Hardest working docs

[footballrules]

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Ugh, going to a school where nursing is the most popular major, all I hear is how tough their classes are (they only have to take one semester of orgo. and it's dumbed down) and how much money they will make once they get out and get a job. They all go on about how that while doctors saves patients, nurses save doctors from the mistakes they make. I guess I'll find out if that's true in two years.

Yes they do! Is that ok with you? You will make mistakes as a doctor and a nurse is there for another eye for how the medical care is done. Nurses are apart of a team, such as PA's, doctors, techs, etc. The doctors I work for have me review stuff they write to check for bad grammar, better ways to word stuff, and even write their grants and manuscripts (background information).

 

[135892]

I takeit you didn't watch the show. If you did, you would be able to pick up what I'm refering to.

Out of curiosity, what happened? I only watched like the first episode...

 

[squiggle]

having seen both doctors and nurses in action, (finishing up my nursing degree) i can say that there are hard working people and there are those who do not have a good work ethic. if nurses' work is not important, than why do docs rely so much on their assessments? why do doctors ask ME, a nursing student, what medication i think would be best for the patient? because nurses are with patients 24/7 and have skills. at least in Canada, i do not know about US system. nurses work their assess off here, and also bail out the assess of docs on a regular basis. i have read some really demeaning posts on this site about nurses, from pre-meds! crazy. i do hope to attend med school next year, but this is because i want an advanced scope of practice, not cause i 'diss nursing'. sadly, the whole MD/Nurse competency debate will continue to be waged by medical students.

 

[footballrules]

having seen both doctors and nurses in action, (finishing up my nursing degree) i can say that there are hard working people and there are those who do not have a good work ethic. if nurses' work is not important, than why do docs rely so much on their assessments? why do doctors ask ME, a nursing student, what medication i think would be best for the patient? because nurses are with patients 24/7 and have skills. at least in Canada, i do not know about US system. nurses work their assess off here, and also bail out the assess of docs on a regular basis. i have read some really demeaning posts on this site about nurses, from pre-meds! crazy. i do hope to attend med school next year, but this is because i want an advanced scope of practice, not cause i 'diss nursing'. sadly, the whole MD/Nurse competency debate will continue to be waged by medical students.

Those threads are usually started by pre-med students who don't really understand how the healthcare team works.

 

[DOCTORSAIB]

if nurses' work is not important, than why do docs rely so much on their assessments? why do doctors ask ME, a nursing student, what medication i think would be best for the patient? because nurses are with patients 24/7 and have skills.

😆

 

[Yuyukachoo]

Yes they do! Is that ok with you? You will make mistakes as a doctor and a nurse is there for another eye for how the medical care is done. Nurses are apart of a team, such as PA's, doctors, techs, etc. The doctors I work for have me review stuff they write to check for bad grammar, better ways to word stuff, and even write their grants and manuscripts (background information).

They don't mean grammatical errors, they mean errors where people get worse or die.

 

[45408]

Teachers, who are responsible for laying the foundations for the next generation of physicians, will be earning not much more than the average resident for the rest of their careers.

....which happens to be about the average amount for most people with a bachelor's degree, so it's actually not a bad salary at all.

 

[RySerr21]

In light of the debate on nurses, I found this pretty interesting. I'm reading Oscar London's book "Kill as Few Patients as Possible."

"Rule Number 28: Praise Nurses and Your Patients Will Live Forever or Die Happy.

Working with a good nurse is one of the great joys of being a doctor. I cannot understand physicians who adopt a hostile relationship with nurses. They are depriving themselves of an education in hospital wisdo and are robbing theire patients of round-the-clock loving care...When I was a young doctor starting out in practice, I wasn't about to let a crusty RN tell this newborn MD how to practice medicine. Only after some years did i discover that a good nurse, like a good loaf of bread, is the staff of life, and the crustier the better...Nurses have taught me the intensive care that only compassion provides. Compassion is the conspiracy a good nurse forms with a patient to combat the inhumanity of hospitalization...."

 

[therocketman]

Are you smoking crack?

The quality of nurses these days is EMBARRASING. With the exception of maybe ICU nurses and few exceptions here and there, nurses these days are a bunch of fat (esp the night shift) and lazy people who think they know more "clinical medicine" than residents/young attendings. Sadly, they have more rights today than ever in the history of medicine. ANYWAYS...

The hardest working physicians are the ones who put their craft before everything else in life.

haha, i was about to disagree with you until i saw the part about ICU nurses. i volunteered there with the nurses, and i was very impressed.

 

[kduarte1]

Nurses millionaires? Are you kidding me. Nursing school is so easy to get into. Now a days theres a nursing program in every community college. At the hospital they have no responsibility. If they screw up its all on the doc they are off the hook no matter what. Some nurses are ridiculously overpaid if you ask me. Also I agree teachers need to be better compensated. College professors and everything are fine, they are well compensted for the work they do. But high school teachers are ridiculous. Some of the teachers I had in high school had no idea what they were doing. They were awful at the subject they taught. We need to increase the quality of these teachers and I guess increasing compensation is one way to do it.

 

[JRJ26]

Nurses millionaires? Are you kidding me. Nursing school is so easy to get into. Now a days theres a nursing program in every community college. At the hospital they have no responsibility. If they screw up its all on the doc they are off the hook no matter what. Some nurses are ridiculously overpaid if you ask me. Also I agree teachers need to be better compensated. College professors and everything are fine, they are well compensted for the work they do. But high school teachers are ridiculous. Some of the teachers I had in high school had no idea what they were doing. They were awful at the subject they taught. We need to increase the quality of these teachers and I guess increasing compensation is one way to do it.

you have no idea about nursing. as a tech, if i screwed up (sent the wrong blood on a patient, used dextrose solution instead of normal saline, etc., you can be sure i wouldn't be "off the hook no matter what" 🙄

 

[usermike8500]

and if we are paying by 'hardest work', nurses should be millionaires

I assure you, with salaries topping $150,000 a year for specialty nurses (e.g. nurse anesthetists), there are many nurses who ARE millionaires. At the hospital where I volunteered at, no nurse would be caught dead driving anything less than a BMW or Mercedes.

I think nurses deserve their wealth though. Nowadays it takes a lot of training, hard work, and sacrifice to become a nurse. Not anybody can do it.

 

[Livingapparatus]

I think nurses deserve their wealth though. Nowadays it takes a lot of training, hard work, and sacrifice to become a nurse. Not anybody can do it.

Are you kidding? Anybody can do it, no one wants to do it

 

[JRJ26]

Are you kidding? Anybody can do it, no one wants to do it

🙄

 

[Hallm_7]

While surgeons typically have the longest hours, I was surprised to see that many Family Practice docs work more hours than many surgeons. As reimbursement has remained flat for FPs they've had to increase their hours to maintain their incomes since practice costs continue to increase. If you work out the pay by hours worked FPs basically get what members of the UAW get when including overtime pay. It's sad. Most FPs in small hospitals I've seen work 8-10 hours/day seeing patients in the office, round daily, see patients at a local nursing home or two, and pick up a shift or two a week at an urgent care clinic.

As for how hard people work while on the job, I think that designation goes to Emergency Physicians. They are the only specialty I've seen that doesn't have "down-time" built into their day. Surgeons have 20 minutes between cases, clinic docs have an hour lunch break and a few minutes between patients many time. ER docs don't get any of that. From the time they come on to the time they leave they go non-stop managing a dozen patients at a time, a couple of whom may be knocking on death's doorstep. It's mentally and physically draining. The hardest days of my third year was when I was on Emergency Medicine pulling 12 hour shifts. Working 60 hours a week in the ER was more tiring than working 75 or 80 on vascular surgery (which was also incredibly draining). The flip side to that, however, is that ER docs don't work as many hours. "Full-time" is really considered to be between 36-40 hours a week working various shifts. Anything more than that is too much long-term and leads to burnout and mistakes.

At the hospital they have no responsibility. If they screw up its all on the doc they are off the hook no matter what.

You couldn't be more wrong. Nurses carry tremendous liability when on the job. In fact, every nurse should have their own liability insurance because they can be held personally liable just like physicians can be. It is entirely possible for a nurse to be sued without a physician being sued. Nurses can even be sued for carrying out physicians orders as written, if the order is written incorrectly (wrong dosage, allergies, etc).

 

[sunriver]

Payment and "hard work" are poorly correlated in medicine. A pulmonologist in a community hospital that serves many Medicare members and does not have house staff will work his fingers to the bone, and be underpaid. Same specialty in an affluent area with house staff, different story.

Never disparage nurses. They will save your bacon so often, you'll lose track. Treat them with respect and appreciation and that is what you'll get in return. Treat them poorly and they can make your life a living hell.

 

[JCM96]

In my experience I've noticed three tiers of nurses: Great, mediocre, and horrible. The lines are clear cut. Don't let a few bad seeds ruin a great crop.

I think interventional cardiologists have it pretty bad. ALL of the ones I work with are losing their hair.

 

[NAVYLABTECH08]

and if we are paying by 'hardest work', nurses should be millionaires

Hardest working or bitching the hardest?

 

[nVictus]

sorry... after shadowing and working in a hospital and seeing how doctors treated my own family... i scoff at the comment that doctors should be millionaires. it's disgusting how some of these doctors behave and without remorse too. to act the way they do with the training that they have... it's mind boggling.



It goes both ways. In every profession there will be people that don't work hard, perform well, or care about their jobs or the people they interact with. Thats just the way it is. There are fabulous nurses, just as their are fabulous doctors.

who said doctors should be millionaires? i dont think anyone in this thread said it (i could be mistaken). all the doctors i shadowed were at least halfway decent with their patients. nurses treated patients like crap both physically and mentally. not trying to make a blanket statement. just an observation.

at least doctors go through the schooling/training to become, understandably, a douchebag. not condoning it but theyve earned the right to be an a-hole.

 

[Plue00]

and if we are paying by 'hardest work', nurses should be millionaires