nurse vs doctors

Nurses General Nursing

Published

hello nurses,

I'm a doctor (keep readind, don't turn off the computer!) who's been qualified approx 2 years. In that time I've met nice doctors, stupid doctors, super inteligent doctors, weird doctors, dedicated doctors and lazy doctors. Also in that time I've met nice nurses, stupid nurses.. You see where I'm going with this? I'm sick and tired of stereotypes from both sides. However as a doctor I have to say that for most of our training, until we make consultant/GP, we are worse off than the nurses. We work much longer hours despite EWTD. We have much more responsibility and thus have more at risk. We are paid less PER-HOUR than nurses; serriously work it out. We are generally stereotyped as cold, unfeeling and patronizing. And finally there's more of you than us so its not fair.

Anywho, another bugbear; who's more inteligent nurses or doctors? well doctors need at least 3 A's at A'level and then have to pass an appetitude test and then compete with ten others for one place in a medical school. Then pass 2-3 sets of exams each year, then pass the first two years before competing again to gain entry into a speciality thus doing publications, research etc, then pass exit exams... so nurses then.

People who go on message boards and create a post to get a rise out of the members. Must be bored and have no life!:chuckle

Specializes in med-surg, psych, ER, school nurse-CRNP.

Thanks, nightmare. At least I was close!

forget the op..i'm thinking troll, also....

i'm just astounded by the details of the work time directive!!!

both nurses and young doc's work way more time here in the us!!!

you're right about that.

so now i'm curious if they have less medical errors than the us. with all the new studies coming out and the rules limiting us resident docs from working so many hours on-call plus making rounds, obviously someone has seen that errors diminish when people aren't tired.

maybe the uk has seen the light and are finding ways to prevent medical errors without getting an organization like the jcaho police involved in their business too.

Specializes in Author/Business Coach.
It wasn't just one word spelled incorrectly (at least 7). It was grammar, words not capitalized, punctuation, etc...

I don't know of a single Dr who would feel good about posting something that makes him look so incompetent. I mean, this looks like it was sent in via text message.

Some words spelled incorrectly here and there are fine, but it's the whole tone of the post that has made everyone question him. It just sounds poorly written.

I smell another troll.

Who really cares if he misspells his words or his sentances aren't in proper form???? This is a casual forum. He's not a work, not transcribing orders ect...This is not English class. Give him a break, he's human too. He may be post call or something. I bet you have spelt words wrong before.

Specializes in Pediatric ED.

1. Spelling? Seriously? We care about spelling on the internet now? *insert one of the many many snarky remarks I don't want to waste time choosing*

2. I agree with the people who pointed out that the OP seems to be saying that nurses are "smarter" for choosing not to go through the hell that is med school.

3. I'm so sick of the "respect me! respect me!" whining that goes on. I don't know about the rest of you, but respect is earned. Why should I respect you? I don't even know you. If I'm a patient and I come into the ER I'll respect you if you're good at what you do. If you're bad I won't respect you. Simple. I don't judge an entire profession. Well, except cops, I have a thing about cops...

Specializes in Advanced Practice, surgery.
You're right about that.

So now I'm curious if they have less medical errors than the US. With all the new studies coming out and the rules limiting US resident docs from working so many hours on-call plus making rounds, obviously someone has seen that errors diminish when people aren't tired.

Maybe the UK has seen the light and are finding ways to prevent medical errors without getting an organization like the JCAHO police involved in their business too.

I know this is off topic but hey, not quite sure what the point was in the original post anyway.

Not sure if we have less medical errors but there is a great deal of critisism from some areas of medicine about the reduction in hours. The rationale being that the baby doctors get less experience with the reduced hours therefore we are seeing our more senior doctors getting there with less experience. The doctors have much more support now than they ever did as well with mandatory teaching time, support from nurse practitioners as NP posts were created to help with the reduction of hours.

The docs I work with do a 8 - 5 monday to friday and then work one weekend in 4. They simply are not allowed to work beyond those hours they do an oncall day from 8 - 8 once a fortnight and night shifts for one week every 2 months. They have 2 days off before the week of nights start which begin on the friday. Obviously other areas do different shifts but all have to try to comply with the EWTD.

All NHS nursing staff work a maximum of 37.5 hours, if you want overtime you can get it but it is never enforced. I spent my last job doing no overtime because I wanted to spend time with my family and it didn't affect how the management view you or chances of promotion.

Also I think that medical errors are reported and investigated very differently in the UK, there is a "no blame" culture within the NHS which is not to say that we tolerate persistant errors but the drive it to look at the reasons that mistakes happen and correct it at an organisational level rather than blaming individuals. For example, I recently investigated a horrendous error, I am not going to give the details but the patient ended up having further surgery, ICU stay and was very unwell due to an error. It would have been easy to have blamed the doctor and nurse that were responsible for that patient during the error as technically it was thier fault.

The investigation turned up some serious organisational problems that meant these people were working under immense pressure and without senior support. These have now been recitified, the staff involved have been informed of the whole process and outcome and have been supported to change practice to prevent a reoccurance.

Specializes in Cardiac.

My god,

I think everyone should take a breather...Why is there such a need to flame on this site? I read some of the postings on this thread and ouch! First of all, do you know how many threads I've read when there were ridiculous spelling errors made but not one single poster was mean enough to point it out.

If this is a troll, why give him what he wants. I mean really, he's probably sitting back right now completely satisfied that his one little post enraged the masses enough that the thread has now carried on for 5 or 6 pages.

I used to say...(This after a physician has finished his, (or her), training)...that doctors work longer hours...nurses work harder ones...I also noticed the various misspellings...Not really sure where the doc was going with this...

Specializes in Med Surg, Tele, PH, CM.
hello nurses,

I'm a doctor (keep readind, don't turn off the computer!) who's been qualified approx 2 years. In that time I've met nice doctors, stupid doctors, super inteligent doctors, weird doctors, dedicated doctors and lazy doctors. Also in that time I've met nice nurses, stupid nurses.. You see where I'm going with this? I'm sick and tired of stereotypes from both sides.

Brave soul to post on a nursing forum - just kidding, we love to hear from the other side. You are correct, there are good and bad in both professions. Comparing doctors and nurses is like apples and oranges - they have totally different functions. After 25 years in nursing, I am happy to say that younger doctors seem to be more "humanized". My former PCP and good friend (we worked together for many years) is on the faculty at Hopkins. We have had many discussions/arguements about adding bedside manner to the Medical School Curriculum. As a Nurse Case Manager, I work closely with many physicians, with most of whom I share a good rapport. I do occasionally run into an old-school type who thinks I am good for nothing more than passing meds and wiping brows. All you docs out there - don't sell nurses short.... I have 2 undergrad and a MBA-HCM, all Cum Laude, and belong to MENSA to boot. And I don't think of myself as a super-nurse. I could have gone to Medical School, but didn't want to devote my entire life to my career, and at the time I was making the decision, I didn't have a very high regard for doctors. Don't sell nurses short by thinking they are doctor wanna-be failures. Most of us are where we want to be, and might be a lot smarter than you think.

Specializes in Advanced Practice, surgery.
I used to say...(This after a physician has finished his, (or her), training)...that doctors work longer hours...nurses work harder ones...I also noticed the various misspellings...Not really sure where the doc was going with this...

I'm not so sure about that either, I have worked on both sides as a ward nurse and now as a NP working alongside the medics, both are exhausting and both are extremely hard work and I am not sure I would like to compare which is the hardest.

Specializes in icu/er.

i don't give a crap about his spelling, and i really don't see where he was going with his post, other than there are good and bad docs and nurses alike. but i give him kudos for having a big pair of "gohonezes" for posting at a nursing site...

Specializes in ICU.
1. Spelling? Seriously? We care about spelling on the internet now? *insert one of the many many snarky remarks I don't want to waste time choosing*

2. I agree with the people who pointed out that the OP seems to be saying that nurses are "smarter" for choosing not to go through the hell that is med school.

3. I'm so sick of the "respect me! respect me!" whining that goes on. I don't know about the rest of you, but respect is earned. Why should I respect you? I don't even know you. If I'm a patient and I come into the ER I'll respect you if you're good at what you do. If you're bad I won't respect you. Simple. I don't judge an entire profession. Well, except cops, I have a thing about cops...

The docs I work with have such bad handwriting it would be difficult to tell if their spelling was up to scratch or not.

+ Add a Comment