Naval Hospital staff suffering from "compassion fatigue"..

[Virginia Dare]

How soon before we have to start drafting medical personnel?


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/14/AR2007031402353.html

A doctor at the National Naval Medical Center yesterday warned a Pentagon review panel that medical staff at the Bethesda hospital are overworked and suffering from "compassion fatigue."

Even as relatives of injured Marines universally praised the medical care and treatment of families in Bethesda, the doctor and several other current and former employees spoke of problems with the workload, maintenance and facilities at the sprawling complex.

[fasttense]

1. We use to call it burn out,

when you are overwhelmed by the workload and the misery of your patients.

[rpannier]

3. This is the problem with the 'cutesy' little names

Over the years terms like shell shock and burn-out are being replaced by other terms, like battle fatigue and others.
Not surprisingly, the amount of money spent on the 'combat and support related traumas' have continued to get smaller and smaller.

[Virginia Dare]

6. or probably "nervous breakdown" for some...

I would imagine the horrific injuries that they see and deal with day in and day out, not to mention the anguish and despair on the part of the families would really get to you mentally after a while.

[BOSSHOG]

2. More of bush's compassionate conservative legacy

Do something which creates a whole bunch of new patients. Do nothing to plan for a whole bunch of new patients. The bush administration, nothing but a clusterfuckorama for seven years and still running.

[Captain Hilts]

4. I was told this by Bethesda personnel over a year ago. nt

[nitpicker]

5. Everything LOOKED decent in 2004 at Bethesda

When I had occasion to be part of a review of military medical staffing. However, there was a strong push on to civilianize everything at Bethesda that wasn't "clinicians and technicians that could be deployed on the Comfort". I presume that Navy was not interested in hiring WGs/civil service types and went with contractors instead to do the maintenance functions. And you get what you pay for... They may also have declined to fill some of the former-military billets that were converted.

Did anyone spot that Navy is sending the Comfort on a humanitarian cruise to Latin America this June? No doubt some of the medical complement will include military health workers pulled from Navy hospitals.

[MuseRider]

7. I can not imagine what it is like

for them.

I used to be a critical care nurse both in the ER and the ICU. Sometimes it just gets to be too much. A sense of gallows humor will only take you so far then you just simply have to stop and cry or whatever you need to get you through one more day. We had few long term patients in the ICU but when we did we got a very small taste of what this must be like for the staff. Add to that the under staffing and you have real problems. I wish them well.

[The2ndWheel]

8. You know what they need?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x415518

A spoon full should do the trick.