"We Can't Cure You": Medical Professionals Are Revealing The "Dark Secrets" From Their Jobs That You Probably Don't Know

Yahoo

a day ago

Warning: This post contains mentions of abuse and sexual assault.
We recently asked doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us the surprising and difficult aspects of their job that most people don't know. Here are the eye-opening results:
1."It's no secret that we see hard things in our day-to-day, but people don't talk about how hard it is to talk about the job with people who aren't medical. Every vent session with non-medical friends or family turns into a lecture because you're not the perfect caring person they imagined you to be. I can't count how many times I've mentioned the abuse I've faced with patients and people justifying it with, 'Well, they're sick or in pain; that's on you.'"
"It's no wonder there's such a large mental health crisis among us."
—lazychipmunk87
2."As a primary care physician, people underestimate how much work we have to do outside work hours, called 'pajama time' in the industry, because we often take our work home and do it late at night. When your entire work day is essentially back-to-back meetings, and you're responsible for documenting everything that happens in a way that satisfies medical and billing purposes, plus dealing with the 50-plus results/messages/calls that come in daily, it's no wonder."
—Anonymous, 34, Arizona
3."I work in oncology, and when a patient dies, especially one that we fought so hard for, we cry. I've had to sit in my office for a moment and mourn the loss of someone's parent, spouse, or child. It breaks our hearts."
—Anonymous, 33, Illinois
4."Sometimes, admitted patients are fine to take care of, but once certain family members show up, patients can change, or it's difficult to deal with the family member. E.g.: family members yelling and accusing certain staff of doing things to their relative on a certain day, but those workers were not there that day, so it has to be investigated, and usually turns out the family member is making things up or didn't get all the facts before their complaints."
—fabprincess48
5."Assaulting a healthcare worker is a felony in the US, but patients do it constantly. When I was working with ventilator-dependent patients, I would be struck twice on every shift, sometimes more. Two patients would just haul off and belt me when I was taking their vitals or adjusting their ventilator or putting an oximeter on their finger. I wasn't alone. Indeed, we were all called into a meeting at one point where a consultant was telling practitioners who had been groped by old men that they were senile, and we should all feel compassion towards them."
"Look: we were professional; we didn't retaliate when abused, so I felt that telling us how to FEEL about it was a bit much. Leadership was telling us we weren't even allowed to RESENT being punched, slapped, spat on, and groped daily. I'm so glad I'm retired (early!)."
—cynthiamartin
6."I'm an administrative assistant for an orthopedic surgeon. We have 'VIP' patients — normally, rich people, other doctors, celebrities, and government workers. These patients are treated like royalty. These patients have the luxury of not having to wait for appointments, they don't get charged, and have 24-hour access to the doctor."
—Anonymous, 34, Puerto Rico
7."One of the pulmonologists I work with in the ICU has a saying: 'We don't save lives; we just buy time.' What he means is that most of our patients in our critical care unit are edging closer and closer to their end. If you have COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), we can't cure you. If you have severe congestive heart failure, we can't cure you. If you have metastasized cancer, we can't cure you. All we can do is keep you going so you'll have time to get your affairs in order."
"Because of how sick patients have to be to get a room in this CCU, all we can do is keep you going long enough to figure out how you want to face your end. We can get you home, but the next time you come into the hospital could be the last time. So, figure your life out."
—Anonymous, 41, Louisiana
8."No one teaches you about when someone you know dies while you're working. The rest of the world keeps going and still needs care."
—Anonymous, 35, Oklahoma
9."As an occupational therapist, I teach kids what emotions look like. Unfortunately, that means I'm also teaching psychopaths and kids with ODD how to pretend to be human. Please give consequences to kids, even if they are differently-abled."
—Anonymous, 42, Arizona
10."Retail pharmacist here. A typical shift is 12-plus hours with a 30-minute lunch that you work through while patients yell about the pharmacy being closed for lunch. Dangerously low levels of tech help hours. Every task is timed and measured. State boards of pharmacy let chains get away with everything because most of the board members are shareholders."
—Anonymous, 43, Georgia
11."Not a doctor or nurse. I'm a former operations director for multiple large facilities. No one understands how much we do and have to plan for. We're responsible for everyone, even families' and visitors' lives and safety."
—Anonymous, Iowa
12."I'm a dental hygienist, and people will hate you and your advice because 'they brush and floss every day.' All they want to hear from you is that everything is excellent and see you in six months. Six-month visits are not for everyone. Yes, we need to know your health history. Yes, we need to know what medications you're taking. Yes, we need to know what you're allergic to. Yes, we need dental X-rays. No, we can't see you if you got them somewhere else, and we don't have them. Please get them if you're so adamant about not taking X-rays. We don't have X-ray vision. Declining gum therapy for periodontal disease because you 'don't need that' or 'the other office did just a regular cleaning and never mentioned it' is supervised neglect. We spend a lot of time arguing with people about their health and why we recommend certain procedures."
"Finally, bacteria are so small that the tiniest ulcer or cut in the gums can be an access point for bacteria into your body via the bloodstream. There are a lot of good dental offices out there that actually want you to be healthy people."
—Anonymous, 45, Arizona
13."I think some people are shocked just by how many people die on a daily basis. We tend to kind of gloss over it, but even in the short number of years I've been in nursing, I've taken care of so many people who have died. I make a point to try to remember their names because it's important to me that I always remember how precious and joyous it is to be alive and be with my loved ones."
—Anonymous, 28, Idaho
14."Recovery Room (PACU) nurse here. Please know that if you're getting surgery and being admitted, we as nurses have NO CONTROL over when you're going to get an inpatient room. VERY select cases get a pre-determined room assignment, but we don't have a room ready for every post-surgical patient, even if it was booked months in advance. We aren't a hotel like that. The inpatient side might not literally have an open room or staff available. And if you see one person getting a room before you, know that it's not necessarily on a 'first-come, first-served' basis. We give beds based on acuity (aka, how sick one is) and capability of the specific unit you're going to."
"(I.e., Do you need your heart monitored constantly? Do you need frequent vital signs checks? Etc.). So please, when we hold you in the PACU, we're not ignoring you. We don't want you there any more than you want to be there."
—Anonymous, 37, California
15."No one knows just how short-staffed all positions in the hospital are. Short on doctors. Short on nurses. Short on techs. As a nurse, I know that my state is short thousands of nurses, which causes not all the rooms to be filled. In my unit, 10 beds out of 50 are intentionally unstaffed right now because we have no more staff. It's also causing us to massively shorten our nurse training program."
"When I started as a bedside nurse, the residency program was six-plus months. Now, it's down to four months before a nurse is on their own. If you're wondering why you've been waiting so long in the ER to be seen, that's one of the main reasons. We're out of people to see you."
—Anonymous, 47, Georgia
16."Midwife here. 1.) Catching the baby is the easiest part of my job. In any given shift, I'm building relationships with families in a matter of hours, riding the highest highs and the lowest lows with them. I love my job, but it's not for the faint of heart. 2.) It's impossible to leave the job at the office. The baby I resuscitated for an hour, the family I had to tell that their baby had no heartbeat, the mom I had to look in the eye and tell her that her body was going into labour at 21 weeks and that her baby could not survive this — they all come home with me."
"3.) To end with something more lighthearted, not all babies are cute. I can always find something to say about any baby, but if I say your baby is beautiful, I mean it."
—Anonymous, 36, Scotland
And finally...
17."I'm a doctor in the pediatric ICU. We don't get scheduled breaks or protected meal time when we work. When we are there, we are on until the patients don't need us anymore. I may not see your child until the afternoon because I've been coding another child all morning, pronouncing them dead, and helping that family through the worst possible moment. Even if I do see your child on time, I might have just come from telling a family their child has incurable cancer or a devastating brain injury — and I may have done all that without a sip of water, something to eat, or a bathroom break."
"And this can be extended to all realms of medicine and all levels of medical providers. All we ask is that you have a little grace and understanding, and know that if it takes a while for us to get to you, it's because there are much sicker people we need to see first. It's a good thing if you're lower on the priority list — it means you aren't dying.Also, doctors, especially younger ones, aren't rich. We are usually half a million dollars in debt when we get out of medical training. So, while we get a big paycheck, we are playing catch-up on bills, car payments, student loans, etc. Many of us know what it's like to struggle with poverty and live paycheck to paycheck. Please know we sympathize with you and will do what we can to minimize costs so that you don't have any extra burden, because we've been there."
—Anonymous, 33, West Virginia
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals, what are the shocking "realities" or "secrets" of your job that no one knows? Tell us in the comments, or if you prefer to remain anonymous, you can use the form below.
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