OPINIONHailing one of health care's priceless resources -- nursesCommentary. By Michael Greenberg, MD, amednews contributor. Jan. 28, 2002. The U.S. Dept. of the Interior spends millions of dollars to protect our nation's endangered species. It writes long lists of plants and animals whose populations are dangerously low and hires scientists to figure out ways to increase their numbers. Too bad they haven't turned their attention to nurses. In the fragile ecosystem of medical care, nurses are the ones who create the protective environment essential to the well-being of both doctors and patients. We cannot function without them. Their job is to provide knowledge, comfort, care and compassion. But, lest nurses be offended by my comparing them to the plant and animal life that are on the endangered species list, the metaphor stops here. My point is that it seems society expends greater resources and energy on the protection of birds and flowers than on protecting the viability of the nursing profession. Throughout my training, it was as many nurses as doctors who turned me from a green medical student into a full-fledged physician. At times, nurses were my primary source of learning. Because the housestaff was overwhelmed, an operating room nurse took the time to teach me the fine points of suturing. When she saw I had mastered the technique, she put the needle holder into my hand during a procedure. "The student is ready to close," she informed the surgeon. My initial assignment during my first post-graduate year as a pediatric resident was the newborn nursery. Not yet a father, and uncomfortable in my awareness of how little I really knew despite the magical initials that had been recently appendaged to my name, I admitted my fears to the head nurse.
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