Both Julia and the doctors she assists can be territorial about their authority. How does this affect their working dynamics? Are there any consequences for the patients the team treats?

Both Julia and the doctors she assists can be territorial about their authority. How does this affect their working dynamics? Are there any consequences for the patients the team treats?

Doctors and nurses should work well together all for the benefit of their patients. My granddaughter was a preemie. She spent her first 4 months in the hospital. She had wonderful doctors and nurses. The doctor would come in each morning to see her. Her nurses were with her all day and night. I know the doctors listened to her nurses about how my granddaughter was doing. Working together she had excellent care. She is a healthy beautiful girl soon to celebrate her 9th birthday.

I think much of the tension and territorial squabbles were exacerbated by the gender expectations of the doctors. They were not accustomed to treating women professionals as having the ability to make significant contributions to the body of knowledge and advance the medical field.

I agree, the expectations from some of the doctors, especially Dr. Valentine felt there was a place for nurses with defined roles, especially because they were women. However, some doctors, like Dr. Fred Murphy, saw the contributions and insights Julia and other nurses had. The insights and willingness to take chances like starting medical care or establishing better intake or receiving lines saved lives or at leased lowered aftereffects.

I think it's very realistic to have territorial issues in the medical profession. Most doctors have big egos and find it hard to listen to a nurse's recommendation.

As everyone has said, this is typical in this field (and in many fields where there are egos and reputations involved).

The working dynamics of the doctors and nurses were greatly affected by their territories of authority. On pages 79 - 81, the passage demonstrates the working dynamics of the doctors, the unit's military authorities, and Julia. "I attended a weekly medical staff meeting chaired by Fred, who headed up the medical side,... They were all quite a bit older than me and of course physicians, and they seemed to politely listen to my ideas, even if they didn't value them as much as those from someone with an MD after their name." Julia understood the working dynamics and the dire needs of the soldiers fight on the front lines. She continued to challenge authority, "I stood, thankful for once for my excessive height and booming voice," and continued explaining to the medical staff her idea to use medics on the front lines. The debate continued among the men until Fred interrupted Colonel Fife. "Fred tapped his pencil. 'Miss Stimson may have a point here.' " ... Eventually the chain of command in the field responded in agreement with Julia, "What are you waiting for?" In this instance, the consequences of Julia's assertiveness benefitted the soldiers.

Even though this passage demonstrates Julia's determination, it also revels the bias of men in authority and gender inequality of the time. Fred refers to Julia as "Miss Stimson" rather than use her first name. (I'm sure using the title Miss was considered polite.) Also, it wasn't until Fred agreed with Julia that Colonel Fife decided to send the proposal "up the chain."

Fortunately, over the course of history, women such as Julia Stimpson, asserted ideas and beliefs that challenged hierarchies of authority. Today, 2021, I believe (and hope) there are fewer rifts among staffs working together for the health and welfare of people.

It is the male female societal norms that dictate the doctor nurse relationship. The boundaries were very clear in terms of the roles of women. Men had the authority and control of women; their behavior, their education and often shaping their thoughts and opinions. Nurses were "trained" by physicians in the late 1800's and early 1900's based on the medical model. Trained to assist the physician in the care of the patients. Hospital based programs continued to evolve with early nursing leaders creating a body of knowledge that reflected the science of medicine and art of nursing. Nurses were then educated by other nurses, "training" turned to education. Programs at the baccalaureate and masters level level emerged. Advanced degrees and role changes and overlap ensued. Nursing emerged as a distinct and separate profession. This continues today as the role of the nurse changes in scope and practice. There has always been a clear delineation in roles but as time progressed these lines often blurred and overlapped creating tensions between the professions. Fast forward today to the advanced practice registered nurses. They have assumed many of the traditional roles of the physician; physical assessment, diagnosis and treatment.
In spite of the territoriality and authority issues, the patients ultimately received the best care available at the time. Today the patients receive excellent care as the professions do collaborate and do work as a team. "Turf" issues may still be there but do not interfere with direct patient care.

I believe things are better between nurses and doctors today. Back in this time period women were still not considered equal and men felt they were the ruling class. There were so many things nurses were not allowed to do without having a doctor's consent.Natually, the patients suffered from this, they could not start an IV or triage patients.

There seemed to be a glaring disconnect between the doctors and nurses, which given the intensity of the wounds they dealt with, could only be a negative for the patients. Our nurses today are so much more able to do things to alleviate the load for the doctor and as a result, help the patient.

The doctor and nurse relationship is a sticky one, have to know how to deal with each doctor as an individual to get what you want as a nurse what's best for the patient. One never wants to make the doc cranky.

Yes, both are territorial. However Julia wants to open up the lines between the Drs and the nurses and let nurses take on more responsibilities for patient care - sans Drs orders. This is intimidating for the Drs. Nurses are ONLY women - per their line of thinking. And the Drs will not allow the nurses to go above and beyond their line of care. And it is the patient who suffers from this line of thinking - when a nurse is the first with a patient and could easily handle a number of situations they had to wait for the Dr to actually make the order for treatment - sometimes too late - causing the death or disabling of a patient.