Quote:
Originally Posted by Figleaf23
IMO, the main professional skill of non-surgical modern MDs is Diagnosis....
Professional nursing is probably where you find more focus on the activities comprised in the GURPS Physician skill.
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Yes, diagnosis is used to figure out what is wrong, but you need Physician skill to know how to treat it, including knowing which medication to prescribe! Which is not a nursing function- nurses can't prescribe medications- unless one is a nurse practitioner or nurse anesthetist.
The reason that physicians can treat more and more patients around TL5-8 (B425) is due to the advent of professional nurses. But developing treatment plans is still the prerogative of the physician.
I'd say that nurses, including LPNs, have Professional Skill (Nurse). For instance- this is a wildly inaccurate way to put it in the real world, but in game terms- this skill allows one to know
how to administer medications but not
which medication is indicated.
Should an RN add one point in Physician? Arguable. Depends on how you look at the GURPS mechanic (not reality). In general, a nurse is not going to develop a treatment plan for someone. The doctor writes orders, and the nurses carry them out. So for instance for an inpatient the doctor
prescribes a medication (using Physician skill) and the nurse
administers it in the prescribed dose, manner, and schedule. However, yes, in particular regarding recovering from injuries (B424), that is mostly due to
good nursing care, yet GURPS makes it a function of Physician skill. And, of course, there are a lot of sharp nurses out there who can take a reasonable stab at things even if they aren't nurse practitioners.
I'd propose that a physician probably still writes the orders to change dressings twice a day with Dakins solution (or whatever) and it's the nurse carrying out the order. OTOH, yes, if no doctor is available a nurse should make a better job of it than a layman. My answer would be to allow some degree of default to Physician from Professional Skill (Nurse).
Frankly (if I were being rigorous) regarding recovery from injury on B424, I think I'd roll against the
average of Physician and Professional Skill (Nurse) for the bonus tp HP recovered, not just Physician. Or better yet, use Professional Skill (Nurse) as a adjunct skill (or whatever they are called) for Physician. I.e. the Physician gets a +1 bonus if the nurse makes her skill roll, and a penalty of some sort if the nurse critically fails. And, as in real life, since most physicians would lack Professional Skill (Nursing), they have a better chance of screwing that up if they try to do things themselves (like in an adventuring party that lacks a nurse).
Actually, knowing as I do just how useful a good nurse is, I might allow adjunct skill roles by a nurse in a
lot of instances...