#1
We turn to our trusted medical professionals to help us in times of need, but many of them are facing crises of their own.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, health workers are feeling fatigue, loss, and grief at levels higher than before the Covid pandemic. And reports of poor mental health symptoms have increased more for health workers than for other worker groups.
The Pew Research Center reveals that physicians, nurses, health technicians, and others in the sector are at increased risk of taking their own lives, compared with their nonmedical peers.
One U.S. study found that 14% of healthcare workers had reported having such thoughts, 6% had gone as far as planning the act, and 3.5% had followed through by attempting it. Sadly, every year, more than 300 physicians are successful in taking their own lives.
#2
No. That’s considered inhumane to do to a dog. We do it to millions of elderly humans though.
#3
Even with the stakes this h**h, experts say healthcare nurses are less likely to seek mental health support when experiencing depressive thoughts compared with nurses who do not have such thoughts.
"And in contrast to the general population, physicians are less likely to seek mental health support even when experiencing [thoughts of s*******m]," adds the Pew site.
One of the reasons for this is the stigma attached to mental health issues within the medical fraternity. Some fear their careers will suffer if they speak up. A 2021 study found that 47% of doctors agreed that doctors with a history of depression or anxiety disorder are less likely to be hired or appointed.
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#6
Boy was I wrong.
Pew adds that in many U.S. states, health care providers applying for their license or credentials must disclose whether they have ever had mental health concerns or received mental health care.
"Data shows that 40% of physicians and 35% of physicians assistants reported reluctance to seeking mental health supports because of concerns about licensure repercussions," reveals the site, adding that many nurses also worry about the professional consequences of receiving mental health care.
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#8
A hospital without a lab is just a bunch of people guessing. A hospital without a lab is a collection of doctors' offices.
Think about that for a moment.
The lab is not where they draw your blood. The lab is where that blood is sent to have various tests. Each color tube does something very specific. Those tubes need to be filled to a certain amount. They need to be drawn in a certain order to keep contamination from causing issues. Sometimes, they even need to be drawn from certain places.
The lab takes your blood, sweat, urine, fluid drainage (from cysts, wounds, around your heart/lungs/liver, brain, etc.), nose swabs, cheek swabs, feces, tumors, removed organs and appendages, growths, and many other unwanted parts and fluids. The lab knows that you eat too much sugar, you lie about that cigarette you enjoy every day, and that you need to stop taking so many over-the-counter pain relievers.
The lab knows when you have chemotherapy. The lab watches your platelet count go down. The lab knows about the deletion of that one gene or the doubling up of another. The lab ran your PCR COVID test and saw you become a statistic. They then asked a blood donor program to hit you up for COVID convalescent plasma, so that you might save a life.
The lab monitored your time on the heart-lung machine. The lab knew when you needed platelets and blood.
The lab saw your lupus diagnosis first. The lab was nearly as upset as you were about it.
The lab was overjoyed when they got the news to pass along to your doctor that the stem cells came in for your bone marrow replacement.
Nurses and doctors see you face to face, but the lab knows you from your insides. The lab is faceless to almost everyone in the hospital (even other staff), which is a shame because the lab is cheering you on in your recovery.
#9
48% of doctors who took part in a 2023 poll reported that they know a physician, colleague, or peer who said they would not seek mental health care. This is despite more than half reporting that they know of a physician who has considered, attempted, or died by taking their own life.
A separate survey found that only 26% of physicians with mental health conditions seek treatment.
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#11
For example, septic patients. Sometimes they're fully conscious in the morning, they crash and get ventilated in the evening and they die in the middle of the night.
Not only this is disheartening, this can lead to conflicts with their relatives - "But doc, he was just fine yesterday! We talked on the phone! This is probably malpractice!".
#12
“Health workers are experiencing unprecedented rates of burnout and mental health conditions due to factors like long, irregular hours, unsafe and difficult work environments, resource shortages, and h**h clinical demands they face daily,” says Stefanie Simmons, chief medical officer of the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes’ Foundation.
But the mental health crisis within the medical profession is not only impacting doctors, nurses and their peers. It can also affect the treatment that patients receive, or don't receive.
“Many of the operational policies and practices are there based on the misplaced belief that they protect patient safety, but the reality is starkly different: When health workers fear seeking help, the quality of care declines, mental health conditions and burnout intensify, workforce shortages grow, and lives are lost,” warns Simmons.
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#14
That the people who take care of our elderly are extremely underpaid and overworked.
How many patients just don't GAF what happens to them.
#15
“Oh Jesus ain’t ready for her yet!”
Yes, Jesus is ready for her; we’re just actively delaying it.
#16
There is a large discrepancy in the publics expectation of how accurate we are and the reality. I think in 100 years we will look back at the barbaric way we practice medicine currently even in our best institutions. To give an example the best treatment we have figured out for resistant depression is shocking our patients, it works well and it’s the best we have.
#17
Another physician had a decent amount of malpractice suits, he was legally ordered to stop practicing medicine there while investigation were underway. The dude didn't give a s**t, he just showed up to work for months and everyone around him did nothing because he was the chief of surgery. He only complied when someone denounced to the judges he was still there
I'm sure s**t like this goes on in a lot of hospitals, and due to this archaic code of honor among peers thing a lot of people do not dare to say anything for fear of retaliation.
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