I want to talk about guilt.
A 🧵
As doctors, we strive to do our best for patients. We often make sacrifices to ensure patient care is as good as possible in what, let's face it, is a system that is breaking at the seams.
#MedTwitter
#MedStudentTwitter
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A 🧵
As doctors, we strive to do our best for patients. We often make sacrifices to ensure patient care is as good as possible in what, let's face it, is a system that is breaking at the seams.
#MedTwitter
#MedStudentTwitter
1/7
Many decisions made by doctors are layered with emotional & moral dilemmas.
Weighing up the different elements of scenarios, the pros & cons, the potential consequences & risks.
Generally we can reconcile the outcome of these decisions with the fact that we've done our best
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Weighing up the different elements of scenarios, the pros & cons, the potential consequences & risks.
Generally we can reconcile the outcome of these decisions with the fact that we've done our best
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But during the pandemic, doctors faced decisions that left them feeling that they hadn't done their best.
Patients dying without their relatives, decisions to determine who gets the last ICU bed, delays in cancer surgery, deciding who gets a chance at life & who doesn't.
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Patients dying without their relatives, decisions to determine who gets the last ICU bed, delays in cancer surgery, deciding who gets a chance at life & who doesn't.
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This is the emotional burden that healthcare professionals carry, one that breeds guilt.
Many doctors felt a huge amount of guilt during the pandemic. This sense that somehow they had failed their patients.
A sense of shame that they hadn't been able to do more.
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Many doctors felt a huge amount of guilt during the pandemic. This sense that somehow they had failed their patients.
A sense of shame that they hadn't been able to do more.
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These feelings can be part of what is referred to as moral injury- an emotional and cognitive response to doing or seeing things that go against our values and moral beliefs.
Moral injury is not burnout or mental illness but can contribute to those things.
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Moral injury is not burnout or mental illness but can contribute to those things.
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The important thing to take away is that guilt, shame, anger, moral injury can all be helped by talking.
Senior drs need to be equipped with the skills and tools to facilitate open and honest discussions about their colleagues' emotional response to the last 2yrs.
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Senior drs need to be equipped with the skills and tools to facilitate open and honest discussions about their colleagues' emotional response to the last 2yrs.
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These discussions must be normalised.
@DoctorsDistress runs protected, facilitated support groups for health professionals for this exact reason.
Talking helps us heal and process these feelings.
Whether it's guilt, shame, anger, upset... it's OK to feel it.
Please talk.
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@DoctorsDistress runs protected, facilitated support groups for health professionals for this exact reason.
Talking helps us heal and process these feelings.
Whether it's guilt, shame, anger, upset... it's OK to feel it.
Please talk.
7/7
@TessaRDavis @lucyjwarner @AmandipSidhu01 @ProfNGreenberg @doctor_oxford @NHSPracHealth @adave_NHS @subodhdave1 @joyful_doctor @parthaskar @DrNeenaJha @KateBurkeNHS @AashaCowey
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