Y ou've just spoken with your doctor or a nurse at a local emergency department or some sort of clinic. There was the usual introductions of who is who and then the detective work that the healthcare providers do to find out why you were there begins. Lots of questions. Does this hurt? How much? When did that start? And a whole lot of other questions are fired at you one after the other. You do your best to tell these healthcare professionals that you hurt, you don't feel well and they say O.K., write down a few notes and then they tell you what the plan will be and they walk away. You (the patient) think that things are in the works I will be feeling better soon.
What you don't hear and what most patients and family members don't hear are all the derogatory comments that get shared with other staff members about why patients come to the emergency department. Common phrases such as "What an idiot this guy is." "She is such a whiner." "The one in bed four is disgusting." and "Just ignore them, I want them to sign out against medical advice (AMA)" are but a few of the less scathing remarks. Many remarks made off stage by healthcare providers - physicians, nurses, and allied health staff are far worse than the ones mentioned.
While not every healthcare provider spends each day complaining about patients in this manner, the practice of healthcare professional whining about their patients is a daily occurrence in almost every single healthcare organization. Pejorative phrases often incorporate profane expletives to add strength to comments or make them more intense. A Jeckle and Hyde performance is played out for the patient in which what the patient sees on stage is often quite different than what goes on behind the scenes. Every so often patients over hear comments, and that is when the letters of complaint find their way to managers and directors.
So why do healthcare professional feel the need to be so, well, unprofessional? What is the driving motivation that makes them say the horrible things they say? Are they just" burned out"? Are they having a bad day? What? If you're a healthcare provider, have you ever made crass comments about your patients? If you were ever a patient in an emergency department did you ever hear any comments that were out of line?
What you don't hear and what most patients and family members don't hear are all the derogatory comments that get shared with other staff members about why patients come to the emergency department. Common phrases such as "What an idiot this guy is." "She is such a whiner." "The one in bed four is disgusting." and "Just ignore them, I want them to sign out against medical advice (AMA)" are but a few of the less scathing remarks. Many remarks made off stage by healthcare providers - physicians, nurses, and allied health staff are far worse than the ones mentioned.
While not every healthcare provider spends each day complaining about patients in this manner, the practice of healthcare professional whining about their patients is a daily occurrence in almost every single healthcare organization. Pejorative phrases often incorporate profane expletives to add strength to comments or make them more intense. A Jeckle and Hyde performance is played out for the patient in which what the patient sees on stage is often quite different than what goes on behind the scenes. Every so often patients over hear comments, and that is when the letters of complaint find their way to managers and directors.
So why do healthcare professional feel the need to be so, well, unprofessional? What is the driving motivation that makes them say the horrible things they say? Are they just" burned out"? Are they having a bad day? What? If you're a healthcare provider, have you ever made crass comments about your patients? If you were ever a patient in an emergency department did you ever hear any comments that were out of line?