Are nurses jealous of us?

Had a hospital placement last week as part of my med school course.

I am fully aware of some stuck up medical students, and try my best to be as humble as possible.
On placement I considered the nurses to be more superior in the chain than myself, a mere 2nd year student, and made that as cleaR as possible by asking questions etc anything to make sure they knew I understood the nurse was in higher authority.

HOWEVER, I was repeatedely handed comments like "Nurses practically do the doctor's job nowadays, all they do is relax".
I was reminded every 5 seconds that I'm not qualified to do such and such, while they were a fully qualified healthcare proffessional.

I see a clear split, where some nurses made me feel very welcome and assisted my learning, while others showed clear contempt for all doctors & med student.
Is it jealously

Any other doctors or med students had the same experiance?

P.S I KNOW there are more stuck up doctors than nurses.

You'd be surprised how many nurses are 'stuck up' in a way that is generally found to be more acceptable simply because they are lower in the pecking order as it were, and so are allowed to be a bit rude about doctors... Not necessarily without cause, mind you, but it's just a natural human thing; when someone who is less experienced than you turns up but you know they'll soon be earning far more than you will after years of experience, you're bound to feel a pang of resentment, but it doesn't mean that nurses are all jealous... Just because you like the look of footballers' cars doesn't mean you wage a crusade of hatred and jealousy against premier league footballers .

On the whole, though, I've never had a problem with nurses; though obviously my contact with them has been limited since I've only gone through one year of medschool so far, I've worked with them in both GP and hospital work experience and in nursing home volunteering, and they've always been very sensible. Indeed I've worked with one who was a school-friend of my mum's and we've even taught each other a few things, and she gives me her previous editions of the BNF every time she gets a new one (since she's a nurse practitioner).

Perhaps you were a bit on the sycophantic side? To be honest, when I've worked with nurses they've been perfectly nice people and I think we all sensed where we stood; we'd one day be the doctors and in a sense their 'bosses', but we knew that they are far more experienced at this stage; they knew that too but they also respected that we probably had a greater understanding of the science and were still learning by no fault of our own; so both sides respected each other. I would expect if you are trying really hard to show that they are superior with regards to experience constantly it'd probably be obvious to them that you're doing it on purpose and whilst you may be meaning well, it may come across as if you are compensating for either your misconceptions about them, or that you're doing it to mask a belief that you are superior.
Don't be obsequious I guess; they've been doing their job and putting up with med students for years; there's no need to actively try and make them feel respected and appreciated because if you go to pains to do so you might be appearing patronising or false... Just behave normally; so long as you're not an arrogant med student they'll be fine with you.

That makes me feel terrible

Had a hospital placement last week as part of my med school course.

I am fully aware of some stuck up medical students, and try my best to be as humble as possible.
On placement I considered the nurses to be more superior in the chain than myself, a mere 2nd year student, and made that as cleaR as possible by asking questions etc anything to make sure they knew I understood the nurse was in higher authority.

HOWEVER, I was repeatedely handed comments like "Nurses practically do the doctor's job nowadays, all they do is relax".
I was reminded every 5 seconds that I'm not qualified to do such and such, while they were a fully qualified healthcare proffessional.

I see a clear split, where some nurses made me feel very welcome and assisted my learning, while others showed clear contempt for all doctors & med student.
Is it jealously

Any other doctors or med students had the same experiance?

P.S I KNOW there are more stuck up doctors than nurses.

Don't know why you felt the need to make a conscious effort to show they are superior to you, unless you're a naturally arrogant person or something

The ones who showed contempt for you guys are probably crap nurses anyway who dish out the same attitude for patients or anyone for that matter, so sleep well.

Because there are so many idiot med students who think they are primeministers

I was reminded every 5 seconds that I'm not qualified to do such and such, while they were a fully qualified healthcare proffessional.

"Nurses practically do the doctor's job nowadays, all they do is relax".

Had a hospital placement last week as part of my med school course.

I am fully aware of some stuck up medical students, and try my best to be as humble as possible.
On placement I considered the nurses to be more superior in the chain than myself, a mere 2nd year student, and made that as cleaR as possible by asking questions etc anything to make sure they knew I understood the nurse was in higher authority.

HOWEVER, I was repeatedely handed comments like "Nurses practically do the doctor's job nowadays, all they do is relax".
I was reminded every 5 seconds that I'm not qualified to do such and such, while they were a fully qualified healthcare proffessional.

I see a clear split, where some nurses made me feel very welcome and assisted my learning, while others showed clear contempt for all doctors & med student.
Is it jealously

Any other doctors or med students had the same experiance?

P.S I KNOW there are more stuck up doctors than nurses.

No I don't think nurses are jealous of you... the fact that you have to make a conscious effort to be humble and 'let them understand' that they have the authority suggests that in your subconscious you believe they have reason to be jealous?

Just to throw this out there... why is it that doctors/med students are supposed to be so carefully humble about their profession? I understand that they shouldn't be arrogant or rude about their salary etc. but surely in a personal sense anybody who chooses ANY career and is as motivated to pursue it as doctors have to be these days (not unlike other top paid professions) WOULD believe that other professionals have reason to be jealous of them because they think their job is the best out there, if they didn't they would've picked something else?

I'd expect the same from top class city lawyers, etc or anyone who's worked exceptionally hard to get where - they think its something amazing and that's why they choose it! in their eyes it is the best. I see it all the time that it's "allowed" for other science students or pharmacists to knock medics for various things, but when they do it back (in a banter sort of way) it's automatically arrogant? Why shouldn't nurses be a bit more humble too rather than just dare a med student to say the slightest thing so they can chew them up about it?

Not sure if I've explained this well lol I'm sleepy

Just to throw this out there... why is it that doctors/med students are supposed to be so carefully humble about their profession? I understand that they shouldn't be arrogant or rude about their salary etc. but surely in a personal sense anybody who chooses ANY career and is as motivated to pursue it as doctors have to be these days (not unlike other top paid professions) WOULD believe that other professionals have reason to be jealous of them because they think their job is the best out there, if they didn't they would've picked something else?

I'd expect the same from top class city lawyers, etc or anyone who's worked exceptionally hard to get where - they think its something amazing and that's why they choose it! in their eyes it is the best. I see it all the time that it's "allowed" for other science students or pharmacists to knock medics for various things, but when they do it back (in a banter sort of way) it's automatically arrogant? Why shouldn't nurses be a bit more humble too rather than just dare a med student to say the slightest thing so they can chew them up about it?

Not sure if I've explained this well lol I'm sleepy

No I don't think nurses are jealous of you... the fact that you have to make a conscious effort to be humble and 'let them understand' that they have the authority suggests that in your subconscious you believe they have reason to be jealous?
Anyway, I reckon there are stuck up nurses and stuck up doctors, and seeing as they're two important but different roles working in a close vicinity, of course there's gonna be a bit of competition or even conflict.

i ask questions, tell them when i dont understand something. Its genuine, I dont act stupid on purpose. Some of my colleauges, however, would wait to refer to the Doc even when the nurse knows how to deal with the issue. They would ask the nurse if they understood something..lol etc

I think every pretty much all jobs are honourable. When my streets are littered, we NEED someone to clean. When my cars broke, the mech fixes it. We should see these people as honourable and important.

I agree with you to an extent, but I don't think it's restricted to high earning jobs. Most people who choose their career are proud of it and probably have reason to be. Including nurses so you can see where the conflict lies. I think whatever profession you are, you should be proud of it, but there is a fine line between being proud of your work and thinking that you are genuinely better than someone in another profession, for whatever reason. If everyone, in every profession, could be proud of their work and yet not arrogant about it, there would be no problem!