Re: Nursing

>1) the idea of "Nurse" being one "rank" on the Medical
>profession list is somewhat absurd.

I agree.
>
>2) the medical cascade doesn't really contain any skills
>appropriate ot a nurse. Trauma ops (?) is somewhat appropriate,
>and a level of diagnosis, but not actual surgury. Unless,
>"level-1" surgery perhaps is a first-aid/assistant/lower level
>sort of thing.

Isn't there something called "surgical assistant?"  Might that be it?

>Nursing really should be it's own profession, or at least not the
>same track as a doctor (perhaps nurses would be on the "enlisted"
>track, and doctors on the "officer" track). BTW, how would
>military medical personell be handled?

Well, my sister was a nurse in the Air Force, and when she graduated
nursing school, she joined the AF (perhaps they were paying for her
schooling, not sure) and was commisioned a lieutenant.  She retired as
a major, so calling nurses 'enlisted' and doctors 'officers' is not
accurate to _this_ time period.

I agree that nursing should be its own career path.  Perhaps give a both
a +dm to switch careers to the other?  A nurse might want to advance to
doctor and if someone washes out of med school, but is set on a medical
career, nursing school is an alternative.
>
> nurse/doctor career path deleted....
>
Here is my proposed path....

                           e1 trainee
                           e2 ambulence attendant
                           e3 medic
                           e4 EMT (emergency medical technician)
            _______________|____________________
            |                                  |
           01 Nurse trainee                   01 Intern
           02 LPN (licensed practical nurse)  02 Resident
           03 RN (registered nurse)           03 Doctor
           04 Floor nurse                     04 Surgeon
           05 Chief Nurse                     05 Chief Surgeon
>
In my path, the first 4 grades (e1-e4) would be pre-med in civilian life
and enlisted personnel in the military.  If you recieve a promotion from
enlisted to officer, you would have to state which altenate path to
follow henceforeword (either nurse or doctor).

My reasons for having both paths start the same is I assume that both
nurses and doctors recieve _some_ of the same training (possibly wrong).
I'm pretty sure that RN is higher that LPN, but since I am not a nurse,
I'll accept being corrected by someone who knows better.

>paul duggan
>[email removed]
>
- --------
Paul Baughman    phb100 @ psuvm.psu.edu

In the dark, no one can hear the color of your eyes

Odie-code: (n) Any piece of useless code that slobbers all over your
           program.      --Steve Schrader