Yesterday we decided to take a short survey, we wanted to access the approachability of nurses:Doctors in our regular hospital setting in Cameroon. Our inclusion criteria was anyone above the age of 18 who had been sick and admitted in a hospital before and we excluded people below 18 and mentally unstable people. Here are the results we got from 50 participants. (Please check attached pie chart). 54% preferred Doctors The reasons they have for preferring the Doctors were -more knowledge -more confidentiality -No judgement Those who preferred nurses said that nurses were -more available -more caring and -more likely to act fast We cannot ignore the fact that most of the people who preferred Doctors also mentioned that nurses gossip a lot amongst themselves and that their fear was that the nurse will discuss their health or personal problems with other nurses (mostly) and sometimes people who were not part of the health team like neighbours and social media. Let us please use this opportunity to make it clear to the patients that discussing ‘your’ health issues with other members of the health team is both beneficial to you and to the team to optimize care as much as possible (imagine caring for a COVID-19) patient without knowing their diagnosis, it’s unimaginable right? For nurses to know, they have to be told, it is very normal. On the other hand, this doesn’t give nurses the right to discuss irrelevant details with others. As a nurse, you should be able to handle sensitive information diligently and treat patients information with privacy. The health issues of patients should not be mentioned outside the hospital milieu and even in the hospital the sole reason of sharing the information should be for the betterment of the patient and of course when there is need. Nowww, moving to the patients who prefer the Doctor, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, it is your right as a patient to choose who to share your worries with but if you know this information I am about to share with you, you’ll surely want to think twice before sharing. -After the medical diagnosis is established and the plan drawn (especially in Cameroon) most of the work left is done by the nurse, it is good to establish a relationship with them and that can’t be done without trust. -There’s something in the health setting called ‘nursing diagnosis’ and the care of a patients can’t be complete without it. After the medical diagnosis, most complains will fall under the ‘nursing diagnosis’ and the nurse is usually better placed to help than the Doctor. -The Doctor: patient ratio is 1:50,000 meaning for every one Doctor, there are 50,000 people to attend to medically. It will be very wise for us to think again before demanding the services of Doctors when need arises. -Most often, the information you share with the Doctor comes back to the nurse because we are a team and we want the best for you. That said, we are open to constructive criticisms, more research questions and recommendations. Kindly share our post to educate someone. God bless you. Zoe Health Foundation