Efficiency in Ambulatory Practice
The role of nursing in an office setting is generally perceived as being quite straightforward: The nurse brings patients into the examining rooms, prepares them for being seen, takes their vital signs and lets the doctor know they’re ready to be seen. Robert Rowley, MD, a practicing family physician with Hayward Family Care in the San Francisco Bay area, says he appreciates his nurse because she goes farther than that.
“She anticipates what I might need,” he explains. “If a patient has recently been discharged from hospital, she’ll obtain the hospital records because she knows I’ll want to see them. If bloodwork was ordered, she’ll ensure the results are in the chart. So the things I need are right there, and that is very valuable because I don’t have to interrupt a visit with a patient to obtain those things. I really appreciate that good-quality nursing.”
Next: A Doctor’s Poem of Appreciation to His Nurse –>
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RN
Registered Nurse
I have, for years, been of the opinion that wannabe doctors should be REQUIRED to get their 1st degree in NURSING and work for a minimum of 5 years as an RN AT THE BEDSIDE before they are allowed to apply to medical school. This, I believe would give the future MD a whole different perspective on the role that nurses play.
Also comes with a serious dose of humility…
AMEN to that!! So, so many doctors forget that without the nurses, they couldn’t do THEIR jobs and, as someone else pointed out up there, just how many times a doctor’s career will be saved by a nurse!!