Home / Blog / Do Doctors look down on nurses?
Nurses Reveal What Really Goes on in the Doctor's Office — Eat This Not That

Do Doctors look down on nurses?

Nurses are the key to quality care and medical care and saving lives on a regular basis. Without nurses, it is unlikely that many of us would get the quality treatment at hospitals and clinics that we have come to expect. Despite this, many people minimize what nurses do, or look down on them as “less important than doctors”.A lot of this is caused by lasting misconceptions and stereotypes about nurses that are no longer (or were never) true.

The frailty of nursing in the modern world is born of its intangibility. Nursing is more than treating ill people. ill people. It’s about nourishment, problem-solving, and easing a patient‘s experience of suffering, medical invasion, or death. It’s always been hard to pin down, so it’s not surprising that nurses have turned to the material world of post-graduate recognition, evidence-based practice, expanded roles, and mimicking the medical career structure nurse consultants, nurse practitioners, etc. in order to redesign their sense of self. The doctors, however, are still having their needs met by nurses. Surely doctors are more than happy to see nurses do tasks that usually take up time and quite frankly bore them. Nurses are taking over tasks from junior doctors administering intravenous drugs, doing endoscopies, preoperative assessment, and some prescribing.

Here are some of the factors that contribute to the misconceptions about nurses and the reasons why some doctors look down on them:

They are just doctor’s helpers

Sure, some work that nurses do helps doctors, but the majority of nursing work is independent and just as vital (or more)to patient care like doctor’s work. Nurses diagnose and treat patients every day, administering and giving lifesaving care. Nurses are also generally in charge of patient advocacy and education, which means that it is usually a nurse, not a doctor, that will make sure you know how to care for yourself after leaving the hospital or medical center. Nurses have an ethical responsibility to do what is better for their patients. Nurse saves so many lives relegating them to the poison of “doctor’s gofers” it is not only unfair but also just plain inaccurate.

Gender segregation

One of the main factors that are making the profession lose its charm is the fact despite the conversation of gender equality and women taking over and proving themselves in male-dominated professions and occupations, to this nursing is considered to be a “women” profession. The segregation in the modern-day and age still manages to impact the way people perceive nursing staff in society often consider it a disgrace of their children, especially their son aspired to be a nurse in the future . Another contributing factor to this might also be that often lower-paying jobs are associated with women, whereas the higher-paying jobs such as doctors, surgeons, lawyers, etc. are often male-dominated professions.

Nurses are underappreciated

Not only nurses are underappreciated by the people in the health care industry, but their efforts are also unrecognized amongst patients. They spend hours caring for many patients daily, but that doesn’t ensure that they are treated with respect and gratitude for their dedication. The job may be emotionally rewarding due to some patients expressing their gratitude and being friendly. Sometimes, the negative aspects like the difficult patients and constantly being looked down upon when giving any health advice, and you decide not being acknowledged can take a toll on the nursing staff.

Nurses are less intelligent and skilled than doctors

Many people incorrectly assume that nurses are people who couldn’t hack it as doctors or that they aren’t quite smart enough for a medical degree. This simply isn’t true. Almost all nurses purposefully chose nursing as a career and went through a rigorous degree program to qualify. On top of all that, to practice nursing at all they have to pass the rigorous NCLE-X test. Becoming an RN isn’t easy. Many nurses even complete advanced education, furthering their degrees through graduate and post-graduate work. Your nurse is just as intelligent and just competent as your physician. Nurses teach, perform research, publish papers in journals, diagnose patients, participate in surgeries, treat illness, administer medication, and much more.

A physically demanding job:

Unlike other medical health professionals, nurses have a more demanding job as they are required to spend long hours in hospitals catering to the patients and treating them. At some times they are even required to work on holidays, further limiting their family time and resting hours. Such long grueling hours of duties and demands of the job can physically and mentally tire the nurses. Nurses are expected to be on their feet during the entirety of the time they are present in the hospital. They are trusted to monitor and administer the treatments advised by the doctors to their patients, which increases the physical and mental pressure on nurses.

Nursing is an extremely challenging career at times, but that isn’t because nurses lift boxes and run errands all day; it’s because of the complicated and highly skilled work they must carry out in a high-pressure environment where lives can be on the line. Nursing definitely isn’t easy, in terms of education and the job, and it is definitely not grunting work either. It’s such a shame that such an important profession and one of the most important parts of the healthcare area is getting looked down upon by their seniors or physicians. It is necessary that we finally accept that without, a doctor or physician can never provide or treat the patient fully, all alone. The nursing profession losing its charm is merely due to the fact that society has looked down upon this profession with so many misconceptions that are not getting cleared anytime soon. But people need to thank the nurses who work all day just to provide the best treatment and care to the patients. And other healthcare workers should also respect them.

About Rachel

Hi my name is Rachel; a registered nurse. I graduated from one of the best nursing programmes and have been working in the medical field for 10 years. As a licensed practical nurse, I understand the plight that comes with the job. While I enjoy taking care of patients, I understand the long working hours that nurses have to deal with. We spend majority of the shifts walking around the medical centre making sure all patients are taken care of and this requires a lot of work and energy on the feet. https://bestnursingshoes.net has been created to help nurses from different parts of the world find the perfect shoes to reduce the strain on your feet and posture and make the job much easier.

Check Also

Dansko Shoes for Women | Rogan's Shoes

Can you wear Danskos without socks?

Are you here because you’ve seen most ads and people around you wearing their Danskos …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.