are doctors more valued then nurses?

[brown rice]

Why are nurses under paid? Why do doctors earn so much more then nurses? I understand that doctors have more education behind them and of course they should recieve better wages then nurses because they have to carry more responsibility. Yet, nurses work just as hard as doctors, if not harder. Shouldn't their wages be a little more balanced?

[peter73]

Value is in the eye of the beholder.

our hospital will spend more to recruit one doctor than on all nursing recruitment. After all, people go to the hospital for expensive services provided or should I say ordered by the doctor. They make the money for the hospital.

Nurses are the necessary evil. Hospitals can not function without nurses, but we are all expense and in some cases treated as such.

Doctors are tied to a nurses value. Sounds funny but I think it is true.

I have worked with Docs who treat nurses as dust under thier feet and the managment follows the leed.

I have also worked with Docs that got the concept that in some cases all that stands between them and a huge malpractice suit is a NURSE, balancing condition, treatment, meds, etc. (after all, a nurse may have 8 patients and a doctor may have 100+ beteen clinic, in house, consults, etc on any given day).

When the doctors recognized our value to them, they put the pressure on the hospital to keep the nurses happy, well educated and continuing to protect them from error.

I have seen doctors go to bat for nurses in wages, hours, etc. The reason may be totally selfish, if you were the MD would you rather keep the experienced nurses in your specialty or have all new grads or floaters monitoring your patients? You have never seen anything as angry as a surgean who just realized that the unit was staffed with new grads and OB nurses floated to the unit. The surgeans banded together, cut back elective surgery, and put the pressure on to give bonuses and incentives to get experienced nurses in the specialty, on the floor. (not to belittle OB nurses or new grads. New grads need guidance from experienced nurses. Specialty nurses are highly effective in thier specialty, and I think we all realize that bieng floated to unfamiliar territory puts patients and our license at risk)

When the doctors value the nurse judgment, experience and performance the hospital is forced to take a bite in the bottom line and treat the nurses better, or risk MDs changing practice setting costing them revenue.

It is just the flow of power set up by $$$$.

admin. -> MDs -> nurses : nurses -> MDs -> admin. After all, money maskes the world go round. Doesn't it?

peter