Different health care providers and professionals differ in various aspects, mainly in terms of roles, education requirements, and training and practice settings. However, in as much as they differ in these aspects, neither of them can work without the other in ensuring quality health care administered to patients. The different health care providers and professional work hand in hand to make sure that good health care service is given to patients (Shi & Singh 2019). Physicians and nurses are a good example of this since doctors cannot work without the presence of nurses in the health care setting. On the other hand, nurses cannot perform without doctors around. In the two professions, doctors are mainly considered as the head and brain while nurses are considered to be the limbs, implying that their roles complement one another. As such, it is important to study the comparison between the two professions to understand how they are related.
Roles
Physicians are health care providers who interview patients, diagnose their medical history and health condition, and order patients’ medical tests for nurses to perform. After the diagnosis, they advise and give the best course of treatment for them. A doctor studies the patient analyzes their health condition, and finds a solution to their health problems (Karen 2018). On the contrary, nurses manage most of the ongoing care and treatment for the patients. Besides, nurses asses, manage, plan, and administer patients’ daily treatment (Karen 2018). They look out for patients’ needs from the day they were admitted to the day of release. It can be said that after the doctor has diagnosed and provided treatment for patients, the nurses take over the patients’ health needs. Moreover, they report about the progress of the patient to the doctor.
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Practice Requirements
All medical professionals are required to be licensed before they can practice their various professions. In this case, the licensure requirements of physicians include graduation from a certified and accredited medical school. Physicians are required to be awarded Doctor of Medicine or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree in the accredited medical school (Shi & Singh 2019). Lastly, a licensing examination has to be performed by the National Board of Medical Examiners or the National Board of Osteopathic Medicine Examiners. On the other hand, licensure requirements of nurses include graduation from an accredited nursing school and completion of national examination.
Education and Training
On the level of education and training, physicians are subjected to rigorous learning and training before they can practice their profession. Physicians are required to go through ten to eleven years of education and training after post-secondary education. Doctors take longer in school since they are required to read more to acquire new and accurate knowledge. On the other hand, nurses are required to spend between six to eight years in learning and training after their post-secondary education. Nurses do not need to read more to give efficient health care services since they depend on experience during their practice.
Practice Setting
Physicians and nurses choose the type of organizations and geographic locations they want to render their services. The most common practice settings of physicians include private individual practice, group clinic or hospital, and academic institution, whether in rural or urban locations. The practice setting of nurses depends on the area on which the nurse is certified. The basic and common certification of nurses is the primary family care (Shi & Singh 2019). The most common practice setting for nurses is hospital inpatient and outpatient clinics, public and private hospitals, and mental facilities. Also, nurses are identified by their work settings such as occupational health and industrial nurses, private duty nurses and office nurses
Interpersonal Relationship between Health Care Providers and Patients
The most common goal of health care systems is to ensure that they provide quality services and improve the value given to patients. Therefore to ensure that there are quality outcomes, good patient-provider relationships must be established (Lee & Doran, 2017). Patients are said to prefer mostly good and quality interpersonal relationships with health care providers above all else. In this case, attaining interpersonal attributes is essential to healthcare professionals especially nurses who have direct contact with the patient during the treatment phase.
Conclusion
Physicians and Nurses do not significantly differ from each other since nurses are also known to diagnose and provide treatment for the common ailments. With proper and accurate education and training, nurses are the closest assistants of the doctors; thus, neither can work without the other. However, it can be said that nurses are the most important health care providers in a medical setting. This is because they are in direct contact with patients, develop relationships and conversations with them, and provide their every need while in hospital. Therefore nurses should be recognized for the great work and responsibilities they have even if they are said to be below the physicians.
References
Karen, R. (2018). Determining Differences between Physician and Nursing Care. The American Journal of Nursing, 118 (6), 69-70. doi: 10.1097/01.NAJ.0000534860.81126.b9
Lee, C. & Doran, D. (2017). The role of interpersonal relations in healthcare team communication and patient safety: A proposed model of interpersonal process in teamwork. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, 49 (2). doi: 10.1177/0844562117699349
Shi, L. & Singh, D. (2019). Essentials of the U.S. health care systems (5 th ed). Burlington M.A: Jones and Bartlet Learning.
