Everybody Needs A Nurse

I've heard it said that every woman needs a wife and I'm pretty sure that's true (sorry guys, but it's true that being the husband is the easy job...in my next life, I want to be the husband).  But, wouldn't it be great if we all had our own nurse?  

Someone to handle things, coordinate healthcare, review medications, intervene to catch near-misses, and listen? I could get on board with that.

It's 2013 and patients still don't understand that it's not their doctor that gets them better, it's their nurse.  I'm not knocking doctors, mind you, but I think we all know that if health care was left to the docs there would be a lot of orders and not much actual care.  Especially in the hospital.  If all patients needed was a doctor, they could just go to the office.  Patients come to hospitals because they need nurses.

Yet, nursing care is still included in the room and board charge for hospitals.  Why is this?  Here's my theory on that:

Have you ever seen those reports that come out every now and then and try to put a value on the work of a stay-at-home parent?  The numbers are always astronomical and it's clear that nobody could ever actually afford to pay a stay-at-home parent what they are worth.   I think it's the same with nurses.  Our work is included in the room-and-board charge because nobody would ever actually be able to pay us for our true worth.  

That being said, I wish I could afford a nurse.  Everybody needs their own nurse.