Thread by @WheatNOil

This is sort of the thing isn’t it?

We can add beds and ventilators but there’s only so many people who know how to care for the people in them. You can’t just pull them off the ICU tree. Lord knows you don’t want me in there.

What happens when their tank is empty?

https://twitter.com/zakvescera/status/1380644918406737922

It’s not just the ICU healthcare workers. The non-ICU hospitalists are exhausted. The hospital is busting at the seams at baseline. Now add COVID. Add the people who haven’t been seeing their family doctor regularly for the last year and so aren’t getting preventative care.

I empathize with my colleagues in these other areas.

Because I’m also tired. I think everyone in society is. But it’s definitely true in healthcare.

And in child psychiatry where I am? I’m so exhausted. It’s non-stop. And we were busy BEFORE all this.

But here’s the thing: what do we do?

We can’t stop. We can barely take a break to breath.

If I’m not there, who exactly is going to do my job?

(No, seriously, is there someone? Because I would LOVE to take a break. If you know someone please tell me!)

So I read articles like the one above and I wonder what my colleagues are thinking. Because they can wonder how sustainable it is. How far they can go. And if they’re wondering that openly, they’re probably feeling the pressure already.

But there’s not many people in this province who have their skillset. And if one or two need to take a step back for their own health, they pull together and manage. But if more than that do?

What do you do if you hit a point where you know if you don’t work, there’s no one in the bullpen to call in?

Truth is, for all our talk of physician wellness, when you hit that point, you probably put your head down & keeping going til there’s nothing left.

And that’s not good

Anyways this is a meandering thread.
But I FELT that article.

It reflects something I’ve been thinking about lately in my own field. We’re not ICU, but we’re Child Psych ICU. The absolute most ill come to us. So what happens if we can’t keep going? Who takes care of those kids?

My colleague said to me today at the end of a phone call, “well don’t burn out!” And I laughed and said “I can’t.”

Not that I’m incapable of it. I’m just not allowed to. Our system doesn’t provide me the luxury of being allowed to burn out.

So all that’s left is to endure. Somehow. And keep going. And force yourself to take a break sometimes. Or more likely, let yourself be forced to take a break just as you force your colleagues to take a break.