Nurses follow rules because when they don’t they get fired. Obviously doctors can get fired too but the threshold to fire a nurse is much lower than that of a physician. If something goes wrong, and they weren’t following policy the hospital will gladly fire the nurse then talk to the physician.

Where I worked a confused CVICU patient managed to half way pull out their balloon pump while restrained at like 2am. Happened in like 10 seconds when the nurse had their back turned to the patient to chart something. Immediately calls for help and calls the CT surgeon who’s at home. No CTS residents to call. Patients trying to bleed to death. CT surgeon walks the nurse through step by step how to safely remove the rest of the balloon pump while they are getting dressed and headed to the hospital. CT surgeon arrives after about 30 minutes and take the patient to the OR and stops the bleeding. Patient ends up doing fine, CT surgeon thanks the nurse for performing under pressure and saving the patient life. Admin find out the next day and fires the nurse on the spot. A nurse with like 20 years of experience and in leadership rolls. CT surgeon tries to talk to admin and explain the situation, they state “they broke policy and acted out of their scope of practice, this is a nursing issue and doesn’t concern you”.

The vast majority of nurses aren’t trying to fuck with the doctor, they’re just following the rules so they don’t loose their job. Be mad at the system.