Checking up after the fact

[Ridryder911]

Some people ought to work for a week in an pediatric oncology ward. Be required to read "Patch Adams" and spend another week in a active Senior Citizens center. All to get a perspective of medicine should be for and how medicine is not just science but an art.

R/r 911

 

[PapaBear434]

Some people ought to work for a week in an pediatric oncology ward. Be required to read "Patch Adams" and spend another week in a active Senior Citizens center. All to get a perspective of medicine should be for and how medicine is not just science but an art.

R/r 911

After a patient I had last night, where he put his wrist and arm through a plate glass window, I'd say medicine can be an art. It was like an abstract painting sprayed all over the back of my truck.

God I hate modern art.

 

[scottmcleod]

Some people ought to work for a week in an pediatric oncology ward. Be required to read "Patch Adams" and spend another week in a active Senior Citizens center. All to get a perspective of medicine should be for and how medicine is not just science but an art.

R/r 911

Quoted for truth. Seeing the other side (or all sides) of the mirror helps get perspective in any profession, not just medicine.

 

[plumdragon]

...wow

Just got back from classes and find 5 more pages of replies. That was unexpected!

My response remains the same. I don't *ever* want to end up not caring about my patients. I realize that not every broken leg is going to pull at my heart strings, but I AM in this to help people. If I wanted to deal with the medicine and not the people, I'd have gone into surgery where they were already sedated. No emotional pull there!!

I hope to God that by the time I get to the point that my compassion isn't a part of my job anymore, I'll be a corpse. There's very little reason to keep doing this otherwise. I feel sorry for anyone who can't see that, but, there's sympathy for you! ^_^


Certainly appreciate everyone jumping in like that. Had me worried for a minute that I'd chosen the wrong profession, if emotion isn't wanted. I feel better about my choice now, and am going to try to follow up on the poor fellow. He's been on the local news now, too...

 

[mct601]

I'm actually surprised to see that a majority of people here support empathy and care over professional detachment. Reason being that the nurses in my family are like rocks when it comes to empathy and compassion- to them, a death is just another corpse. Its good to know though, because I could never be that way, and its good to hear that EMS professionals share that view.

 

[VentMedic]

I'm actually surprised to see that a majority of people here support empathy and care over professional detachment. Reason being that the nurses in my family are like rocks when it comes to empathy and compassion- to them, a death is just another corpse. Its good to know though, because I could never be that way, and its good to hear that EMS professionals share that view.

There is a little difference here. Nurses may also see the patient while they are alive. That is where the majority of their caring will be taking place and there will be a relationship established between the patient and provider. In the hospital we keep our emotions in check to maintain a professional appearance and to help the family and patient cope with death. There will also be several other patients that need care while also dealing with the patient who is dying. It doesn't mean we don't care, but rather there is just a balance established between an outward display of emotions and professionalism.

 

[triemal04]

I'm actually surprised to see that a majority of people here support empathy and care over professional detachment. Reason being that the nurses in my family are like rocks when it comes to empathy and compassion- to them, a death is just another corpse. Its good to know though, because I could never be that way, and its good to hear that EMS professionals share that view.

Sort of. Professional detachment is a necessary tool to have in EMS, in all medicine, if you feel like having a long career. But there are different levels of it, and some people will...uhm...take it a bit to far.

Caring for your pt, being concerned, showing sympathy/empathy...that's often (not always) part of performing appropriate pt care. Following up on what happened isn't wrong; if nothing else it is a great way to keep learning. I even like the service sending a follow up card to the pt...though hopefully they did a bit of checking on the pt first...nothing like sending a "get well soon" card to someone who's dead! It becomes a problem though when you get to absorbed in it; if it starts to affect your daily life, how you treat subsequent pt's, your family, partner, crew...then it's a problem and it's gone to far. That's where the detachment comes in.

Of course the flip side is also wrong; treating all your pt's like a non-entity and not giving a damn...pass on that.

 

[mct601]

Yea I know, that's what I was attempting to infer with less words.

But the nurses I've met seem to end up treating death like they would when someone gets the cold or it's raining outside. It just doesn't affect them in anyway. Not in a professional standpoint, but a personal.

 

[triemal04]

Yea I know, that's what I was attempting to infer with less words.

But the nurses I've met seem to end up treating death like they would when someone gets the cold or it's raining outside. It just doesn't affect them in anyway. Not in a professional standpoint, but a personal.

That's not necessarily wrong to do. There will always be something out there, that, despite everything you have seen, everything you know, will rock you completely and utterly. At some point it will happen. Luckily most people bounce right back from it, or with some help come back from it.

I don't always like it when I stop working a code, or never start working one, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to breakdown each and every time, or even say "that sucks" each time. (funny...thinking about it the dead people that were the worst for me were never young...guess that's contrary to most Initially I can't anyway; there's a family to take care of, and then the rest of the paperwork, restocking, cleaning and the like to take care of. I deal with it in my own way. This may be what the people you are dealing with are doing; just because someone doesn't show any outward signs does not mean that it isn't bothering them, or that they won't be dealing with it in due time; they just aren't doing it right then, or in front of you.

 

[WuLabsWuTecH]

This thread got too long to read between my last post and now, but just to summarize what I feel from the posts that I have read:

You empathize b/c its what makes you human, you should care about your patients. You can do that without getting too emotionally attached.

second, even if you don't care about your patient, i would hope you care enough about your education to at least follow up on some cases even just for purly academic purposes!

 

[Sail195]

Actually it can be educational to follow up on patients. It can help you see areas that you are doing good and areas that you need to improve in. Now I don't see any use to actually go visit the patient as then I feel providers are trying to have patients look at them like a hero and if you are in this to be a hero it's time to leave my profession.

I totally Agree with this, there have been a few calls I have been on that had me scratching my head and it was nice to find out what the outcome was