Differences between being a physician and being a nurse?

[docjolly]

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Hi Everyone,

As I sit to reflect on my experience with volunteering in a hospital, I have thought seriously about this question...When I volunteered in the local ER near my college, I noticed that the nurses, and not the doctors, had more interactions with the patients (with respect to medication administration, friendliness, etc.). In fact, they seemed to perform the same duties as the physicians...This leads me to ask: why would someone favor becoming a physician over becoming a nurse (aside from monetary reasons)??? I know it may sound like a silly question, but I'm very interested in getting your opinions...

Thanks for your response!

 

[exmike]

quite simply, nurses have little autonomy.

 

[5639953]

Doctors are the leaders... So, they lead the process of treatment as a whole..

Nurses are only one small branch of the process. Examples of other branches are radiology, lab, ............. and so on.


Plus, doctors can be as friendly, if not more friendly, with the patients if they want to. It is really up to them. Personally, I think being friendly with the patient is one third of the treatment.

I can go on and on but I hope that helps, for now at least 🙂

 

[Rippey]

$$$

 

[g3pro]

the nurses at my hospital seemed to be pissed off at all times at anyone. it could be related to a massive cutback in the number of nurses, essentially doubling the work-load of all the remaining nurses. 😎

 

[8744]

If you're a nurse, even if you're a man, they make you wear a white dress, pumps, and that cute little nurse's cap that you now only see in porno movies.

Simple as that.

 

[matthew45]

I would guess that absolutely everything you see the nurses doing is ordered by a doc. That order might be explicit on the chart or standing (i.e. do an UA on all women who complain of symptoms of a UTI). The point is, nurses do what doctors tell them to do.

 

[Gleevec]

Physicians like the prestige, money, and power associated with helping patients. Nurses just like helping patients.

 

[Spidey]

Doctors don't have to deal with adult diapers... change bedpans... nurses get a lot of crappy work. It is a rare male who is willing to become a murse. "What do you do for a living?" "I'm a nurse" *insert pause* 'Oh'

 

[tofurious]

Nurses primarily carry out physicians' orders (discontinue IV, give aspirin, monitor fluid intake/output, etc) so physicians can carry a load of MANY patients while each nurse is assigned to watch over only a few. Nurses also relay patient complaints to physicians for medical attention, since physicians generally don't go from room to room every 5 minutes to see if anything has changed (nor do they answer call buttons for juice).

There is also a thing called nursing diagnosis, which I believe primarily allows interns to get some sleep if it's something really simple and unnecessary for immediate medical attention.