that we all function under are all Important. I made need to supervise, but I treat other people with respect and expect and only accept the same.
I used to let physcians and surgeons get loud and nasty with me. Then I relized it isn't good for the people you care for. Nine times out of ten they will not keep the nastiness away from my patients. That then hurts my patients by damaging the trust that they must have with me, the nurse, who is pushing that med in their vein, changing mom's dressing or irrigating hubby's foley. My patients and the doctors I work with must trust my judgement.
You don't trust the judgement of something inferior.
My dog is inferior. He can't remeber to go outside to use the toilet. Other people are not.
is the superiority complex doctors tend to think they should have over nurses.
live4today, RN
5,099 Posts
Bluesky and sbic56...........ditto on that one! Nurses do tend to abuse one another and demote one another intellectually and mentally far more than doctors do with each other. This is one reason why nurses have a looooooooooooooong way to go when it comes to "professionalizing" our chosen field of nursing.
But, I am also old enough to recall the days when MDs demoted and made D.O.s feel "inferior" to them, and it took them awhile to finally acknowledge a respect for their "different" professional degree choices, but not nearly as long as it is taking nurses to become "one".
I do not fear doctors. I have a great deal of respect for the profession of medicine, but this past year have met a few doctors that I have no respect for due to their treatment of nurses as if nurses are "inferior" to them just because they chose a different career path than we did.
I do not cowtow to any doctors. I have met a couple of female interns ---- relatively young looking, so obviously not out of school long ------ who think they ARE superior to nurses, and are quick to point out to the nurses that they ARE doctors and NOT nurses.............God forbid!
It is attitudes such as theirs that makes me want to puke on them. :chuckle
Doctors today need to change in their approach to other healthcare workers, especially nurses who are directly responsible for the care of the patients the doctors admit to the hospital for treatment. NOT getting along only prolongs the drama between healthcare workers, doctors, and that trickles down to the patient population and their family members.
Working AS A TEAM and NOT enemies of one another should be the healthy approach towards working together for the benefit of the patients we care for.