“Patient’s don’t come into hospitals to be doctored they come to be nursed.”
Ofelia Long RN
I know in Grey’s Anatomy and House MD doctors do all kinds of real work and hand holding, but in real hospitals it doesn’t quite work that way. Doctors work pens, paper and laptops; nurses, respiratory therapists, physical therapists, social workers, nursing assistant, echo-technicians, phlebotomists, EKG technicians and dieticians work patients.
Actually surgeons are completely hands on, but most physicians act more like conductors with a huge symphony of allied health providers, technologies and drugs. They have the task of directing and coordinating all of these people, tools and medications, that’s why they don’t spend hours at the bedside sharing with their patients. Nurses really own the bedside care: if a patient doesn’t need a nurse to put in lines, monitor vitals and give medications, then the patient can go home with a pamphlet and a box of pills. Physical therapists play a hugely important role, most people don’t want to stay in the hospital a second more than necessary and you have to move, to move on.
So Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz won’t stop by to chat with the patient, but there will be a steady stream of nurses, technicians and allied caregivers. Illness, surgery and hospitalization create trauma, our bodies forget how to function properly, so a constant stream of technical experts come to the bedside to help with breathing, eating, going to the bathroom and finally, getting home. Getting well is hard work and the patient must do most of it. So once a patient has relearned how to breathe without a machine, how to eat solid food, and how to walk on crutches, they rush home and flip on General Hospital.
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