It's a tough job for you. You work under high pressure, with the risk of becoming bitter or burnout. And yet it is the most beautiful profession you know. Read here about the pros and cons of working in healthcare.
Everyone knows the images of the nurses and doctors who showed the imprint of their face shields at the height of the corona crisis. But while exhaustion was close, there was also clapping, sending and banners everywhere for people in care. The blows are over and every unvaccinated corona patient is currently taking the place of fifteen 'normal' patients. Patients awaiting heart surgery or cancer treatment are increasingly hearing that their treatment is being postponed, according to Diederik van Dijk, head of Intensive Care at UMC Utrecht. At the moment, eighty percent of corona patients who end up in the ICU appear to be unvaccinated. If you work in healthcare, it can make you feel powerless that such difficult choices have to be made.
Getting bitter isn't just for people who get adversity after adversity and are not heard. Bitterness is relatively common among healthcare workers. People who wholeheartedly choose certain professions become more often bitter. An important aspect in the development of bitterness is that you feel compromised in your personal values. You often started working in healthcare with a certain conviction. You want to mean something to your fellow human beings, but you feel increasingly bound by protocols. Add to that the great workload of the past corona years up and you have every reason to be disappointed. For example, when you are in a group of forty residents with dementia with two carers, it is frustrating. In addition, people in care are often poorly paid and not always seen or appreciated by managers, for example. In the worst case scenario, you will also regularly receive criticism from relatives of the people you care for. A feeling of being powerless in the face of a situation, becoming exhausted and not seeing a solution immediately is the way to become bitter, as psychologists know.
A letter writer in Psychology Magazine wrote:"I'll be finishing my nursing degree soon, but I still feel so inadequate. I find it very difficult to collaborate with other disciplines in home care. I often refer unpleasant events to myself. I am going to study extra for fear of mistakes. I look up to my colleagues enormously, but I get on well with them. Also with the clients I can get along very well. Have I made the right choice with this study?' That doubt may belong to many professions, but the difference with working in care is that you are confronted very early in your career with great human suffering, death and grief. Like the young co-doctor who, after years of study, saw a young woman die on her first day in hospital. No one in your training prepares you for that. Or the nurse who started in elderly care a year ago and saw people infected with the coronavirus suffer or even die on a daily basis. No wonder you sometimes doubt your career choice.
We don't mean to make you feel bad. That's why here are the advantages in a row!
Source:Adria Payne of Belmont University
Text:Manon Sikkel, Image:Getty Images
