froggeek asked: I'm really on-board with Cary about the ego thing. I worked in medical sales and training for almost 8 years, focusing mainly on MDs and DCs (Chiropractors). The MDs were typically bright, decent guys, but their egos sometimes made it difficult to teach them anything, or even to get them to just LISTEN to what I was trying to say - even when I knew WAY more than they did on the subject at hand. That kind of arrogance is dangerous when the topic is life or death.

Again, I agree: There’s a problem with arrogance. I don’t deny it. And I don’t deny that there’s a big problem with that arrogance, the way it’s displayed, and the effect it has.

Here’s the thing though. The reason I write the way I do and the perspective I present is that I would like to have a constructive dialog. Yes, there can be an ego problem. We can express our frustration and anger. Nurses/NPs have a lot of it. But I know, from experience particularly while conducting my research, that physicians do as well. And it turns out that not only do many of them not have egos and arrogance, but their frustration is justified too. 

Not only that, but here’s where I’m coming from: Expressing our frustration is useful, yes. But ranting about it (which you aren’t doing at all, but some do) and expressing personal experiences will only get us so far. Engaging in dialog about it is very important. I’m trying to get to the heart of why these problems are there so we can see if we can fix them.