I went to the emergency department with my friend who had been hurt playing basketball. While there, I witnessed a doctor and a nurse arguing over how to treat a patient. The doctor finally told the nurse that it had to be done the way he wanted and the nurse walked away looking disgusted. Based on this experience, I will examine the relationship between doctors and nurses in our health system and whether there should be changes in the current relationship.
I will look at how the doctors and nurses are trained by discussing curriculum in medical and nursing schools with people teaching in these schools.In addition, since most doctors are men and most nurses are women. I will be looking at the power relationship between men and women. Finally, I will examine the provincial regulations that describe the different functions of the two professions. Despite the struggles of generations of women in Canada and many other parts of the world, according to feminists, women are still the oppressed gender.
There are still biases that marginalize women, and in fact, these biases are so significant, they negatively impact women’s healthcare, resulting in healthcare disparities between men and women.Power and knowledge is not the same thing, however they are mutually dependent on one another. Therefore without knowledge, power cannot be initiated. Feminists theorize that it is man that holds the key to knowledge in society today: therefore power naturally follows. Only by acquiring new scientific knowledge, in this case, specially concerning women’s healthcare and reframing the parameters of women’s healthcare, can women strive to achieve a more egalitarian and equitable balance in the power relationship. (Harold et al, 1989)Men are situated in the highest stratum in every social institution, with women consistently located in strata below men of their own social group.
As long as this key power relationship between men and women remains in the traditional balance, all institutions are protected from change. The power relationships between men and women are at the very heart of the social fabric. Once it begins to unravel, so do all other power relationships. Hence despite the fact that women may be the numerical majority in the world population, they are subordinate everywhere to men of their own social group. (McKenna E, 2000)Social science principles insist that variation in the political and economic systems of society will lead to variation in the importance and bargaining power of different groups.
Nonetheless, in all known societies, despite differences in stage of development and political and economic structures, women’s relative status and bargaining power are consistently less than that of men in their own cultures. Somehow, through structural arrangements and practices, legal mandates, customs, control myths and host of other social, psychological, political, legal and economic phenomena, women are kept subordinate to men.The need to maintain women’s subordination at home and in the world at large is deep seated, since in some inchoate way both men and women understand that power relationship between the genders is the blueprint for all other power relationships. Small changes in the gender balance can be tolerated. Many unconsciously fear, however, that a major change, one in which women could negotiate the dominant role, would prove the undoing of all other power relationships modeled so carefully after this seemingly most stable and inevitable one.
The second control myth, that men have women’s best interests at heart, that men will protect those less knowledgeable and therefore more dependent women, it also taught to men and women alike. For men, this means they believe they know better and more and thus must take care of women and protect them from danger. Often, men see danger to women coming from other men, not themselves. Therefore, they devise laws to protect women from those other men who would exploit and harm them.Protective, legislation, notorious for protecting women and children not only from exploitation but from mobility-offering and high salary jobs as well as, was the joint accomplishment of women seeking protection and men who had their best interests at heart. (Harold et al, 1989) The issue of supposed dominance of men over women in society has generated cemented opinions and related controversy.
Proponents of sexual equality point the leveling of educational and vocational opportunities between the sexes as proof that women have become equals to men such as the recent fad of working moms and stay-at home dads.Moreover, they highlight the power and status of women in professional fields and government, such as former secretary of state Madeline Albright and former Indian Prime Minister Indiva Gandhi. Although women may deserve and share equal roles with men in society, their accomplishments remain insubstantial because they have a right to the opportunities they take advantage of and the roles they occupy. (Harold et al, 1989) The medical profession has a clear set of ethical values relating to professional competence, their respect for the patient and other professionals and their personal integrity.
On a day to day basis the behavior expected of a professional is described by a code of professional conduct. The first important set of activities that underpin the quality of individual practice is the provision of education and training programs. These could be career-long with continuing professional development reinforcing and extending the knowledge, skills and values acquired by healthcare professionals after graduation and completion of their foundation and specialist training programs. (Harold et al, 1989)One important strand of quality programs in healthcare is to ensure that the services provided to patients are as safe as possible.
Until recently safety as a concept in healthcare has been much less developed than in some other sectors. A careful, conscientious approach to clinical practice has always been part of the training and ethos of health profession. (Liam J, 2003. ) Nearly half of doctors admit to witnessing a serious medical error but not reporting it. Overall, the survey shows that most doctors adhere to strict standards of professionalism regarding medical mistakes, patient privacy and appropriate patient relationships.An analysis of 1200 responses from nurses, doctors and hospital executives suggest that daily interactions between nurses and physicians strongly influence nurse’s morale.
All respondents were very concerned with the significance of nurses-physician relationships and the atmosphere they create. The findings suggest that there is a need to address the quality of relationships between nurses and doctors even as facilities seek to the recruitment and retention of nurses. (Rosentein A, 2002). Nurses and staff stand up against uncivil doctors. Liability concerns and the nursing shortage are helping nurses combat the problem.The piece probably understates the ongoing severity of the problem.
A wide range of actions and behaviors may constitute professional misconduct but typically the types of actions and behavior fall into a number of broad categories. Some of the most common categories are: medication issues, competence issues, inappropriate behavior towards patients and other inappropriate behavior. (Rosentein A, 2002). In keeping with the territorial and provincial regulations endorsed by the international council of nurses.
The college of nurses of Ontario regulates both registered psychiatric nurse (RPN) and registered nurses (RN).This is in contrast to the other territories and provinces where regulation is done by private bodies. In the western provinces, distinct legislation governs psychiatric nurses. All registered doctors and nurses in Alberta province are expected to maintain their clinical competence. This is a requirement for the receipt of the annual practice permit from the college and Association of Registered Nurses of Alberta.
The college also provides practice support and sets standards for scope of practices. There are common core competencies essential to the practice of all doctors and nurses practitioners.These core competency statements describe the integrated knowledge, skills, judgment and attributes required of a nurse practitioner to practice safety and ethically in a designated role and setting, regardless of client populations or practice environments. The competencies are within a framework of four categories that encompass the nurse practitioner’s holistic approach to health care. The four categories are as follows: Health assessment and Diagnosis; Health-care Management and Therapeutic Intervention, Health Promotion and Prevention and Illness, Injury and complications and professional Role and Responsibility.
Conclusion In general, when men and women are working in the same environment, men tend to be more aggressive and women tend to be more passive, even when there is no difference in their knowledge or abilities. Therefore, when there is an argument women will usually give into men. Medical training teaches doctors to be assertive and to be team leaders, while nursing training tend to emphasize caring and a more cooperative relationship, when the two professions work together, doctors tend to assume that they will be the leaders and nurses are willing to defer to the doctors.
