I am a "green" R.N and just pulled a 36 hour shift in a very understaffed hospital. I was tired, emotionally spent and considering my career choice. After reading your blog and seeing the way you use humor to deal with the day to day happenings it rekindled my faith and reminded me that I wasn't alone. Thank you.
Re Anonymous: I really appreciate your comments. In medicine, we see a lot of sick things...and even more sad things. It is emotionally and physically grueling. This is especially true for the young docs (residents) and "green" nurses b/c we start out in understaffed and county type places. We really don't help people as much as we would like. There are many reasons for this. One is b/c of things that are out of our hands...like social and financial constraints or the resources available. Other reasons are as simple as the people who flood us who "aren't sick" and have secondary gain usually outnumber those that truly need help. That being said...in psychology humor is regarded as a mature defense mechanism. Sometimes the only way to get through a situation is to laugh at it. Humor as a defense mechanism takes feelings that are uncomfortable to talk about "straight up" and allows us to express them in ways that don't hurt others and at the same time help us. (Albeit I tend to do this sometimes in sick ways and go too far, but that's me and my problem, not most peoples.)
The patient you are referrering to was a good example of this. She was horribly sick in the head, smelled terrible, high maintenance, had been in the ER daily for 4 days, and drained ALL of our staff. She made me mad at her, mad at society, and just mad in general. I honestly didn't want to take care of her again. But I found something funny about it and knew I could share it with you guys. All of a sudden I wasn't as mad anymore.....
Thanks for your understanding anonymous.
-ER Doc
4 comments:
Reading your blog is a good way for people like me who are not in the health care field to remember that you are human and not super human.
This is not an easy field. And the insanity is much more congested at your rung of the ladder. As it was mine back then.
Keep up the good work, and hang in there.
Like technobabe said, reading your posts allows people like me to appreciate what you do and how you guys have to deal with so much on a daily basis. Whether living the doctor or nursing lifestyle, you guys put up with a lot to deal with patients.
"in psychology humor is regarded as a mature defense mechanism."
I really both appreciate and relate to that statement!
I have used humor..sometimes inane.. to vent my feelings about urology exams/procedures and other med things in my blog over the last..almost 3 years.
One of my jokes is that I'm surprised that every time I see someone in a white coat or blue scrubs... I don't automatically assume the Bajingoland position and that it would be embarrassing in the waiting room! ;)
Bajingo.. being a SCRUBS euphemism for vagina. Bajingoland explained in a post ..Bajingoland Brochure on my sidebar.
I have worried about being offensive or seeming odd.. but have always thought and stated that humor is a healthy way to vent about things that bother you..providing you don't hurt someone else in the process.
So..I'm being mature..even with the inane stuff? Good!
Hope you don't mind the long comment. Just lit up when I read what you said. :)
P.S. Whether or not I actually write humorous things is debatable... but I figure if I'm laughing then ..mission accomplished. :)
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