I realized during a delivery that it was the only opportunity to have almost every known bodily fluid on my scrubs at one time: blood, urine, feces, sweat, amniotic fluid, meconium (but no CSF or bile, thank God}
I am a neurohospitalist share an office space in the hospital I work in with some admin in finance. I say "some admin" because although she is a very polite and professional young lady I have no clue what she's actually doing on her zoom meetings all day. That being said whenever I have even a moment to sit down I always can hear her talking on some call or meeting. Many times I have to take remote stroke codes (evaluating on tablet by video, patients by at a sister hospital who are in an emergency room being evaluated for a possible stroke which is an emergency). This apparently was too disruptive to my co office friend. She asked (very kindly!) if i could lower my voice or if we could find another office because it was interfering with her meetings...when patient care is placed at a lower priority than money making we can see we have a major problem.
I certainly understand the feelings involved, but please spare us the profanity. We have plenty of medical terms for this entities that can help us remain professional.
I truly do understand your frustration. The daily practice of medicine in the hospital has become fraught with factors that often detract from patient care. However, physicians working for large organizations need to understand the concept of organizational risk and the processes that need to be in place to mitigate these risks.
A Family Practice Dr in a small town 30 years ago, I was told in a meeting between the Drs who practiced OB & the hospital President, who earned $400,000 a year, that I needed the hospital more than the hospital needed me. He got a few letters.
And one of the people who inspired me was during my EMT course before college: the nurse who cleaned up the man who had fallen out of the back of a pickup onto the road the night before - never missed by his fellow drinkers. The stink of hours-old blood & shit that a lot of beer and a closed head injury produce didn't phase that man in the least. A truly caring hero.
While unrealistic, I’ve always felt that healthcare would be a whole lot better if everyone had to start from the “bottom” or from the inside out. If all RN’s were CNA’s first. If doctors and mid levels worked as nurses first, and CNA’s before that. And so on all the way up the chain. It all begins and ends in the trenches where we see, feel, hear and touch these patients (and their fluids) and can’t escape the human and most heartbreaking elements of it all.
I think it is possible that everyone in medicine do just that! I worked as nurse aid first, then was able to work as scrub tech during college; worked in the lab and nurse aid as a medical student. There might be a valuable selection process possible without seeing how many worthless papers an under graduate can be named author.
Having completed that journey from CNA to LPN to PA I agree that more people should work the full range. that being said, I've worked with some amazing MDs who went straight through all their schooling without ever working as an orderly or a nurse. Residency seems to be the great equalizer in many cases!
And that bureaucracy trend has permeated everything. It is all three people who want the virtue signaling claim to being in health care, to name one, without doing the real work that is the foundation of the job. Some management is required and necessary, but when the goals of so many are to "be in management" the motives must be questioned. Is it just for prestige, power, and money? I would not hesitate to say yes and would add that not having to do the real labor is part of the list of motives. I came from a management position. There were onion layers of levels between myself and the company owner as well as the work force I guided. In my field, it was the bloated outside bureaucracies that wedged their way into the chain of productivity, to slow things down and increase costs. As usual, most of this under the guise of keeping everyone safe.
Has an OLD TIME hospital worker I remember emptying Foleys without gloves. My Supervisor smoking at the nurses desk.
We all laughed at INFECTION CONTROL when they put PPE in ambulance foyer, of course we added a box of condoms.... but I digress. Medicine has changed, sometimes for the better.
Too many bureaucrats telling practitioners what they can’t do. I was horrified by the response during Covid that family members couldn’t be with dying loved ones! We always taught our employees how to safely deal with blood, piss, shit and pus and fo about giving care! Great read!
I have come to realize that nurses who don’t mind snot and spit are more likely to become CRNAs. OR nurses routinely tell me they would rather deal with feces than with respiratory secretions.
This is the world of healthcare - getting sprayed with bodily fluids. It’s not glamorous at times and sometimes healthcare can be downright sickening. Future doctors and nurses need to be told that. I have my nursing students cultures their own backsides in microbiology lab to help them get over their sensitivities. I have a former student who became a pediatrician. She texted me one day, “I got puked on today. Now I’m a real pediatrician!” I said to myself, “She gets it.” I have two nursing students who really want to do pediatrics. I told them to get used to screaming babies, diarrhea, and whining kids who hate needles. You’ll never have a job that’s more fulfilling but you’ll also deal with a lot of sh— along the way.
I wanna give a shout out to environmental services and nursing who clean the hospital rooms-the blood, excrement, urine, purulence, and I can’t imagine you get paid enough to live in these big cities. We are screwed without you. we can’t function without you. Thank you, thank you.
I realized during a delivery that it was the only opportunity to have almost every known bodily fluid on my scrubs at one time: blood, urine, feces, sweat, amniotic fluid, meconium (but no CSF or bile, thank God}
I am a neurohospitalist share an office space in the hospital I work in with some admin in finance. I say "some admin" because although she is a very polite and professional young lady I have no clue what she's actually doing on her zoom meetings all day. That being said whenever I have even a moment to sit down I always can hear her talking on some call or meeting. Many times I have to take remote stroke codes (evaluating on tablet by video, patients by at a sister hospital who are in an emergency room being evaluated for a possible stroke which is an emergency). This apparently was too disruptive to my co office friend. She asked (very kindly!) if i could lower my voice or if we could find another office because it was interfering with her meetings...when patient care is placed at a lower priority than money making we can see we have a major problem.
Crap...my fit test was due months ago...
I hope cutting the unnecessary medical regulatory state is on DOGE's list...
I certainly understand the feelings involved, but please spare us the profanity. We have plenty of medical terms for this entities that can help us remain professional.
I love profanity.
Loved this article, but maybe Puke is missing from the headline?
I truly do understand your frustration. The daily practice of medicine in the hospital has become fraught with factors that often detract from patient care. However, physicians working for large organizations need to understand the concept of organizational risk and the processes that need to be in place to mitigate these risks.
A Family Practice Dr in a small town 30 years ago, I was told in a meeting between the Drs who practiced OB & the hospital President, who earned $400,000 a year, that I needed the hospital more than the hospital needed me. He got a few letters.
And one of the people who inspired me was during my EMT course before college: the nurse who cleaned up the man who had fallen out of the back of a pickup onto the road the night before - never missed by his fellow drinkers. The stink of hours-old blood & shit that a lot of beer and a closed head injury produce didn't phase that man in the least. A truly caring hero.
While unrealistic, I’ve always felt that healthcare would be a whole lot better if everyone had to start from the “bottom” or from the inside out. If all RN’s were CNA’s first. If doctors and mid levels worked as nurses first, and CNA’s before that. And so on all the way up the chain. It all begins and ends in the trenches where we see, feel, hear and touch these patients (and their fluids) and can’t escape the human and most heartbreaking elements of it all.
I think it is possible that everyone in medicine do just that! I worked as nurse aid first, then was able to work as scrub tech during college; worked in the lab and nurse aid as a medical student. There might be a valuable selection process possible without seeing how many worthless papers an under graduate can be named author.
Having completed that journey from CNA to LPN to PA I agree that more people should work the full range. that being said, I've worked with some amazing MDs who went straight through all their schooling without ever working as an orderly or a nurse. Residency seems to be the great equalizer in many cases!
And that bureaucracy trend has permeated everything. It is all three people who want the virtue signaling claim to being in health care, to name one, without doing the real work that is the foundation of the job. Some management is required and necessary, but when the goals of so many are to "be in management" the motives must be questioned. Is it just for prestige, power, and money? I would not hesitate to say yes and would add that not having to do the real labor is part of the list of motives. I came from a management position. There were onion layers of levels between myself and the company owner as well as the work force I guided. In my field, it was the bloated outside bureaucracies that wedged their way into the chain of productivity, to slow things down and increase costs. As usual, most of this under the guise of keeping everyone safe.
Spelling Correction, auto correct choose "three" for what should have been "the". Second sentence in.
Thank you … well said!
Has an OLD TIME hospital worker I remember emptying Foleys without gloves. My Supervisor smoking at the nurses desk.
We all laughed at INFECTION CONTROL when they put PPE in ambulance foyer, of course we added a box of condoms.... but I digress. Medicine has changed, sometimes for the better.
Too many bureaucrats telling practitioners what they can’t do. I was horrified by the response during Covid that family members couldn’t be with dying loved ones! We always taught our employees how to safely deal with blood, piss, shit and pus and fo about giving care! Great read!
The separation of very sick patients from their loved ones is obscenely cruel, and knowing the biophysical and psychological effects, homicidal.
You left out snot and spit😂
I have come to realize that nurses who don’t mind snot and spit are more likely to become CRNAs. OR nurses routinely tell me they would rather deal with feces than with respiratory secretions.
Why refit if there have been no changes in the face shape or hair?
This is the world of healthcare - getting sprayed with bodily fluids. It’s not glamorous at times and sometimes healthcare can be downright sickening. Future doctors and nurses need to be told that. I have my nursing students cultures their own backsides in microbiology lab to help them get over their sensitivities. I have a former student who became a pediatrician. She texted me one day, “I got puked on today. Now I’m a real pediatrician!” I said to myself, “She gets it.” I have two nursing students who really want to do pediatrics. I told them to get used to screaming babies, diarrhea, and whining kids who hate needles. You’ll never have a job that’s more fulfilling but you’ll also deal with a lot of sh— along the way.
I wanna give a shout out to environmental services and nursing who clean the hospital rooms-the blood, excrement, urine, purulence, and I can’t imagine you get paid enough to live in these big cities. We are screwed without you. we can’t function without you. Thank you, thank you.
I often wondered in 2020 why doctors got clapped for and janitors got, well, nothing.
Janitors were exposed to, uh, JUST AS MANY covid patients.
And they make what, a fraction of the salary?