Hostility and abuse must not be part of a medical job

hi, all

I see most work abuse stories here are about colleagues and superiors. Why don’t we talk about abuse by clients?

My mother quit her job in healthcare after 9 years of work in a public hospital because levels of aggression and escalations from patients went just over the top. There are practically no formal ways to report abuse, disrespect, false claims, they’re being dismissed as “part of the job”. What part of the job? The job of medical workers is to take care of all of us. The recent couple of years should be an indicator of how badly we rely on nurses and doctors, even with all the risks they’re taking. But no one will act against a patient when they violate the hospital’s rules. Patients are ill, they don’t know what they’re doing, their relatives are stressed and didn’t mean it, etc,etc… The things my mother told me make me so angry! She believes nothing can be done about it. I think we can at least acknowledge that medical workers in public institutions must have the right to react to abuse accordingly. I don't know, make it a law, talk about it, punish it

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99uwu66

Social work and healthcare are so undervalued! Sorry to hear that your mother lost her job because of it. If only we all could be kinder to one another...

tengotti

Did your mother think about working in a private clinic? I've never come across hostility there. they probably pay more and the conditions are better. The environment in public hospitals is sick, with rare exceptions.

bumblebee

It's awful that your mother faced aggression and abuse while she was helping people get better. We should make it socially unacceptable and blacklist patients who systematically act violently. Thank you for spreading awareness, and I hope your mother will find another job.

marinavs

When I was hospitalized with COVID about a year ago, I truely began to appreciate our healthcare system. We may say what we want about it's quality... there were very young nurses and doctors, practically all students, attending to dozens of people at a time. I thank your mother for her hard work, and I'm sorry there're people who behave like fools.

Edited

aksoll

It's high time we gave medical and healthcare professionals same rights as the police and firefighters have. Their risks are quite as high, but we just take their work for granted.

steroidsjee

Sorry to hijack your post, just want to say that it should be fair on all sides. I’ve met medical “professionals” who deserve to be fired, god knows how many lives they’ve crippled. Patients aren’t always treated with respect either. Not saying your mom was unprofessional, of course, only that the imbalance of power will make things worse for others.

meant2b

It's mostly women that work in healthcare who experience abuse at work. Honestly, women in all professions should get some abuse prevention training.

mrsKnobbs

I’d say that we need to restore order in the healthcare system in general. People are underpaid and overworked. My husband’s sister is a nurse, and she tells us heartbreaking stories about her work too. I think the only way to change this is through laws and regulations.