Tag: doctor-nurse game

Don’t Question the Doctor Part 2

I posted last week about my friend Lois’ run in with a nasty doctor soon after she graduated nursing school in the 60s. Here is my story about working with a difficult physician that took place in the mid 80s. The medical director, Doctor X, sat me down in her office on my first day…… Continue reading Don’t Question the Doctor Part 2

Don’t Question the Doctor

My friend Lois and I were talking on the phone the other day. We both graduated from diploma nursing schools in the early 60s. It was a time when the nurse was considered the “handmaiden” of the physician. We played the Doctor-Nurse Game* and even stood up when a doctor entered a room. Feeling powerless…… Continue reading Don’t Question the Doctor

INVISIBLE Part 3 of 3

I trudged into the nursing station. The phone sat on an empty desk. Mary, the stocky, dark-haired charge nurse, faced the chart rack at the other end of the room. I avoided acknowledging her presence, keeping my eyes on the floor. Any word from her might shake my resolve. I stood by the desk and…… Continue reading INVISIBLE Part 3 of 3

INVISIBLE Part 2 of 3

“When did you urinate last?” Ms. O looked at me blankly. “I’m going to press over your bladder,” I said. I reached under the hospital gown and pushed over her pubic area. My fingers felt a soft swelling. Ms. O winced. “I think you’d feel better if I passed a tube into your bladder and…… Continue reading INVISIBLE Part 2 of 3

INVISIBLE Part 1 of 3

“Invisible,” by Marianna Crane, originally appeared in the Examined Life Journal.     The cardinal rule of the game is that open disagreement between the players must be avoided at all costs. Thus, the nurse must communicate her recommendations (to the physician) without appearing to be making a recommendation statement. – – – The greater…… Continue reading INVISIBLE Part 1 of 3

SILENT NO MORE

When will nurses cease to be invisible? The web site The Truth About Nursing discusses an article about Hillary Clinton’s hospitalization in which the author did not make one reference to nursing (MatthewLee, “Hillary Clinton hospitalized with blood clot,” Bloomberg Businessweek, December 31, 2012 *). The Truth About Nursing suggests if Clinton needed to be…… Continue reading SILENT NO MORE