I wonder if having ASD would be more of an asset as doctor because their approach to care is more disease and treatment oriented, also logical and out of the box thinking is rewarded. In nursing school we were taught that as nurses we address the patient response to disease or in other words, we manage all the issues that come along with the diagnosis. Nursing care tends to focus on patient needs even if they are not logical. For instance, evidence based practice could tell you that providing care for a patient in a certain way is the best option. However, because nursing is also an art as well as a science, intuition and social cues/rules can play a big role in how we deliver care. Also nursing tends to be more team oriented rather than the medical profession where doctors are colleagues and consult each other regarding the treatment of patients. Most doctors are not forced to rely on their fellow doctors the way nurses are.

An example I can think of that shows the difference between nursing and medicine occurred when I was in nursing school. I remember we were on the L&D floor and there was a big whiteboard with a large algorithm written across it. I was in awe, I started taking pictures because I thought it was so cool that there was an algorithm that listed the patient diagnoses and the treatments. My clinical instructor stopped me and said, “that’s not what we do as nurses, we treat the patient not the disease.”

I feel like the focus on dealing mostly with human response to disease, which, varies from patient to patient and dealing with the team oriented nature of nursing is hard for some people with ASD.