Health care professionals...how long did it take you to become cynical?

Question

I know it's aweful but how long did it take you to become really cynical of people? I've been in health care for over 7 years now and it seems like over half the people I see are either drug or attention seeking. I'd love to get back to my more compassionate roots...but it's hard! Advice? Empathy?

Answer 1

I don't know if you would call it being cynical but I know just what you mean.
Perhaps one becomes less compassionate,less patient and less interested in the medical field.
I believe this to be the reason that health care costs are rising.
It is amazing to me that not only are there the problems you speak of but there are sooooo many people out there that don't even know their own bodies and because of this when they do discover something about their body,they are running to the hospital thinking that something is wrong.
Look at all of the questions on the Health portion of this site and some of the questions that are normally common sense are projected as a real matter of imminent concern.
Do the intake information from patients. . . ask them what medicines they are on and VERY FEW can tell you. They only know what color it is,how often they take it or what it looks like(oval,round,numbers on it etc).. . .they just take it because their Dr told them to.
I don't have the tolerance for "whining" patients. . . had a mother and child in the hospital once where the mother was too high to remember to not light a cigarette and caused an explosion that caused burn injuries not only to herself but death to her pregnant friend and sever burns to her own 2yr old daughter and who do you think was crying the loudest when it came to debriding the burns. . . the mother who had less burns than her 2yr old. SICKENING and makes it hard for me to be tolerant and compassionate.
In the end,GOD let me get into the OR.
In the OR,these whining,attention getters,ungreatful people come in and make such dramatic scenes that it is a GOD SEND to have them put to sleep so we can do our job and then as they wake up,they are moved to the Recovery Room where they wake up and then on to the floor where those with the patience can deal with them.
I have worked in clinics and Dr's offices and though drug seekers think they are slick,we are wise to their "emergency life and death antics", their at 5pm Friday afternoon sudden need for pain meds and their "my house got broke into excuses".
For the most part we are wise enough that we laugh that these people think they have such orginial plans/ideas/ and excuses.
Yes,I know what you mean and I also believe this to be the reason the sooo many nurses get burned out quickly because most of us took this job on as a manner of helping people not enabling them.
Try getting into the OR,its very rewarding.
Try getting into the office of an Ophthalmologist. . . this field is really great as well.
Stay where you are and you might end up with your own problems as a result.
Nurses rank among the highest in drug/alcohol abuse for this very reason.

Answer 2

I have been in Health Care all my life.It took me about 10 years to become cynical...but I think I was just in denial for at least 9 of those years. lol. It helped when I began working in our Chemical Dependency unit and REALLY learned about addiction. The attention-seekers are in the Mental Health category where I also worked for several years. I don't have all the empathy and compassion that I had right out of school but I have retrieved some it . When I start feeling really cynical and burnt out it helps to remind myself that these people ARE really suffering, even the drug-seekers. They just want to feel better and who can blame them? It's a cold, sad, pain-filled, lonely world for so many. Whatever "gets them through the night", ya know? They can be real pains in the a****** in our stressful work environment though. Hope this helps. Hang in there...we NEED you!!

Answer 3

I study case files for a Workers' Comp consulting firm, and I hear the cynicism from my coworkers all the time. While I don't claim to be an expert on this subject, I did think of one idea. Work with children more. Depending on the health care background, work with animals, too. Not sure it would work, but it's an idea. Good luck!

Answer 4

I've worked in the health care profession for about 10 years and I haven't been cynical. I'm very lucky that I work with a staff of women who are very understanding and very compassionate about my patients and my patients confide in the clinic I work in and the staff for their needs. My advice is to listen the patients and work with the patients and try to understand them and tell them that they are not alone with what they are going through and feel free to contact the office as well as the doctor and give them ideas of how to better their health. For me, when I have call-ins from patients that aren't scheduled, that need to see me, I always have openings just in case for scheduled and unscheduled, and they appreciate that very much and I give them a little "lecture" on health and they appreciate that and they even appreciate it more when you tell them that you've experienced what they've experienced. Be down-to-earth and caring and they like that a lot.

Answer 5

It's called Residency. It's designed to drive the sympathy out, though a good doctor may retain empathy.

It sort of makes sense in an ER or on a battlefield...which is from where "modern medicine" derives.