It's alright to work for 24 or 30 hours straight (believe me, even upwards of that ). And Not just on special days but as a part of routine. It gets easier after a period of years until after you become a consultant AND oblivious to the suffering of the ones at the bottom. That is a good time. You can paint your glory and belittle them with the tales of your own suffering and how you emerged stronger on the other end. How , in your time , you were so much better than them. Nobody will challenge you. They know you are better than them. They have no option but to be amused and quiet. This cycle , really seems to work. However, personal strife and resultant glory is irrelevant here.It may get better for the doctors as time goes by, but the CONSTANT of the hospital and health care system is the Young doctors. Each year a new crop comes out. And the cycle stays the same for hospital. It's the clueless house officers running about, feeling miserable and making mistakes.
So what about the patients whose calls fell on deaf ears because you were too tired even just to drag your feet anywhere? What about the patients whose CPR was not as effective as it would have been had they been handled by a human being who was oriented in time, place, and person? What about the iatrogenic injuries because of distraction? What about the countless cases , the countless instances of malpractice that did not feel heavy on the hearts of the doctors who felt it was ok not to care as no one apparently cared about them? Those people who toughened up , indeed. But that toughening up compromised a very humane part of them. What about the substandard patient care and the lives lost ? Should I hush it up because it makes you uncomfortable ? Or is medical negligence a part and parcel of health care and I should accept it as a norm as we tend to accept all vices as norms? There is always room for human error but that human error is recognized and steps are taken to improve the outcome! People are not left to their own devices, going haywire and making random calls on the matter of life and death!!!!
What if the patients who suffered were your family ? And What about the family of the doctor? The family which literally deteriorated behind his back because he was busy managing emergencies and his father's declining kidney function wasn't an emergency at that time ? What about the regrets , and suffering that end up changing you for lifetime ?
What about all of this ? Is suffering a norm ? Should I make peace with it ? Maybe , subscribing to some delusion I could. Is inhumane approach towards patients life a norm too ? Because I am not going to accept it. Not even then when I am on a round with the power to humiliate the ones who know less. I would resist the temptation to tell them how great I was. How I had a work ethic ( which I have ) . How I would do anything for a patient (which I do ). Because in my mind and heart I know that the truth is far too complex, and the problem far too extensive to be trumped by the instances of individual's dedication and hard work.
I know it's not about MY INDIVIDUAL growth for a couple of tough years. It's about the structure , the system of the hospital. For which house officers and young doctors are are a constant. and they are MISERABLE.
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