I used to work in a high school setting helping students research academic programs and apply for postsecondary studies. I can recall a steady stream of publications encouraging a push toward the field of health care due to the predicted shortages of doctors, nurses and therapists in the future.
It was the same when I was in high school. My class heard about promising prospects in health care. I knew I didn't have the right stuff so I didn't give it consideration, but I had tremendous respect for those that did. Still do. Even more so.
I have spent the past month in (dare I say) awe of the countless members of the health care profession who took care of my husband prior to and following unexpected surgery. Day after day I watched them expertly and efficiently assess his condition, run tests, administer medication and be advocates to get him what was necessary on the day.
We are told our medical system is continually pushed to the brink—and beyond. Many people are vocal about their complaints. Their encounters have not been good and I acknowledge that. All I can do is speak to my experience and what I saw over a period of four weeks with surgeons, doctors, ambulance attendants, RN's, care aides, lab techs, porters, kitchen staff and security. At every turn they were ready and able to provide the care needed—including the surgery that didn't start until most of us would have been in bed asleep. I am grateful. I'm sure there were others, and they deserved to be thanked, too.
I think of the researchers who study illness, develop medications and attempt to cure disease. Or the engineers and specialists who invent and build medical equipment. Those that do the laundry to ensure there are clean sheets and blankets. Or those who run tests so results can be analyzed to determine what a patient needs next.
Of course the skilled hands of the surgeon come to my mind often, yet I also know an entire team ensured the operating room was clean, tools ready, anesthetic delivered safely, monitors working properly and scans ready for consultation.
I admire all those who worked tirelessly on the surgical floor caring for people in weakened and vulnerable condition. Their compassion and professionalism I noted again and again as they did difficult, life-saving work.
There were countless times I was reminded that no, I could never have pursued one of these careers, but I am so glad there are those that did, and continue to do so. However, there's something of a dissonance between the way we think about these professions and the way we respond to those doing the job.
A survey of Canadians asking which occupations are the most respected found that amongst the top ten were doctors and nurses. Sounds right. Yet do you know what profession is on the receiving end of the most complaints? Health professionals. We have respect…yet don’t seem to show it. I get it. With our health or the health of someone we love on the line we of course will speak up. But I wonder if we are as quick to say thank you as we are to criticize when that could have been an appropriate response.
On a particularly difficult day I watched as my husband got more and more sick and was in need of a procedure, but treatment rooms were backed up. When he received the help needed, he thanked those who had done the procedure. They were taken aback. They told him they weren’t used to getting thanked. They are typically yelled at.
What? Why on earth would anyone scream at them? Yes, you are in pain. Yes, you have been waiting, but for goodness sake why would you yell at the very people doing their best to help you?
I have been streaming the show “Scrubs”, a sitcom set in fictional Sacred Heart Hospital. An episode that stood out recently featured an intern being upset that a patient didn’t thank him for saving his life. He later tracks him down demanding an explanation. The patient asked the doctor why he needed to be thanked for doing his job, especially since nobody ever thanked him for the job he did. The patient was a garbage collector.
More people than not do their work each day without ever being thanked. Unfortunate, but true. Yet we seem to notice when something doesn’t get done and it becomes the source of complaint.There’s got to be middle ground between being totally oblivious to being totally critical. I believe that middle ground lies in the form of recognition that every job contributes more than we realize. Since we all have different temperaments for different kinds of work, our best response could be simple gratitude that there is someone willing to step up and do the work someone else can’t.
It takes about a second to say “thank you.” I would say that is time well spent. That’s my outlook.
