Nurses Never Diagnose

Doctors have the advantage of having a longer-term relationship with a patient than most nurses. Doctors will see the patient from the initial diagnosis through to the cure or through the course of long-term treatment. Doctors receive their emotional rewards when the patient is cured or learns to cope with an illness and make the appropriate lifestyle changes. Nurses are a part of this process as well, except that they never diagnose. (In some instances, nurse practitioners who have been specifically trained to do so can diagnose illnesses in patients, but as a rule, nurses do not diagnose.) They collaborate with the physician and coordinate the scientific information about the disease with the patient’s ability to cope, to understand, and to respond to the treatment. The nurse usually has a more limited experience with the patient according to where she practices. This might be a two- to four-day hospital stay and the nurse has a short time to participate in the care.