Doctors vs. Nurses

I work in a large teaching hospital that is affiliated with a med school, which means residents and med students account for a large number of those we share our work spaces with daily. Up until recently, my unit had a designated area at each station for staff drinks. As long as they were named, dated, lidded, and remained in the designated area, it was okay to have them there. It is a very large unit and some stations are far from the break room.

A few weeks ago, JCAHO visited and determined this was was not permitted as it poses a risk to staff safety. This I understand...in fact, I had always known this but was informed that JCAHO approved our designated areas the last time they came.

Now, although staff are forbidden from having drinks outside of the break room, physicians are exempt from this (per management), and often do their rounds with beverage in hand. Yesterday I nearly spilled JP fluid into an open coffee cup on a sink ledge left by a doctor while he was talking to the patient in that room.

I'm still just a Tech, but the disparity between what doctors can do and get away with and what staff do (namely nurses) has been bothering me since I first entered the hospital setting. Drinks are one thing. I've witnessed doctors take a WOW computer from a nurse while she was logged in about to pass meds as her back was turned. The response to the RNs who ask management to inform doctors not to run off with WOWs during their crucial times: "Find another WOW." The response to doctors who complain: "We will order more dedicated physician computers." Then there are patients who complain about nurses claiming they were unavailable, were not attentive, did not provide quality care, etc., and you better believe those nurses will get reprimanded. Yet a doctor rounds for a few minutes, never smiles, doesn't address patients' concerns appropriately, and acts self-entitled and he is viewed upon gloriously by patients and management alike. As professionals, shouldn't we all be held to the same standards across the board?

Maybe I'm just naive, but I thought that the notion that nurses are beneath doctors and are not entitled to the same level of respect was a thing of the past. I guess I can understand how society has a doctor vs. nurse mentality, but why can't it stop being perpetuated from within the healthcare setting?