Newton's And Kuhse: Article Analysis

Newton’s and Kuhse’s views of the nurse’s role have many differences. In Lisa Newton’s article, she discusses how the physician is more knowledgeable more than a nurse, that a nurse is not autonomous and is a subservient to the physician. Newton’s second argument argues that a nurse may never question a doctor, even in an emergency situation, because it could compromise the patient’s safety. And lastly, a nurse’s role is to be a mother surrogate to their patient and aid in maintaining their autonomy.
Kuhse refute these three argument by states that physicians may know more about medical procedure, but nurses are more knowledgeable about their patients. Second, a nurse must be the patient’s advocate and not be afraid to question the doctor if they believe the doctor is compromising the patient’s safety. Finally, Kuhse believes that adopting the subservient role …show more content…
She discusses how a nurse knows what is best for their patient and knows the patient better than the physician. I have come to learn this after my experience during clinical. The nurse spends a great deal of time with the patient and is able to determine if a patient’s improving or declining. In my experience, doctors are not always able to recognize this and may not always know what is best for the patient then. Therefore, it is the role of a nurse to advocate for the patient. For example, during my OB rotation at Sacred Heart, the one mother wanted to exclusively breastfeed her newborn. However, due to the infant’s low blood sugar levels, the physician wanted the new mother to bottle-fed despite the mother’s wishes. In this case, the nurse understood that the infant was stable and no intervention was needed. Therefore, she continued to push the doctor for the mother to continue to exclusively breastfeed her newborn. It is the role as nurses to advocate for their patient, but still maintaining their patient’s