Nurses in clinical setting: physicians servant or patients caregiver?

klone, MSN, RN · Nov 22, 2015

I don't understand what "rush my nerve" means. What is your opinion on the question?

elkpark · Nov 22, 2015

I can't believe anyone even still raises that question. OP, were you wondering about this yourself, or did someone else ask you?

sharifi9879 · Nov 23, 2015

In the current health care system, what is the the role of Nurses? Are they patients caregiver or physicians servant?

klone, MSN, RN · Nov 23, 2015

Again, I ask, what are your thoughts?

happyinmyheart · Nov 23, 2015

In the United States nurses are definitely patient's caregivers. However, I cannot speak for other countries

sharifi9879 · Nov 23, 2015

the nursing practice around the world is changing. one of the evidence for this opinion is day to day limitation to the nursing prctice and scope of service which nurses must to perform.

sharifi9879 · Nov 23, 2015

In the United States nurses are definitely patient's caregivers. However, I cannot speak for other countries

We as a nurse, don't have right to dependently practice even with PhD degree. just waiting for medical proffession such as doctors order and then perform as they want. in your opinion, does this kind of performance defferent between country?

sharifi9879 · Nov 23, 2015

inspite of vast variety of nursing theory in nursing, clinical nurses just perfom as biomedical theory. it didn't just in developing country, but in the developed country these are the doctors make decision about patient status. frankley, Nurses are servant of physican.

elkpark · Nov 23, 2015

inspite of vast variety of nursing theory in nursing, clinical nurses just perfom as biomedical theory. it didn't just in developing country, but in the developed country these are the doctors make decision about patient status. frankley, Nurses are servant of physican.

Yikes.

I don't know where you're educated or practicing (I'm guessing it's somewhere other than the US), and whether you are a nurse or a physician, but, in the US (where I and most of the members here are practicing), nurses practice nursing in collaboration with physicians, who are practicing medicine Yes, part of nursing care consists of carrying out physician orders, but that is only one piece of nursing practice. In psychiatric nursing, which has been my field for many years, pretty much the only thing I did all day that involved a physician's order was giving medications; nearly everything else that happens on a psychiatric unit is independent nursing judgment and practice. Even restraining a client involved getting a physician's order after the decision had been made by the RN that there was no other option in that situation and the restraints had been applied. Granted, the balance of autonomy vs. dependent actions varies among specialties and settings. Some clinical settings are more dependent on physician orders than others. And, yes, there are huge differences in how nursing is practiced in different countries.

In the US, even physicians would be offended by the suggestion that nurses are their "servants."

loriangel14, RN · Nov 23, 2015

We are much more than the physicians servant. We don't just blindly follow orders. Every day we use our professional judgement to make I dependent nursing decisions.

BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN · Nov 24, 2015

I work in clinic and I can honestly say I don't see myself in either camp, but more honestly, I've never put that much thought into it! I will say this though, I am NOONE'S "servant"!!!