Nurses Working Closely With Doctors

See how nurses work in conjunction with doctors to provide the highest level of care

Written by Aaron Ball on June 25th, 2012

Doctors have immense responsibilities when it comes to saving people’s lives. Their duties entail examining sick people before prescribing the proper treatment for them. They also give health advice after making observations. Also, doctors must conduct a couple of tests to ascertain the cause of the ailments. In the course of their job, a doctor needs the assistance of a nurse to achieve these objectives.

The relationship between doctors and nurses is reminiscent of that between Batman and Robin. It requires a solid team effort to ensure that everything runs smoothly. This means that nurses have to fulfill a range of tasks in this regard. A nurse carries out the role of assembling patient information. Usually, they perform this task before the doctor arrives to examine the concerned patient. It entails retrieving information about the patient’s medical history, present medications, allergies and symptoms of their ailment. The nurse also collects relevant information pertaining to the duration of the illness. When the doctor arrives, he or she would then receive the sheet bearing the information at the patient’s bedside.

Nurses are also important to doctors to the extent that they are the latter’s private secretaries. Some of their responsibilities associated with this role include answering phones, scheduling patient appointments and making phone calls. Also, they must lay the groundwork for any physical exam or other basic patient procedures. They must ensure that all the required materials are in good working condition and readily available to the doctor. Nurses also relay any information to patients on behalf of doctors. Such information may be related to the results of a previous medical test or in regards to current and ongoing treatment plans.

When patients require further tests to obtain a proper diagnosis, it is nurses who typically oversee these tests. Such tests include blood work, TB tests, strep throat cultures, collection of urine and blood samples among others. Nurses also administer injections and immunizations as per the instructions of the doctors. It is also their duty to evaluate the test results before sending them to other laboratories for more extensive analysis. Doctors also need nurses to assist them with taking the vital signs of patients. The nurses would notate the numerous physical traits of the affected patients. Height, weight, heart rate, blood pressure and temperature are some of these physical traits.

Measuring these features is only possible through a range of activities like pulse reading. In some instances, nurses can assist doctors in their duties by analyzing the respiration rate of the patients. The actualization of doctors’ diagnosis is another role of a nurse. They carry out the treatment instructions of doctors. This means that they must ensure all the prescribed medication pans out to the letter. When any change in the patient’s condition occurs, nurses must inform doctors of this change instantly. The doctor will then advise them on the most appropriate course of action.

The medical profession places doctors on a higher pedestal than nurses because of their extensive education and training requirements. The latter still fulfills an integral role in the healthcare system. The duties of nurses clearly intertwine with those of doctors. In the end, both can claim credit whenever patients regain their health. If results from the Bureau of Labor Statistics are anything to go by, then nursing is an attractive career. By 2018, its job growth will have increased by 22%. This should be an incentive for people to delve into this career. Such prospective nurses should definitely expect to rub shoulders with doctors on a daily basis.

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