Hospital employee well being
After today’s sessions I realised how intricately all the causes of patient harm are interrelated.
I feel that you work harder and are less efficient when you are sleep deprived. And I feel sleep deprivation, apathy, compassion fatigue are all interrelated. Working as an internal medicine resident at a busy hospital I realize how overworked residents are more prone to making medical errors. I feel a huge investment towards patient safety would be resident/physician/health care provider well being.
I personally feel the difference in my attitude and care I provide on a Monday vs a Friday, at 7 am vs at 7 pm! There are personal events in everyone’s lives that we cannot avoid, but creating a better work environment should be a higher priority for hospitals. The physical wellbeing of Alcoa employees was discussed today, and maybe graduate medical education programs should learn from them too!
Patient harm is a considerable cause of global disease burden; much more than diseases like malaria and tuberculosis that have a lot of national and international funding and emphasis. In my time as a medical student, and now as a resident, I have seen a lot of patient have an adverse outcome due to an avoidable error. Over the past year, based on my experiences, I have developed a strong inclination towards patient safety and quality improvement. As a second year resident, I trained in high value care and want to use my knowledge in ensuring a safe environment for patients without adding significantly to the healthcare costs.
Healthcare, unfortunately, has become a lot more complicated than it was a few years ago. With my interest in oncology, I see the positive evolution of medicine along with its complications like increase in costs, and lack of education about new drugs.… Continue reading