Dear Employers and Managers-
Today, I came home from work "sick". As one colleague put it, "sick and tired" after my repeated requests for simple the simple courtesy of being notified when my schedule is changed so that I don't drive 45 minutes to the wrong clinic (again) because you forgot to tell me about the change in schedule ( again). I am aware that this disrespect of the time and efforts of health care providers is becoming the norm. It is not okay.
Those of us who work in this field do it because we love what we do. We have all worked our butts off educating ourselves to improve the health of our patients and the communities where we live. We are by nature compassionate people and maybe that is part of the reason you think you can be dismissive and disrespectful of us-physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and nurses. As caregivers by nature many of don't speak up when we are treated badly. We respond by working harder and longer.
The majority of us don't get reimbursed for the endless hours we spend documenting because you book a patient every 15 minutes and squeeze in a few add on patients on top of it all. We do it. We just keep doing this crazy schedule, missing out on our family time and our own health suffers from the constant stress to see more patients in less time while we need to document more and more. Many of us try to book complicated patients right before lunch or closing time so we can work through our lunch or after hours to give those patients the time and respect that they deserve.
Many of us work countless hours of unpaid overtime trying to keep up with the ridiculous amount of documentation that is expected of us. We spend countless hours reading on our own, attending conferences and networking more informally to keep up on the latest evidenced based practices because we care about our patients.
We providers commiserate with each other. We all have the same concerns and complaints about our work schedules and demands. We all complain about the administrators that are out of touch with the demands of quality patient care. The advent of social media allows us to comfort each other and offer words of encouragement. We offer each other our words of wisdom and coping strategies. We share our concerns for patient safety and for our own health and safety. For right now, we post pictures of piles of charts and cups of coffee long after the office or clinic is closed. For now.
We are, most of us, a standard deviation or two to the right of that bell curve. In this rapidly expanding social media communication, I imagine that it won't be long before we move our conversations and posts from the problem to looking for solutions. I don't think that I am asking for anything unreasonable. I want you to be more respectful. I want you to honor the time and commitment we all put into what most of us believe is a calling to be healers.
Let's just start there for now.
Respectfully,
Doe
