Working in healthcare can be extremely stressful. The demands of the job, limited resources, long hours, big expectations, lack of support, and gruesome experiences leave their mark.
Content creator ‘Tribe Nursing,’ an emergency room nurse, recently went viral online. He asked doctors, nurses, EMTs, and other healthcare workers to share all the things that they’re refusing to do or buy because of the traumatic things they’ve seen while on the job. You’ll find their insights and stories below.
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Former EMT, I refuse to not have my dog secured in the car, for her safety and mine. She rides in a crash-tested crate.
CHIROPRACTORS! People need to know that the person who started it was a con man😭
Hair down near machinery or fast moving parts. Seen a lady get her scalp removed from her long hair getting caught in machinery at work.
According to one study, depression, burnout, and stress are extremely prevalent among emergency department (ED) physicians. Between 15.5% to 19.3% of ED workers were found to have depression, 18% to 71.4% dealt with burnout, and 19.5% to 22.7% experienced stress.
These factors led to lower job satisfaction, less compassion satisfaction, less life satisfaction, and higher intentions to quit emergency medicine. In other words, the stress of the job has profoundly negative impacts on these workers’ private and professional lives.
Orbeez, small magnets and pill batteries
Button batteries are super dangerous for little kids who put things in their mouth. Many have died from it - they start burning the esophagus as soon as they get swallowed.
Meanwhile, another study found that the key sources of stress and distress for general practitioners (GPs) are related to emotion work, practice culture, and work role and demands.
Namely, GPs are required to manage and respond to violent or confrontational patients. They also have to deal with collegial conflict, bullying, isolation, and a lack of support in the workplace. And they have to worry about making potential mistakes, complaints, appraisals, inspections, and their finances.
Fireworks
Age 6, 4th of July, brand new neighborhood, hiding in the bushes, we watched our drunk new neighbor, beer in one hand, cigarette in mouth, light an original M80 in his other hand with the cigarette in his mouth, fumble and recover the beer, and then realize he still needed to throw the M80. I'm pretty sure we watched him blow off a few fingers, but we ran like we'd just sent a baseball through a plate glass window and 'didn't go over there no more.'
i’m a vet assistant in tech school and a retractable leash for a dog
I've used them for years. No issues. It never even occurred to me that there could be an issue. Even now, hearing this, I can't picture what might happen with one of these that might not happen just as well with a short piece of rope and lack of common sense/ coordination.
I’ll never look at alcohol the same after seeing end stage alcoholic liver cirrhosis. I’ve cut it completely out of my life.
I worked in a mental ward and we had a patient who lived in full-on delirium tremens. Watch that for a bit and you lose all interest in exploring that end of alcohol use. Imagine an old Vincent Price style horror film where one of the victims is driven beyond exhaustion by fear and terror, to the edge of breaking down, and getting stuck there, shaking, shivering, gibbering at things nobody could see, moment after moment, day after day...
Do we have any Pandas working in healthcare in the audience with us today? What are some of the biggest challenges and daily sources of stress for you at work?
What have been the most traumatic things that you’ve personally witnessed, and how has that affected your habits and purchases? If you feel like sharing, feel free to do so in the comments at the bottom of this post.
cosleeping. i don’t bash moms who do it but me? seen too much.
Isn't it associated with a higher risk of SIDS? As well as the risk of overlaying- I wouldn't ever risk it.
I’ll never push someone in a pool.
NEVER DRIVING DRUNK the amount of sad situations and bad traumas I’ve seen...
Drunks should be sent to ride along with an ambulance or FD. "Here, put these gloves on and pick that /those up" Probably wouldn't work on half the useless f***s, but I can dream.
3rd year psych resident…..I will never use chat gpt due to the amount of psychosis episodes I’ve seen it induce in many patients 😭 very random but it’s scary!!
I have heard so many bad stories about people who used it as a therapist!
Home births…as a nicu nurse
This depends on the regulations in place. What is really dangerous is these 'free births' influencers are promoting where women see no one during pregnancy and either give birth alone or with an untrained person in attendance.
Steak off a grill cleaned with a wire brush… not a trauma but seeing how close that wire got to his carotid through his throat 😳
Pediatric nurse here: batteries
Watching kids on quad bikes without helmets 🥺
Even with helmets and roll bars, kids have died. There is no reason I can see for kids to be using them at all.
Single engine aerobatic planes (Doctor Killers). Seen two crashes in my lifetime.
Is it the number of engines or the instant catastrophic deceleration?
baby walkers
It astonishes me how many parents push their precious babies out into traffic or between parked cars like they're testing the water for sharks.
Meat grinder. Had a 3 year old end up with an above elbow amputation because they were left unattended with one
Balloons and orbeez are not allowed in my house
Shop vac. Had a patient that had her leg nearly amputated because her shop vac exploded
car journeys with a full bladder
Worse for me is drinking coffee (I gave that up) while driving, or accidental gluten consumption. The drive from Melbourne to my house is about 1.5 hours and there are service centres for the 45 minutes or so, and some small towns with toilets the last 15 minutes or so. I've been caught with an upset stomach in the middle and it was not pretty!
E-anything. E-scoot. E-bike. Nope nope nope.
ceramic wax burners, I never listened to the warning then I fell asleep on the sofa after lightning one in the kitchen. fire alarm woke me. it had exploded and the fire was already pretty big.
Bouncy Castles and Trampolines. Literal guarantee of broken bones and head trauma..
A pool. Those drowning patients never make it 🫠
I swim 4 days a week. All my kids can swim. We are in a neighborhood with many backyard pools. The 24 hour a day hazard (plus the expense) means we will never have a backyard pool. I know several people who just got fed up with their pools and filled them in. It made them happy.
Why is nobody talking about mandolines🫢
Monthly contact lenses
LASIK was the best money I ever spent. I never want to deal with contacts ever again.
glass straws
As a nurse the most simple thing I refuse is over medicating my kids. I do not have a cupboard full of assorted meds. We run out to get Tylenol if we can’t naturally cool a fever first and Benadryl on hand just incase. That’s it
I honestly would say a car but as humans we use them daily as a girl who has had a lot of car accident patients my anxiety has become really bad when I drive . Got so bad I have dreams of dying in car accidents.
Eating canned foods without cleaning the can before
You must clean the can before consuming the can... deep! … 🕉 ommmmm. 🍄🧘♀️🤯😵💫
Snowblower, Trampoline, ATV, Horses, Ortho surgical nurse
Working in E.R. has made me push back my car seat as safe as possible. The alleged damage from frontal airbags is unbelievable.
I am very, very short. I have to have the seat almost as forward as it will go, otherwise I can reach neither the steering wheel or the pedals.
Pressure cooker
NO CLAW CLIPS WHILE DRIVING
I never Carry any aerosols in my car . I never leave phone chargers plugged in but not in use. Tragus piercings are also a no.
Does that mean they never use anything that’s an aerosol, or do they buy, use and throw it way at the shop, or just walk home?
Button batteries. I will NOT buy anything with button batteries.
My personal alarm runs on button batteries and I think that in the best case scenario, that 85 decibels could save my life.
Pork scratching 🤮
That's not pork scratchings. And I will continue to chomp those little nuggets of deliciousness thank you very much
E-Scooter, motorbike, skateboard, fireworks, glass/metal straws, trampoline, dogs, four wheelers…
Dogs?? Dafuq?? You can train dogs and I should know I've had them my whole life. I currently have 5 of them.
A real Christmas tree
Convertibles
popcorn, i avoid nail guns, energy drinks, .22 pistols, seatbelt is low and snug, and i still drive an automatic with two feet.
You're not supposed to do that with an automatic. That's an accident waiting to happen.
Standing in my crocs, munching popcorn and large marshmallows, I feel like slicing some potatoes on a mandolin to serve with pork scratchings. Sipping my energy drink I realise I am busting for a wee, but there is no time, as I have to fix an ariel on my roof(where is that ladder?) Putting supper in the pressure cooker, I inadvertently pop a hard candy lolly in my mouth and turn on board panda…….. 💀
Standing in my crocs, munching popcorn and large marshmallows, I feel like slicing some potatoes on a mandolin to serve with pork scratchings. Sipping my energy drink I realise I am busting for a wee, but there is no time, as I have to fix an ariel on my roof(where is that ladder?) Putting supper in the pressure cooker, I inadvertently pop a hard candy lolly in my mouth and turn on board panda…….. 💀
