#working in healthcare

[miss-what-a-d0ll]

✎ᝰ.📓🗒 ˎˊ˗ 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯

[princess-kurosaki]

work is honestly a shit show tonight. please be ready for my rant when i go on break because what the actual fuckkkkk.

[raepritewrites]

an average conversation I have multiple times a week answering the phone at the hospital

Me: thank you for calling the outpatient lab at (hospital name), how may I help you?

Person who has never woken up on the right side of the bed ever: I want my lab results

Me: okay sir/ma'am, I apologize but I actually can't give out results over the phone for security reasons. I can tell you if they've been completed and sent to the doctor yet, if you'd like?

Person growing more irritated by the millisecond: no, just tell me the results of my tests

Me: unfortunately, I'm not able to provide you with that information. To get your results your options are to speak with your doctor, come to the hospital to sign a release form with medical records for a print out, or you can use our app on your phone or computer to access your results

Person who is now borderline yelling at me: why won't you just tell me what my results are?!

Me, taking a very deep breath: I actually don't have access to your results, and even if I did, it is actually against the law and I would lose my job if I gave out that information over the phone

Person who is in fact now screaming: I want to know my test results!

Me: I understand what you want and I have told you three different ways that you can get those results. Unless you have another question I can help you with, I hope you have a great day

Person: TELL ME MY-

[maniccrystalhippie]

I need to share this very odd interaction I had while working night shift last night:

*we are literally standing outside of a trauma room waiting for the patient to be wheeled in by EMS*

Security: OH wow, it's weird to see someone here that's not in scrubs. What do you do here?

Me: I'm a scribe

Security: So that's what position you like to play?

*I am confused and trying to figure out if this man is attempting to sexually harass me and failing or what*

Me: What?

X-ray tech: Stop talking nerd *guard's name*, you're scaring her

Security: I suppose you don't know me very well, I like to play as a warlock

Me: *pauses to process like an old Windows XP* Are you talking about fucking D&D?

Security: Yeah, aren't you?

Me: You asked me what I do here, and I told you I'm a medical scribe. You're the one talking about dungeons and dragons

[mashupofmylife]

I couldn't get the emr to work on my computer yesterday while I was actually at work, so I still have all my notes to do and I've spent all afternoon sitting on the couch actively avoiding doing notes

[shallowseeker]

I think a lot of ppl underestimate the power of grief between men and their close family. i’m never forgetting the dead look in my patient’s eyes when i was taking him to imaging for a gut stab wound and

he reached down and PRESSED the wound as hard as he could (to restart the bleeding)

the blood from a wound like that is so heavy and thick and dark

he had lost his father the week before

because we don’t talk about grief, we rarely talk about how intense it can be… while it was my first patient self harming over the loss of a father or brother, he was not my last

[gallium-spoon]

Conversation I had one time:

Me: I'm working with a patient who just had a below knee amputation

Friend: bologna amputation??

Me:...

Friend:...

Me: below THE knee amputation

Friend: oh!

Friend: I was wondering what part of the body the bologna was in...

[purinna]

“Be careful before you envy what you would judge as “happiness”.

For I have gone through months that most wouldn’t get up from.

But I am left with no choice, but to get up, and smile as I talk to you.

So, before taking envy know it’s not out of happiness,

it’s in hopes that my act of joy makes someone happy,

for then and only then, I start feeling that this life might be worth living.”

-Before You Envy.

[lochtayboatsong]

I am overbooked by two patients on Monday, only one of which I approved.

The thing is, I probably would have approved the other one, if I had been asked. But I wasn’t asked. And you know, it’s nice to be asked, just for form’s sake, and so that I can continue to sustain the delusion that I am actually here to provide quality patient care and not just to generate revenue, which the folks in the corporate office can then use to purchase a pharmacy we don’t need. Or to pay the wages of the absolutely pointless committee which was the pet project of our former CEO while they play boardgames.

[cura-te-ipsum]

If you're wondering why you have to wait 3+ months for a doctor's appointment, this is why.

Between active COVID patients, increase in other infectious diseases, surgical complications due to increased frequency of immunocompromization, aging population bubble, people not properly taking care of themselves mid COVID (read: we were all stressed af which has physical consequence), and the rush of folks now prioritizing their health, our healthcare system is overbooked, overworked, and unable to keep up with demand. We literally do not have the facilities, staff, and resources to keep up. This is a problem across the globe, not just in the 3rd world or underserved areas.

So please, for the love of all gods, have some patience and give healthcare workers a break. When we say we don't have any openings for months, we aren't pulling your leg. It takes several years for facilities to add rooms, parking, beds, equipment, etc.

Remember, we're just human too. We can't be in two places at once. We can't have two patients in the same room at once. We can't use the same piece of equipment on two patients at once.

And please, please, PLEASE!!! If you can, GET VACCINATED, wear a mask, and stay home if you're symptomatic!!!

Back in the 1960s, the U.S. started vaccinating kids for measles. As expected, children stopped getting measles.

But something else happened.

Childhood deaths from all infectious diseases plummeted. Even deaths from diseases like pneumonia and diarrhea were cut by half.

“So it’s really been a mystery — why do children stop dying at such high rates from all these different infections following introduction of the measles vaccine,” says Michael Mina, a postdoc in biology at Princeton University and a medical student at Emory University.

Scientists Crack A 50-Year-Old Mystery About The Measles Vaccine Photo credit: Photofusion/UIG via Getty Images

[murderouswidowsmatter]

The problem with “senseless violence” narrative around the UnitedHealthcare CEO is that it ignores the inherent violence of the insurance industry. Denying someone lifesaving care is violence. Subjecting someone to drawn out periods of pain before treatment is violent. The industry is made up of millions of acts of violence everyday, with the CEO at the helm guiding it all. This is not unprovoked and it’s not an overreaction; it is just harder to ignore

[princess-kurosaki]

WORK RANT ⬇️

okay, so i am a Paramedic and I work in the ER, last night we had a patient that had severe autism, he was non verbal as well and got abandoned by his group home. it made me soooooooo mad. because if you sign up to care for someone then that’s exactly what you do. if it becomes too much for you there’s steps you take both legally and medical care wise to rid yourself of the responsibility. you do not drop your resident off because he’s being aggressive and decide to never come back.

you just have to put things into perspective, if you couldn’t speak or communicate the way everyone else around you does would you or would you not be “aggressive”? OF COURSE YOU WOULD. imagine being ripped from the comfort of your home and thrown into a hospital a LEVEL 1 TRAUMA ER (meaning we get the worst of the worst because we have the staff and equipment to handle it) overnight, and you are non verbal and autistic. can you fucking imagine how overstimulated he was? and if you’ve ever seen or been to an ER you know how bright, loud, and busy it is. 3 things most autistic kids don’t like.

it was just crazy to me, i’m not saying it doesn’t get hard because i’m sure it does. my job seems impossible sometimes and i’ve only done it for 4 months. but never in a million years could i see myself as a company who is trained and trains others to care for people with these disorders and disabilities abandoning a resident.

we ended up having to call the adult protective services and charges got filed against the group home but idk.. it was just awful. i can’t imagine doing that to someone i signed up to care for.

so if you plan on working with or for a group home for children or adults with diagnosed disorders or disabilities please make sure your heart is in it 120%. they are people just like us and literally no fucking one deserves to be ripped from their home in the middle of the night and abandoned at a hospital due to behaviors they can’t control.

[redsans-world]

[rinshairandthoughts]

It also sounds like he does not understand what addiction is.

Like he thinks enjoying and appreciating something means you are addicted to it. By that logic even some everyday activities are addictive. Joy does not mean addiction. We are very much allowed to enjoy being alive. Enjoying being able to function as an adult for the first time in years, does not mean you are addicted to the medication. Just because you do not want to stop, does not mean you are not able to stop.

The other day I told a friend of mine that I never forget to take my ADHD meds because I fucking love my ADHD meds. I'm in my late 30s, I didn't finally get a diagnosis and meds until less than two years ago, and they have changed my entire life.

And he raised his eyebrow at me. We'd been discussing addictive medications a few minutes before, like the Tramadol I finally got from the pain specialist to take once a week or so to give me a break from my chronic pain, so I reassured him that methylpenidate (Ritalin/Concerta) is not addictive (at least not in people with ADHD).

His response? To raise his eyebrow even harder and say "Well it sure SOUNDS like it's addictive!"

And I had to explain to this man - who works in a healthcare related job by the way - that just because medication makes you feel good and helps you, just because you look forward to taking it, that doesn't make it addictive or dangerous. And he wasn't convinced.

The simple fact that I was excited to take a daily pill that has literally changed my life, after decades of fighting to get that medication, made him think I shouldn't be taking it so often. That it must inherently be dangerous.

I'm not even in America, but I'm pretty sure this attitude began there and then spread over here to Europe. This Puritan idea of "if something feels good, you must beware of it. Pleasure is dangerous, it is sinful, it is addiction, it is evil."

I know too many people who subconsciously believe that pleasure = addictive = dangerous = bad. Joy is a slippery slope to hell.

So here is your reminder for today that you don't need to be afraid of feeling good. If something improves your life, use it. Even if it is addictive - learn what that addiction means, whether the addiction is inherently dangerous or not, and whether the benefits outweigh the drawbacks and risks.

My ADHD meds are, in fact, not addictive. But I will take them every day because they make my life orders of magnitude easier. I will enjoy them every time I take them.

My tramadol is addictive. I will still take it. I will keep it on a schedule to avoid becoming addicted, primarily because addiction in this case would mean reduced effectiveness. But I am not afraid of my painkillers. They are life changing.

Take your meds, everyone. Don't let anyone scare you away from doing something that improves your life.

[i-nail-jello-to-walls]

Life update: got punched in the face by a patient on Sunday, the first person in my department to ever get physically assaulted. So that was fun. Good thing I have good reflexes, or I would have had another broken nose/my glasses broken

[sticksandsharks]

Egret Nurse

design from The Wildercourt (a graphic novel I am working on and hope to have finished in 2025)