A recent article written by McGill professor at the School of of Nursing, Dr. Laurie Gottlieb, reveals the unequivocal importance of nurses in doctors’ education. Gottlieb sites authors Patricia Benner, Patricia Hooper Kyriakidis and Daphne Standard, all nurses and researchers, who describe, in their book Clinical Wisdom and Interventions in Acute and Critical Care, cases of nurses pointing out to medical interns and residents the warning signs of a patient’s deterioration, correcting their misinterpretations of signs and symptoms, suggesting diagnoses, and anticipating when and how to intervene. Many physicians, years later, will recall with gratitude those expert nurses who protected them as young doctors – and, more importantly, protected the patient. These nurses “saved” them when there was no time to call a senior physician. They depended on these nurses who knew the patients and were attuned to subtle changes in their condition. Who are these nurses who serve as the first and last line of defence for both patients and doctors?
Read the article: Montreal Gazette
July 27, 2012