Same. I know it's an immoral thought, but when you realize that them clogging up the hospital system due to selfish reasons is going to cost the lives of people that genuinely need hospital support (like those with cancer), it doesn't feel exactly immoral.
Right now, junkies are being turned out because critically ill people get first priority in triage. No rehab beds. No psyche beds. Very limited trauma beds. No selective surgery. We do not have either staff or equipment or medications for the overflow. The same jackasses who howl about their "freedoms and rights" are the ones howling about how long its taking to get a bed or medication when they're sick.
They are the worst aren't they? I'm in the biggest medical center in the world. It's not a happy place, but it has got to the point that when we get word that someone particularly awful coded and couldn't be revived, we say something like, "Oh no... Anyways."
I freely admit I hate losing patients. I've beat on their chests trying to drag them back. That's one of the reasons this is so damn frustrating. I've had idiots attack me because of diagnosis they would not , did not understand or agree with. It's different with COVID-19. They are actually demanding garbage because a reality show fruitcake told them too.
I don't know if you've spent a lot of time in a trauma center, but after a shit ton of death, everyone starts to look like meat. The human mind has its limits, and you gotta roll out onto some other duty. The problem with covid is, there is no other duty.
I'm a combat medic veteran and medical professional. I've worked with doctors without borders before. I still would but I can't right now. That's why I have a gym in my house. I just got through beating a punching bag senseless after a long day. I can't punch patients. I won't drink myself to death either to deal with the frustration and death either. Idiots who refuse to take it seriously are exactly like drunks who drive or junkies who only thinks of the world revolving around them. They do not give a rat's ass about anyone except themselves. They do not care about the wake of devastation they are leaving behind.
Some people can take it. Most people can't. It is what it is, heh. I've got a bunch of staff that are on a pretty high dose of SSRI's or Benzos and they are still about to break.
Yup. I thought a resident had a piece of tape on his scrub pants. I yanked on it. He had a butterfly IV in his lower leg. So he could keep it open to inject drugs. He would steal narcotics from the nursing home he did staffing in. I had a nurse go batshit while taking care of an aortic balloon pump patient. She simply cracked up with no warning. I bounced my flight surgeon off his feet when he came into the ER with a beer and a 45. He had lost his wife suddenly and he was our only surgeon on call. He could not simply shut off his feelings. None of us can.
I'm not sure how this convo became "staff stealing drugs". I think it might have went off the rails. From my perspective I was talking about the legally prescribed drugs staff are on to deal with mental breaks, and the other guy was talking about dealing with addicts doing crazy stuff to get admitted since the bar for getting admitted is higher now.
Yup. I know. I've busted more than one doctor and nurse who turned into a drunk or junkie. I've known fellow medical professionals who turn their exhaustion on patients. Nurses who kill patients. Intentionally. Doctors who are code junkies. We are human beings. I have family too. Just like cops who see people at their most vulnerable and worst, then have to go home and forget it.
We've got a pretty good protocol for rolling people off services that we know are pretty emotionally damaging to mitigate this. The problem is that we can't really roll people off dealing with covid patients during these surges. It's all hands on deck.
I can see how you thought that was the topic of conversation since the other guy was talking about dealing with drug addicts. The points being made in this thread were about the amount of stress and emotional damage coming in, and SSRIs and Benzos are what staff have been prescribed to treat that emotional damage/mental trauma. I'm not sure why he kept bringing up drug addicts. My best guess is that it's just an additional problem he is dealing with in his hospital. Also a generalization like "Texans are fidiots" is typically the kind of thing a "fidiot" would say.
I understand. I posted about an impossible situation my mother is in. The staff are great. I’m not angry with staff. I’m angry with the government who demand our taxes but offer no protection from a real threat. Silly wars intervening in other nations demanding they treat their people better when we cannot take care our own.
I wish those who think this is a joke would suit up in full PPE for an hour. It’s hot. Sweaty. Cumbersome. Pretty awful. Turning patients. Running from one catastrophe to another for 10+ hours a day with no end in sight.
Yup, those that remain are at the end of their rope, barely hanging on, and this happens. You either laugh about it and become cynical, or you implode.
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u/[deleted] 17d ago
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