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Most Doctors Work While Sick, Despite Knowing It's Bad For Patients
An anonymous reader writes: A new survey published in JAMA Pediatrics found that 95% of doctors believe patients are put at risk when doctors work while sick. Despite that, 83% of respondents said they had "come to work with symptoms like diarrhea, fever and respiratory complaints during the previous year." The researchers doing the survey dug into the reasons for this: first of all, given the heavy workload of most doctors, it's very difficult to find others who can take up the slack when one is recovering from an illness. Beyond that, the profession is pervaded by a culture of working through the discomfort and pain of minor maladies. According to a commentary on the research, hospital policies don't help matters — they often incentivize long hours and don't encourage ill workers to leave the premises.
...I can agree this is totally true. Calling in sick does nothing but make my life harder. I feel bad about it, but from a job perspective, the alternative is piss off your co-workers who have to cover for you and get tagged with the reputation that you're lazy and trying to avoid work. Combine that with the need to get a doctor's excuse (another doctor; can't write your own), and it's just not worth it.
While it is true that there are doctors working while they themselves are not feeling well, you guys gotta understand that doctors have to face sick people ALL THE TIME, which means they have higher chance of getting infected with diseases, which means they have to spend more times feeling unwell
It is always so easy to criticize someone of doing something but why is it there is no mention of what makes that someone do that something in the first place?
"More than 95 percent believed that working while sick puts patients at risk, but 83 percent still said they had come to work with symptoms like diarrhea, fever and respiratory complaints during the previous year."
I think that 100% would believe that not seeing a doctor would put the patient at GREATER risk. Maybe in London (where Reuters is based) there are enough doctors working for the central government mandated health industry that sick doctors don't feel the pressure to come in. However, it looks like in Philadelphia (where the data was collected) there aren't enough doctors. I know that my medical doctor friends go to work sick, since the risks associated with someone catching a cold is much greater than the risks associated with not seeing a medical provider. In some places in rural New Mexico, you get to drive for 2+ hours to see a similar specialist. My urban Albuquerque isn't as bad, but things are still pretty backed up and doctors usually schedule months in advanced for routine things.
They might. The current system does not necessarily give them incentive to _do_ what's best though. Still, modern medicine beats whatever is in second place by a long long way.
Ideology: A tool used primarily to avoid the bother of thinking.
Doctors are paid per service, they take the time off they don't get paid.
If they have a small practice then it is their whole staff that won't work that day so it is also 2 - 4 more people missing work. And those don't get paid nearly as well as the Doctor so they will really hurt.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Plus they could get to treat their patient again for whatever illness they gave them. Bonus!
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Seriously, if there aren't enough doctors it doesn't matter how good they are, enjoy waiting a month to get emergency* treatment from an overworked doctor who's only going to spend 5 minutes with you. If you drastically reduce the requirements for becoming a doctor, then you'll get prompt treatment from a well-rested doctor who can afford to spend a good long while with you and still charge you less. Sure, they'll make some mistakes... but so do current doctors. Requiring less training might actually reduce the number of mistakes. Especially if the mistakes were of the class of waiting too long due to busy schedules, patients avoiding the hassle, doctors going to work sick/tired, or any of the various effects of not enough doctors.
* there's some conditions that are serious enough that you ought to receive immediate treatment, but don't officially qualify as emergencies.
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
Pilots don't want to use checklists either, but they put up with it because the checklists are written by other pilots and not HR folk, administrators or medical students given a task because everyone else is too busy.
It is slowly happening in some areas (trauma medicine) because it's being done well and being rejected in others because it is not.
This is the work ethic that is pounded into residents and interns.
You MUST work, regardless of sleep deprivation, personal trauma, or contagious illness.
(That is why I became an engineer, rather than a doctor like my father and my grandfather.)
They study for long hours without adequate sleep so they can learn to teach their patients how to live healthy lives. Then they get abused in the residency programs and work for less than minimum wage for 80 -100 hours per week. Then they finally finish and start to practice and have to work long hours without bathroom breaks, food breaks, or just letting off steam. They're getting screwed by insurance companies and hospital administrators at every turn. I'm amazed anyone still wants to go to med school in this country.
Pilots don't want to use checklists either
Nonsense... a good pilot WANTS to use a checklist, the cockpit tends to reach the site of a crash first...
Humans are not perfect, more than once I've missed something trying to do it from memory or seen someone else do it, including high time experienced pilots.
A good training program will weed out the "I've got it, I've got it" attitude... No, no you don't... use the checklist...
Modern aircraft are too complicated to have it all perfect in your head every time, 100% of the time, in any situation. You should know your checklists and you should practice with them, but you should still pull them out and use them.
From a pure, selfless ethics point of view, the question is: Will humanity be better off if I go into work today or not?
Some things that may be going through doctors' heads when they decide whether to call in sick or not:
If I am sick and go in, then there's an increased chance of:
* me infecting others, and all that that implies
* me making a mistake that is worse than not being there at all
* Others perceiving me as not knowing/not following "the rules," which may impact my future career, which may negatively impact the future of the patients you would have had but won't have.
If I am sick and stay home, there's an increased chance of:
* A patient of a co-worker getting inferior care because my co-worker was covering for you
* A patient of a co-worker getting inferior care because my co-worker was tired because he covered for me in an earlier shift
* Others perceiving me as "not pulling my weight" and "wimping out," which may impact my future career, which may negatively impact the future of the patients I would have had but won't have
Similar thought patterns probably apply to most people in most careers.
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