Older Doctor doesn't think nurses should be in charge

[angeloublue22]

I worked with a very old school doctor. She has held on to old school ways of looking at healthcare. For instance, doctors are in charge of nurses. I love speaking with her because she gives a lot of insight into how healthcare has changed. The only thing is she not willing to change with it.

The other day she got angry after speaking about focusing on team care and not so much hierarchy, which is encouraged and used by everyone else in the facility. I'm the lead nurse in small satellite facility and at the main office there is a supervisor case manager RN that she must work with. After we both got promoted and she was approached by the case manager RN to see a client about a med issue, she started to complain to me. She stated...

Quote

"I don't know why you nurses have to try to be in charge all the time. I shouldn't have justify my decisions to someone who is lower than me. Why don't you just stay at the bedside like you're meant to?"

I again brought up the team approach and informed her that we see the clients more and can recognize their needs faster and more accurately, so of course we should have a major influence in decision making. She of course argued back and I let it go because I wasn't going to change her mind. I was flabbergasted that she said any of this. After she kept complaining to every nurse and not listening to our recommendations, which was effecting patient care, she was asked by the other providers (team players) to not return to our facility and they would work extra to cover her shifts.

This was a rant but also a heck yeah for our awesome providers.

Has anyone else had this issue with providers?

[angeloublue22, BSN, RN]

Wow, thank you for all your replies. Just a few clarifying details. No, I was not offended in the least. I specialize in psych/addictions, so my skin is tough as nails. I just thought it was a an interesting topic to discuss.

Yes, doctors have more education and expertise, which I fully recognize, but I don't want the hierarchy to get in the way of patient care. Also, she was questioning nurses being in charge at all as they should be at the bedside. That included nurse supervisors, charge nurses, case managers, and NPs.

No nurses were in charge of the care she was delivering. The nurse she was referring to just questioned one of her orders because it wasn't an appropriate dose, so the nurse was doing what any of us would do, even if we didn't have a charge position.

When we work as a team with mutual respect for skills and education, it can bring positive changes to patients and each other. That is that point I was trying to make with her, not that nurses should be in charge of everything.

[guest1048932]

On 2/7/2019 at 6:37 PM, Julius Seizure said:

In some ways, yes. In other ways, the nurse is most knowledgeable, and in other ways it will be the social worker, physical therapy, pharmacist, or physician. THAT is the value of a team approach. ?

Excellent point! As a team, we each are "experts" in certain aspects of patient care. Teamwork is so important, even more so in the clinical setting.