I have observed several surgeries in my life. Before the first incision, the scrub nurse customarily stops all activity in the room and runs through the patient’s chart. This is to make sure everyone agrees on the details of the surgery so they don’t accidentally operate on the wrong body part.

During this ritual, before one orthopedic surgery, the nurse listed a patient’s name and the diagnosis of broken and dislocated left ankle bones. The surgeon looked down at the right foot in front of him, and, visibly embarrassed by his mistake, chuckled with the rest of the team as he walked around the table to the correct limb.

Opposite to my experience in the operating room, Hollywood often portrays the relationship between physician and nurse to be one in which the doctor is and acts as the nurse’s superior.

“Some doctors can be condescending,” said Jennifer Brown, a senior in the UW’s nursing program, “especially if you ask questions you need to know, and they think it’s obvious, or they’re really busy.”

Reporters and other professionals, like lawyers, can perpetuate this stereotype when they call on doctors, not nurses, to provide expert opinions on different subjects. Nurses, who may know just as much on the same subject as the physician, remain largely unseen, carrying out the treatments as the Oompa-Loompas of medicine.

No one really knows where that stigma began, but it was suggested that it was merely cultural history.

“When I went to nursing school, we still stood up and gave our chairs to the physician when he came into the nursing station,” said a nurse practitioner who began nursing in 1972.

Linda Shin, a registered nurse, thinks the stereotype is slowly fading away.

“A lot of the old-school physicians … have the air about them that makes [them seem like] they’re not approachable,” Shin said. “I hear [residents] say to one another, ‘Whatever you do, listen to the nurses. They’re right. If they tell you to do something, you do it.’ So I think as the guard gets transitioned out, it’s going to change.”

The doctor-nurse relationship is already more collegial than entertainment outlets make it seem.

George Laramore, UW Cancer Center director, said that today, most doctors and nurses work together as a team, with “the nurse being a very valuable member.”

Heather Algren, registered nurse and manager of the Clinical Trials Unit at Swedish Medical Center, said that the doctors often rely on her to make sure they are following strict guidelines when researching.

“[The nurses] wrote the protocols,” Algren said. “We were involved. So the doctors will [list things they want to do in the study], and you, as a nurse, will have to say, ‘That sounds great, but do you realize you have the patient not eating for 12 hours? Maybe we need to break that up.’ So you work as a patient advocate as well as a scientist.”

This mutually respectful relationship is the norm, but it is not always the case. Drew Haas, a registered nurse, said that he often sees blatant sexism around the office.

“I see male doctors constantly say things to female nurses they would never dare say to me,” Haas said. “[The way] they treat and address them, the tone of voice they use in talking to them, the terminology they use — things that are just absolutely unforgivable, but they get away with, because once upon a time, that was the culture.”

Laramore commented that, while he is not sure it is sexism, he has seen bad behavior toward nurses before, but he tries to teach his students respect for all medical staff.

“We maintain an attitude in my department where each member of the team is valuable and to be respected,” Laramore said. “Our residents and medical students observe this and hopefully emulate this. We do not tolerate non-professional behavior by our faculty.”

Sally Buslach, a registered nurse and clinic manager of the Swedish Pain and Headache Center, remembers that physicians are humans, too; if they lash out, they could just be stressed.

“A doctor said, ‘I’m not going to do that because you’re telling me to. No nurse is going to tell me what to do,’” Buslach recalled. “We were both having a bad day. I know he didn’t mean that.”

Medical residents also frequently look to the nurses for guidance. Algren mentioned times she worked with interns and residents when she had to encourage them to ask questions of attending physicians. Buslach remembered when residents would come to the nurses’ locker room for help.

“The residents had their locker room down the hall from us,” Buslach said, “and they would come … and ask us questions because we are going to get information for them and translate it for them so they know how to care for the patient better. They realized that and had a lot of respect for [our opinions].”

Ultimately, most nurses and physicians agreed that if arrogant or inappropriate behavior occurs from the doctor, it is usually due the character of the person, not the profession. The Hollywood stigma of a strict medical hierarchy is on its way out, and doctors are beginning to realize how much they need their nursing partners.

“I think the physicians rely on us more … in the sense that we are the ones that help keep patients on track for their care,” Algren said. “The doctors recognize — I think the good ones do —­ that we are essential in that.”

Reach reporter Ashleen Aguilar at lifestyles@dailyuw.com.