By 4. Nurses Work for Doctors
There are advanced nurse practioners who work under a doctor’s supervision. Part of a nurse’s job description is to update doctors about their patients. Some even work in the OR alongside surgeons. But nurses do not actually work for doctors.
In an article in the New York Times called “Why Nurse Stereotypes are Bad for Health,” writer Theresa Brown, RN, argues “Hospital nurses are hired and fired by other nurses, answer to a unit manager who is a nurse, and follow the protocols set by more senior nursing officers … nursing is an autonomous profession and the formal management structure of most hospitals keeps MDs and RNs separate and independent.”
Bottom line? Nurses and doctors are coworkers. Nurses see to the daily care of patients, acting as a liaison between patients and doctors as the patient’s advocate. The two parties have a professional working relationship.
