Nursing Against the Odds

[zenman]

If you really want to understand nursing then read this new book: Nursing Against the Odds: How Health Cost Cutting, Meda Stereotypes, and Medical Hubris Undermine Nurses and Patient Care.

To all those who disagreed with me that experience in nursing counts for a lot in regards to NP's "short" amount of clinical time vs the "extensive" clinical time required in PA school, I offer you this:

"If 'knowledge' means the knowledge of disease processes that is gained in medical school or from medical journals, then of course few bedside nurses can compete with four years of college, four years of medical school and an MD/Ph.D and years of residency and fellowship training. If however, one includes an in-depth knowledge of nursing and the practical know-how gained from piloting a legion of patients through cancer treatment to the shore of remission, then the nurse may know more than the doctor about any number of things. Similarly, if the nurse has extensive 'local' knowledge of how one particular patient is coping with nausea, cancer pain, and the impact of chemotherapy, or how much social support she receives, then the nurse has quite alot to teach the doctor."

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[Happy613]

I think you make some great points as to the truly unique and special role that nursing has. The backlash that many in this forum have is against the assertion that NP's or DrNP's have training that is on parity in terms of scope with MD/DO's.

I personally think that the pursuit by some in the nursing community to create advanced practice doctorates, in a way, begins to really take away from the wonderful role nurses play in the health care setting.

When I was younger my mother was in the hospital for a series of operations (from which she is thankfully now recovered ) I cannont begin to tell you how wonderful the nurses were to her, how they took the time to sit with her and explain what was going on. They made me and my family much more at ease, and were integral in helping my family through a very hard time. I am so grateful to them.

I think that by morphing nursing school into a new type of doctoral track, it really takes away from the verys special role that nurses have. In the end if nursing becomes an independent primary care field who will be there to help people like my mother?

all the best.

 

[lawguil]

If you really want to understand nursing then read this new book: Nursing Against the Odds: How Health Cost Cutting, Meda Stereotypes, and Medical Hubris Undermine Nurses and Patient Care.

To all those who disagreed with me that experience in nursing counts for a lot in regards to NP's "short" amount of clinical time vs the "extensive" clinical time required in PA school, I offer you this:

"If 'knowledge' means the knowledge of disease processes that is gained in medical school or from medical journals, then of course few bedside nurses can compete with four years of college, four years of medical school and an MD/Ph.D and years of residency and fellowship training. If however, one includes an in-depth knowledge of nursing and the practical know-how gained from piloting a legion of patients through cancer treatment to the shore of remission, then the nurse may know more than the doctor about any number of things. Similarly, if the nurse has extensive 'local' knowledge of how one particular patient is coping with nausea, cancer pain, and the impact of chemotherapy, or how much social support she receives, then the nurse has quite alot to teach the doctor."

Without question. The same can be said about a maintenance position at a particular building for a period of time and knowing all the little immeasurable things that make it run smoothly or owning an old car and knowing just the right way to shut the door so that it's tight. Everybody brings their own experiences with them that aren't printed in a textbook (obviously). L.