I would remind doctors that nurses communicate with patients on an entirely different level to them and can act as both an intermediary, and as an advocate for the patient. This is beneficial for both physician and patient. Sometimes I feel as if I'm actually an interpreter.
Doctors need to be taught the level of education that nurses have and that when we are carrying out what may appear to them to be mundane tasks, eg bed baths, we are using that time to make physical,psychological and social assessments which benefit patient, nurses and doctors alike.
The other thing I'd try to get across is that nurses have always treated their patients holistically not just as the breast cancer case or the asthmatic etc. This is an area where so many clever doctors fail their patients, they forget to treat them as people as well as disease processes
[This message has been edited by BRITISH R.N. (edited May 19, 1999).]
[This message has been edited by BRITISH R.N. (edited May 19, 1999).]
