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Discussion

Doctors' perception of nurses

Hi all!

I'm a student nurse in London (GB) and I've been quite shocked by the attitude of some doctors in my hospital: they can be SO arrogant, condescending and damn right rude to the nursing staff, it's unreal and it makes me mad!! (I find the older ones are the worst!) My question is: is it something that is quite common or are we just unlucky here??? (It is so bad that a friend of mine is actually thinking of resigning after seeing a senior nurse being totally humiliated by a doc).

What do you think is the general perception of nurses by doctors where you are? Are they all the same?? And if they are any doctors reading, what exactly do you think of nurses?

Many thanks

Lysa

Featured Replies

most good doctors (or at least the ones with any common sense)quickly realize that the nurses are their eyes and ears.They all had to start somewhere too!A few phone calls at 3 am for a tylenol order for those insisting they be called for everything usually cures a lot of things,although i don't recommend doing that just for spite:chuckle sometimes that may come back to get you.They soon start to get the picture.We ended up with a lot of the MD's creating some standing orders more often.But yes,some of them are just plain mean to the nurses.I think those are more the exception than the rule(hopefully).

-I work in a teaching hospital where docs change monthly so it is never ending--you just about get along and new ones appear.It's amazing how some are so appreciative of all our expertise ( I've been nursing over 35 years) and some of them come out thinking and acting as if they know it all!!!!! they can't even manage those new b/p machines much less start an iv!!!!! Surgeons and female docs are the worst !!!!!!

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I live and work in a small city where doctors and nurses pretty much move in the same circles, so we probably don't deal with as much crap from the docs as nurses in bigger hospitals and/or large cities. Most are quite respectful, and only occasionally do we get a new one who thinks he's God and tries to run the show for a few months or a year before he gets the hang of playing well with others.

In fact, I'd say the majority of our physicians value nurses' opinions and judgment. Yesterday I had a patient in liver failure (secondary to heavy heroin and ETOH use) who's been basically circling the drain for the past three days, and she's so unstable none of the nurses who have cared for her felt comfortable doing so on our general med/surg unit. I thought she should have been transferred to ICU the first night she was there, but since I wasn't taking care of her there wasn't much I could do about it.

Then yesterday, her MD called me around 1730 after she'd been brought back from radiology (for an unsuccessful attempt at placing a PICC line); we couldn't keep her sats up, her lungs were wet, her edema was increasing, and she was alternately obtunded, apneic, and then agitated. He asked me what my nursing judgment was regarding her ability to be cared for on the floor, and I told him frankly I was uncomfortable with it and thought she should go to ICU. And lo and behold, the patient was transferred, after a consult with the Internal Med doc on call who also agreed with my assessment.

Now THAT'S what I call teamwork.........doctors and nurses working together for the good of the patient. In today's cost-conscious world, no one wants to send an uninsured heroin addict to the ICU for expensive treatment, but it was what was needed in this case, and both docs involved made it happen because they trusted a NURSE'S intuition and assessment.

If only nursing management valued us the way most of our doctors do.......!

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