February 12, 2023February 17, 2023 Do doctors listen to nurses? Do doctors listen to nurses? Nurses and doctors belong to the same team. Failure to listen to one another can put their patients’ lives at risk. Unfortunately, however, some doctors refuse to listen to their nurses just because they feel superior. In some cases, they don’t just refuse to listen; some doctors bully nurses, too. Do doctors and nurses have affairs? In an unscientific poll, I asked more than 100 nurses whether they or nurse colleagues had engaged in a sexual relationship with a doctor, nurse, or other coworker. Eighty-seven percent said yes. … Nurses describe affairs with doctors, trysts with staff, and certain infamous units. What do nurses do compared to doctors? While doctors diagnose and prescribe, nurses focus on the overall well-being of their patients. … Nurses, however, are with patients for the long haul, monitoring their progress, administering their medication, listening to their concerns, calming their fears, and so much more. Why do doctors think they are superior to nurses? Doctors were superior. They had the hard knowledge that made ill people better. The nurses, usually women, were good but not necessarily very knowledgeable. … So the nurse was responsible for the wellbeing of her patients and the nourishment of the doctors’ sense of professional self. Does a nurse always have to follow a doctor’s orders? In short, no a nurse does not always have to follow a doctor’s order. … One of the rights of medication administration is “right medication.” If the nurse performs a safety check and finds that a medication is not indicated, he or she has every right to question the doctor’s order. Are there any nurses that are bullied by doctors? But this disturbing problem was one of the more shocking discoveries when nurses pulled back the curtain. Most nurses have witnessed or been the victims of doctor bullying. Why are nurses afraid to report a doctor? Nurses may be afraid to report doctors because they believe administrators will refuse to penalize physicians who generate revenue or garner media accolades. Nurses worry they might lose their own jobs in retaliation, or they fear the stigma of being perceived by colleagues as a whistleblower. What's the hardest part of being a nurse? One of the hardest parts of being a nurse is dealing with bullying doctors. Most nurses have witnessed or been the victims of doctor bullying. Photo illustration by Slate. Can a nurse be fired for reporting a doctor? A slew of double standards protects physicians’ jobs but makes nurses vulnerable. Some hospitals have fired nurses for reporting doctors’ inappropriate or incorrect treatment of patients while allowing the doctors in question to continue to practice. But when nurses don’t speak up, there’s a risk that people will suffer or die. Questions