Working in healthcare can be extremely stressful. The demands of the job, limited resources, long hours, big expectations, lack of support, and gruesome experiences leave their mark.
Content creator ‘Tribe Nursing,’ an emergency room nurse, recently went viral online. He asked doctors, nurses, EMTs, and other healthcare workers to share all the things that they’re refusing to do or buy because of the traumatic things they’ve seen while on the job. You’ll find their insights and stories below.
Former EMT, I refuse to not have my dog secured in the car, for her safety and mine. She rides in a crash-tested crate.
Hair down near machinery or fast moving parts. Seen a lady get her scalp removed from her long hair getting caught in machinery at work.
According to one study, depression, burnout, and stress are extremely prevalent among emergency department (ED) physicians. Between 15.5% to 19.3% of ED workers were found to have depression, 18% to 71.4% dealt with burnout, and 19.5% to 22.7% experienced stress.
These factors led to lower job satisfaction, less compassion satisfaction, less life satisfaction, and higher intentions to quit emergency medicine. In other words, the stress of the job has profoundly negative impacts on these workers’ private and professional lives.
Meanwhile, another study found that the key sources of stress and distress for general practitioners (GPs) are related to emotion work, practice culture, and work role and demands.
Namely, GPs are required to manage and respond to violent or confrontational patients. They also have to deal with collegial conflict, bullying, isolation, and a lack of support in the workplace. And they have to worry about making potential mistakes, complaints, appraisals, inspections, and their finances.
Do we have any Pandas working in healthcare in the audience with us today? What are some of the biggest challenges and daily sources of stress for you at work?
What have been the most traumatic things that you’ve personally witnessed, and how has that affected your habits and purchases? If you feel like sharing, feel free to do so in the comments at the bottom of this post.
NEVER DRIVING DRUNK the amount of sad situations and bad traumas I’ve seen…
3rd year psych resident…..I will never use chat gpt due to the amount of psychosis episodes I’ve seen it induce in many patients 😭 very random but it’s scary!!
Steak off a grill cleaned with a wire brush… not a trauma but seeing how close that wire got to his carotid through his throat 😳
Single engine aerobatic planes (Doctor Killers). Seen two crashes in my lifetime.
Meat grinder. Had a 3 year old end up with an above elbow amputation because they were left unattended with one
Shop vac. Had a patient that had her leg nearly amputated because her shop vac exploded
E-anything. E-scoot. E-bike. Nope nope nope.
Never forget your safety glasses when doing DIY and pruning ,etc. It’s not just for work.
Anything flammable, burns scare me soo bad I’ll never light a grill or anything like that
ceramic wax burners, I never listened to the warning then I fell asleep on the sofa after lightning one in the kitchen. fire alarm woke me. it had exploded and the fire was already pretty big.
As a nurse the most simple thing I refuse is over medicating my kids. I do not have a cupboard full of assorted meds. We run out to get Tylenol if we can’t naturally cool a fever first and Benadryl on hand just incase. That’s it
I honestly would say a car but as humans we use them daily as a girl who has had a lot of car accident patients my anxiety has become really bad when I drive . Got so bad I have dreams of dying in car accidents.
Snowblower, Trampoline, ATV, Horses, Ortho surgical nurse
Working in E.R. has made me push back my car seat as safe as possible. The alleged damage from frontal airbags is unbelievable.
I never Carry any aerosols in my car . I never leave phone chargers plugged in but not in use. Tragus piercings are also a no.
popcorn, i avoid nail guns, energy drinks, .22 pistols, seatbelt is low and snug, and i still drive an automatic with two feet.