If your workplace's walls could talk, what would they say? I guess it largely depends on your profession. The morgue, for example, might reveal very different secrets to the hair salon or the tech support call center...
One place that holds a rollercoaster of stories is a hospital. Life-changing moments happen here every single day. But what patients and their families see or hear pales in comparison the reality experienced by the staff who work in these buildings. Doctors, nurses, paramedics, and even janitors are privy to things that might surprise even the most hardcore Grey's Anatomy fan.
They've been spilling some secrets online, in response to someone asking, "What are the unspoken (dark) realities of medicine that surprised you most?" From battles with mental health and substance use to admissions that medical professionals are merely making "educated guesses," each answer takes us deeper into the minds of those who have chosen to save lives for a living. Bored Panda has put together a list of the best ones below. Don't forget to upvote your favorites.
#41
Our entire healthcare system is falling apart and insurance companies and big pharma are the only ones winning.
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7points
#42
Nurse to patient ratios are now dangerously unsafe. If your nurse has 5+ patients the odds of you dying are like 60% or more. Hospitals can’t hire enough nurses and all of the good ones left due to low wages. Also your nurse may have an inappropriate nursing assignment. This means, the patients are really sick and that nurse shouldn’t have ALL of those patients. This also means some patients who are really sick (think, on life support in the ICU with multiple devices to keep them artificially alive) are not that nurses only patient, when they should be. This also increases the risk of patient harm. Also, a brand new nurse may be given a challenging patient assignment that is extremely inappropriate for them. Due to staffing shortages, this is the only option for the nurse in charge. Many experienced nurses are burnt out and left the bedside, so this has left a lot of inexperienced nurses to be in charge of a unit or taking care of extremely sick patients that they really shouldn’t be.
CEOs, CFOs, or anyone else in the C-suite typically don’t care about patient outcomes, only the hospitals bottom dollar.
The number of assaults on nurses is really high. And nurses are pressured by management to not press charges.
If you don’t have an advanced directive or living will, or don’t know what that is, you should look into one ASAP.
CPR is brutal and many times do not have good outcomes. Many people do not have a good quality of life after these events. I would not want my loved ones to go through CPR.
Don’t distract the nurse or talk about irrelevant things when they’re scanning, hanging, and administering medications. This is a very critical time that the nurse needs to be focused on administering medications. There are certain checks the nurses are required to do. This is the last stop for the nurse to be sure they have the right patient, right d**g, right dose, right route, right frequency, and verifying they’re not giving you a d**g that you’re allergic to.
Just because you see the nurse sitting at the desk doesn’t mean they’re not busy. They are likely documenting care they have provided, checking physician orders and documentation, looking at their schedule, etc.
Nurses very often don’t get 30 minute lunch breaks. Or 15 minute breaks. Or bathroom breaks. Or water breaks. There have been many 12-14 hour shifts I have worked in the ICU where I went to the bathroom 1 time and didn’t drink any water. Oh, and I inhaled my cold lunch in under 5 minutes. If I was afforded that opportunity.
If you see a nurse or hospital staff member running, now is NOT the time to ask them for water, snacks, a blanket, etc. They are likely handling an emergency.
If you are in the ER and someone is actively dying (think, needing CPR, needing immediate life support, actively having a heart attack or stroke, suffering from a life threatening emergency, etc), I don’t care how long you’ve been waiting, they WILL be seen before you even if they have been in that ER for one minute.
The ER is not the place to get an STD test.
CEOs, CFOs, or anyone else in the C-suite typically don’t care about patient outcomes, only the hospitals bottom dollar.
The number of assaults on nurses is really high. And nurses are pressured by management to not press charges.
If you don’t have an advanced directive or living will, or don’t know what that is, you should look into one ASAP.
CPR is brutal and many times do not have good outcomes. Many people do not have a good quality of life after these events. I would not want my loved ones to go through CPR.
Don’t distract the nurse or talk about irrelevant things when they’re scanning, hanging, and administering medications. This is a very critical time that the nurse needs to be focused on administering medications. There are certain checks the nurses are required to do. This is the last stop for the nurse to be sure they have the right patient, right d**g, right dose, right route, right frequency, and verifying they’re not giving you a d**g that you’re allergic to.
Just because you see the nurse sitting at the desk doesn’t mean they’re not busy. They are likely documenting care they have provided, checking physician orders and documentation, looking at their schedule, etc.
Nurses very often don’t get 30 minute lunch breaks. Or 15 minute breaks. Or bathroom breaks. Or water breaks. There have been many 12-14 hour shifts I have worked in the ICU where I went to the bathroom 1 time and didn’t drink any water. Oh, and I inhaled my cold lunch in under 5 minutes. If I was afforded that opportunity.
If you see a nurse or hospital staff member running, now is NOT the time to ask them for water, snacks, a blanket, etc. They are likely handling an emergency.
If you are in the ER and someone is actively dying (think, needing CPR, needing immediate life support, actively having a heart attack or stroke, suffering from a life threatening emergency, etc), I don’t care how long you’ve been waiting, they WILL be seen before you even if they have been in that ER for one minute.
The ER is not the place to get an STD test.
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7points
#43
How often mistakes are made and how easy it can be to make them even with catchalls in place, it’s easy to override. My loved one is admitted right now and they just ordered some thing they don’t normally get. They pushed back and asked why of course that pissed everyone off so they took it. Provider comes in yesterday and apologized profusely saying he didn’t mean to order it for her and was looking at the wrong pt’s ekg while half awake. The most shocking thing to us was that he actually admitted the mistake and apologized.
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6points
#45
People abusing nurses and when the nurses report it nothing happens. Nurses deserve safety and the attackers deserve accountability.
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6points
#46
I got a fast bleep (ie. drop everything you’re doing and attend this emergency please) one night to a side room on the ward to find no patient in the bed. Was just about to leave the room and go back out to the nurses station, where there had been a bit of a hubbub when I’d dashed past the first time, when something caught my eye.
Looked up to see a face with wide, slightly wild “psych eyes” peering down at me from a gap in the ceiling tiles. She was a lady waiting for a bed in the psych hospital who’d clearly thought the ceiling was the best place to hide from the people trying to poison her.
Honestly can’t think of another occasion that I’ve been quite so terrified.
Worst thing was that I had to walk (well, dash) back out underneath her to get help from the nurses and security to get her down.
Looked up to see a face with wide, slightly wild “psych eyes” peering down at me from a gap in the ceiling tiles. She was a lady waiting for a bed in the psych hospital who’d clearly thought the ceiling was the best place to hide from the people trying to poison her.
Honestly can’t think of another occasion that I’ve been quite so terrified.
Worst thing was that I had to walk (well, dash) back out underneath her to get help from the nurses and security to get her down.
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6points
#47
That all the sweet treats and food you bring in for the units to eat usually only go to day shift and night shift gets left out of yummy goodness.
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6points
#48
In the US, insurance companies are buying up doctor practices, urgent care centers, minute clinics, surgery centers, and pharmacies. This is centralizing all the profit under an organization notorious for screwing over medical providers and patients alike, and there’s a real risk of insurance companies steering their customers toward centers owned by that insurance company without transparency. Hospitals are corrupt enough, but imagine receiving care at one owned by United Health.
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6points
#49
We actually really care about you. You aren’t a number to us and when you have an unexpected outcome, we grieve and have to support each other and have care conferences to process our feelings. Sometimes we even need some time off of work to emotionally recover.
I never knew how much doctors and nurses really cared until I became one.
I never knew how much doctors and nurses really cared until I became one.
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6points
#50
The dark reality of medicine is the insipid political intrigue that goes on that sabotages care for the advancement, wealth and ego of powerful doctors. This means that, as a young physician, you have to take orders from seniors even when they have no idea what they’re doing and even when their actions threaten the welfare of patients. It also means that, to advance to a level of respect where you can actually practice medicine, as opposed to just doing what everyone wants you to do, you have to obsequiously defer to the establishment, to bide your time, even if that establishment consists of dullards who only got their position of authority through patronage of some other powerful authority. I am finally at a level of respect in my profession, critical care, where I can mostly afford to practice as I think best, but it’s taken me years to get there as I looked the other way and let people have their way that shouldn’t be allowed. This reality exists for many professions but in medicine, it threatens lives and isn’t just petty jealousy. There is no meritocracy. You just have to learn to play the game.
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5points
#51
If you hear your nurse mention they need to run down to the cancer research center don't worry. They're just running for a smoke break.
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5points
#52
Counterfeit medical devices make their way into the supply chain. MD companies do everything you can imagine to prevent it, but it happens.
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5points
#53
Hospital lab worker here - Not particularly scandalous, but most people don't realise their lab tests are just very accurate guesses, and have an error range. When we say your 'X' is 10g/L, we might actually mean it's 10g/L ± 10-20%.
I see too many people get extremely worked up about small fluctuations in blood test values that aren't actually in excess of the reference change value, and so technically aren't genuinely different from a previous value.
I see too many people get extremely worked up about small fluctuations in blood test values that aren't actually in excess of the reference change value, and so technically aren't genuinely different from a previous value.
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5points
#54
In most older hospitals, the pharmacy is just a couple of feet away from the morgue.
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5points
#55
I know one. I used to manage hospital laundry services. Medical waste (body parts etc) gets accidentally thrown in the laundry more often than you'd expect. Also needles and all sorts of other medical devices and personal items. Once we even had a (deceased) fetus come through to the sorting facility.
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5points
#56
"Do everything to keep them alive" only serves the family's feelings, not the patient.
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5points
#58
CEOs make as much as great surgeons but don’t help anyone but themselves.
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5points
#59
A lot of the times we are very friendly and professional with the patient while in the room with them, but as soon as we leave the room we do talks amongst ourselves about what we really thought of you. Very common to leave a room and say to each other “wow that guys an a*****e” or “that wound was freaking nasty” or “that guy is super annoying”.
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5points
#60
As a hospital social worker, a lot of people think "home care" is going to include an insurance covered home health aid. There is no such thing. You have to private hire or get sent to a nursing home for "rehab."
The staff gossip about all the patients' families. It is easy to get labeled aa needy or difficult.
Bringing in food for the staff goes a long way.
The staff gossip about all the patients' families. It is easy to get labeled aa needy or difficult.
Bringing in food for the staff goes a long way.
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5points