BMJ 2000;320:1019-1020 ( 15 April )

Editorials

Doctors and nurses: doing it differently

The time is ripe for a major reconstruction

Additional articles on doctors and nurses working together appear in this week ' s Nursing Times and on its website www.nursingtimes.net

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The relationship between doctors and nurses has never been straightforward. The differences of power, perspective, education, pay, status, class, andperhaps above allgender have led to tribal warfare as often as peaceful coexistence. Nurses' readiness to be slighted and doctors' reluctance to be challenged create an undercurrent of tension. This may be masked in practice settings by the pressing need to get the work done, but it is there.

The newly arrived interplanetary traveller might find this puzzling. Two groups of people sharing an apparently identical goal, to serve patients, might be assumed to get along well. They might also be assumed to have some interest in exploring the relationship if it needs maintenance. But in reality, although a major reconstruction is now required, sensible debate between doctors and nurses is scarce.

This has prompted Nursing Times and the BMJ to try to advance the discussions. When we conceived . . . [Full text of this article]

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