The Nurse Practitioner’s Place

I read recently about trying to improve doctor/nurse relations and the person’s director said that nurses should pay more attention to what doctors like to eat or drink. Maybe nurses should go back to being the handmaidens? I don’t think so!

I think to improve doctor/NP/nursing relationships, we need to respect one another and each other’s differences first. Giving us bribes of coffee, chocolate, sodas etc. really won’t change our moods. All we want is to have the right information at the right time for the right patient in a relevant manner. Nurses need to also remember that as primary care providers, we are responsible for hundreds of patients. We have many patients to care for at one time and we must keep them all straight. That’s why it’s important for you to give us the short and sweet info (the really important info!). We’ve already had several calls and have taken care of several things before your call happened.

Not too hard???

We Doctors and NPs also need to remember what it’s like out there taking care of 7-10+ patients on the floor, along with dealing with the families and the upper management at the same time for 12 hour stretches. If we all work together, things will move smoothly and the MOST important things will happen. Professional behavior is of the utmost importance. This is the only way that doctors, NPs, and nursing staff can keep from breaking the system. We all know that it’s broken enough already!

Let’s all work together!