The "doctor-nurse game", as described by Stein in 1967, was an oppressive tradition built on a long-standing historical relationship. Stein concluded that both professions would do well to eradicate this "transactional neurosis".The game he described was that nurses should be bold, have initiative and make recommendations to influence their patients' care. At the same time, they must appear passive and make their recommendations appear to have been thought of by doctors. Such communication strategies came from underlying social assumptions, in this case that doctors were masters, and nurses servants. This communication game was just one example of the unjust inequality of professional hierarchy that assumed doctors were superior to nurses. This assumption came from several sources, mainly class and gender oppression.
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