Last year one of my patients was on the phone, lamenting about how long he had been in the emergency room. He had already waited several hours to get a CT scan. Medications he was supposed to be given were repeatedly delayed. I heard his voice rise and fall, with each swell more expansive than the one before. When I turned to look at him, he yelled a racial epithet before hurling a desktop computer into the area where doctors and nurses sit. A seasoned nurse ducked. As I pushed an intern and medical student out of the way, he charged at us with a steel tray. Thankfully, no one was injured.

According to the article, a 2022 survey of Emergency Medicine Physicians found that “55 percent said they had been physically assaulted, almost all by patients, with a third of those resulting in injuries. Eighty-five percent had been seriously threatened by patients.” For ER nurses, it is worse: 70% reported physical assaults at work.

This is unconscionable.

The article was written by Emergency Medicine physician and Columbia University professor Dr. Helen Ouyang. She wrote this:

In the E.R., there’s a certain level of resignation that violence is just part of the job, like getting bloodstains on our shoes. We have come to endure racist, sexist and homophobic slurs, choosing silence over confrontation, to fulfill our duty to care for human life. After all, we pledge to hold our patients’ well-being above all else.

Violence should never, ever, ever, ever, ever be “just part of the job.” This is unacceptable. Those of us who have answered the call of healthcare – whether physician, or nurse, or respiratory therapist, or physical therapist, or patient care technician – have sacrificed a great deal to be here. We have given so much of our time, our blood, our sweat, and our tears to care for those who are ill.

No part of this job should include violence directed toward the healthcare team. None.

I understand that sometimes, if not many times, patients are not in their right minds. They may be sick with infection, or organ failure, or substance abuse. That does not excuse violence against us. I always say that patient safety is “number one a.” Staff safety is “one b”: it is co-equal with patient safety.

We can’t easily fix the societal maladies that lead to violence against healthcare workers. At the same time, every healthcare institution must ensure that their staff is safe at work. It is an absolute necessity.

Please make sure you read the article and watch the opinion video accompanying it. It is heart-wrenching.

And I say again: violence should never, ever, ever, ever be “just part of the job.” It is absolutely unacceptable.

The post Violence in Healthcare Should Never Be “Just Part of the Job” appeared first on Medika Life.

I won’t lie, during the height of the pandemic, leaving bedside clinical practice crossed my mind. As the darkness of Covid-19 surrounded me, as the death and destruction suffocated me, I also asked myself whether I should close up shop and do something else.

Indeed, there are other things I can do in healthcare that don’t involve risking my life day in and day out with Covid-19. Yet, I never went through with it. The call to the bedside was just too strong.

Ever since I was a young boy, I’ve only ever wanted to be a doctor. It’s all of which I’ve ever dreamed. When I applied to medical school, all the odds were working against me, and when I got the notification of my acceptance (off the waiting list, I might add), it was one of the happiest moments of my life.

And so I’ve tried to never take my being a doctor for granted. I try to live a life of gratitude for being chosen for this profession each and every day. And when the thought of leaving did enter my mind, it was quickly eliminated because, I just can’t see myself doing anything else.

I enjoy taking care of patients too much. I enjoy battling the pathophysiology of critical illness too much. I enjoy being able to watch patients come near death and make it out alive and well too much.

Now, it’s not like I haven’t seen death before. I’m an ICU doctor. I see death all the time. With Covid, it’s different.

Covid has brought a scale of death and destruction I’ve never seen before. Never before have I taken care of patients with such a contagious illness that has made me terrified of getting it or — much worse — bringing it home to my family. Never before have I seen an illness that literally tortures its victims to a painful and horrible death. Covid has changed me as a Physician forever.

But Covid has not beaten me down to the point of actually leaving the bedside. The call is just too strong.

No doubt, as the Summer comes to an end, and the Fall and Winter set in, I am scared of a resurgence. I am scared that we will get overwhelmed once again with patient after patient after patient with frightening illness. I am scared that we will, once again, face the darkness we faced in the Spring. That fear is constant, and it’s a menace that pervades everything I do.

But the call to the bedside is just too strong. The call to care for the sick is just too strong. The call to witness the Healing of the Lord is just too powerful to ignore.

Perhaps one day, things may change and I will leave the bedside once and for all. Perhaps one day, I will hang up my scrubs once and for all. Today is not that day. That’s because, the call to the bedside is just too strong.

The post Covid Made Me Think About Leaving Medicine appeared first on Medika Life.