Chapter 2 Reading Assigment

CHAPTER #2

1. The health care labor force is divided into five general categories; doctors, nurses, therapists, technicians, and administration. Doctors, with their higher pay, knowledge, and prestige have given them greater control in the medical labor force. Nurses rank as the most numerous of laborers in the medical sector, accounting for three times the total number of doctors. In its earliest stages, nursing was seen as a dirty job and nurses were not respected for their work. Even though in the years following the start of the twentieth century nursing became a recognized career, the education requirements to become a nurse varied greatly between course curriculums. Today, nurses can gain a master's degree or doctorate of nursing. However, they still are not as prestigious and do not earn as much income as doctor's currently do. Therapists include a very broad category of health care personnel with numerous different specialties. They are not as prestigious as doctors, but more than nurses. Technicians work in hospital laboratories and assist in lab