Posted on 01/07/2022 4:27:02 PM PST by nickcarraway
NPR's A Martinez speaks with Dr. Daniela Lamas, a pulmonary and critical-care physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, about the risk of compassion fatigue for the unvaccinated.
A MARTINEZ, HOST:
With the highly infectious omicron variant sweeping across the country, many health care workers are facing a deja vu this winter. As American ICUs fill up with mostly unvaccinated patients, doctors and nurses are once again faced with difficult decisions. Dr. Daniela Lamas of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston worries that this prolonged situation could lead to compassion fatigue among staff. I asked Dr. Lamas about that phenomenon and whether it could affect patient care.
DANIELA LAMAS: Knowing that the patients who are critically ill and unvaccinated did not have to be critically ill, I think that entirely adds another level of stress, and maybe even more specific than stress but just a level of frustration and the feeling of futility. And I think that that weighs on people, certainly. And of course, there's also just a sadness to it, a sadness to the fact that this did not have to be for these people, and yet it is.
MARTINEZ: I want to read, Doctor, a part of your recent op-ed. I wondered whether, perhaps, one of the greatest risks of whatever surge comes next will be compassion fatigue, the dwindling ability to feel empathy for the unvaccinated. I wonder about this, about what impact it has. Though framing a patient as vaccinated or unvaccinated doesn't change the ventilator settings or the medications we give, I worry about the insidious effect of the frustration that we feel, and how we balance that real and understandable anger with empathy. So first off, explain what you see as compassion fatigue.
LAMAS: So you know, compassion fatigue is a term that we use to describe the cost of caregiving, you know? We treat compassion - we act like compassion is infinite and it regenerates, I think. In a way it is. But there is also something that is finite, where people who have been in rooms after rooms and were so excited about getting vaccinated, promoted getting vaccinated - and then seeing people who are suffering, who are struggling, whose families are devastated, because of what feels like a choice, which is not to get vaccinated. And I think compassion and empathy become harder when we see disease that clearly could have been prevented and disease that also, where that choice - that choice that was made not to get vaccinated - could also have harmed others as well. And yet, we must still care for these people with care and compassion. So I think that there's a tension that wears on people. And perhaps not acknowledging it wears on people as well.
MARTINEZ: Are you worried at all that compassion fatigue might be something that could affect patient care?
LAMAS: You know, I am. I think it is reasonable to be worried that compassion fatigue could impact patient care. And then the question, of course, is, how? And, you know, when we present a patient, when we say, this is a X-year-old woman who comes here with this, we now say vaccinated or unvaccinated. This is a 75-year-old, unvaccinated man - COVID. And of course, as I had said in the essay, that doesn't change what we write for medicine, et cetera, but it changes the framing. It changes the way we see this person. Does it change the amount of time we spend with them, with their family? I'm actually not sure. But I think it matters. I think those things matter to pause on. And they get in our conversation, you know, unvaccinated patients getting lung transplants. In a hospital, you'll hear a conversation where people actually ask aloud, well, should they even be eligible, you know? You'll hear people say on social media that if there is one available bed, they would prefer it to be somebody with heart disease who is sort of, quote, "innocent" - although, who really is innocent - rather than somebody who's unvaccinated and sick because of that. And, I think, in public, it is entirely appropriate to be angry, frustrated at people who have not been vaccinated. That being said, once somebody comes into the hospital, they are a patient. And it has to be different.
MARTINEZ: I mean, I'll admit, Doctor, when I hear about someone who is unvaccinated - who is staunchly unvaccinated...
LAMAS: Right.
MARTINEZ: ...In the hospital, I'll shake my head.
LAMAS: Yeah.
MARTINEZ: So for a health care worker, I mean, that's got to be a really tough spot to be in.
LAMAS: I think it is. And I think it's a really hard line to draw because I shake my head as well. And that's OK. That's totally OK for health care workers to shake their head. But then you have to switch. And once you're in the hospital and this patient is at the hospital, they're a patient who is deserving of care and compassion. And I've seen no evidence that patients are getting anything less. Like, I think that we are able to do this. And we do it gracefully. But I think it is another tension that is weighing on health care workers, on doctors, on nurses, is really having to hold both of those dimensions of thought - of deep frustration and anger, and then also having to care.
MARTINEZ: In your op-ed, you also went on to describe a scene from your hospital where an unvaccinated patient was discharged after a long hospital stay and finally agreed to get vaccinated. First, tell us about that. And why do you think it takes a near-death experience for many to take the vaccine?
LAMAS: Yeah. So this patient was a patient of a colleague of mine, actually. I had taken care of her one or two overnights but had not formed a relationship with her. And she's a mom of a couple of children. But, you know, there had been fear, distrust the medical system and just the idea that maybe it would be OK. Maybe it would be OK not to do this thing. And it was not. And she got very sick, nearly died and didn't ask for the vaccine, didn't say anything about the vaccine until my colleague opened the door by telling her that they were all rooting for her, and that she had made a mistake. She had gotten really sick. And it had been awful for her and for her family. But she could make that better. She could move on from that. And she then asked to get vaccinated. And I wonder, you know, was part of that trust - was part of that seeing that there was a doctor who actually saw her and did not see her with sort of anger - invited her to feel comfortable. Was that what it was that allowed her to get the shot? I'm not quite sure. But it was interesting that even the near-death experience itself didn't prompt her. It was this conversation of opening the door to saying, I see you. And you shouldn't feel shame.
MARTINEZ: That's Dr. Daniela Lamas, a pulmonary and critical care physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Doctor, thank you.
LAMAS: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF GLOWWORM'S "CONTRAILS")
Those who say it’s a lie are just cutting and pasting because the truth obliterates their narrative. And they have to be expert on something.
As I said above the ICUs have very little Covid in them. The omicron variant does not progress to critical illness and it is the vast majority of cases at this time
The few that are in the ICU looks more like delta and they are entirely unvaccinated. Sure those who think they know will rage and claim differently but they are not in the ICUs seeing it with their own eyes. So they can only repeat garbage. Every physician on this forum has reported exactly the same thing. Funny thing is some only want to believe what people have told them who have no experience of expertise. So be it
And I am not unsympathetic toward unvaccinated patients. I am becoming unsympathetic toward morons who repeat thjnfs they know nothing of while accusing us of take care of the ill of being murderers, nazis, deep state and in on some bizarre global conspiracy. It’s beyond belief.
Are they the privileged illegals who have been excused from COVID vaccines and flown around the country in small numbers so it won’t be quite as obvious when they check into the local hospitals?
“Only a fool believes this nonsense”
You never even read it.
Is Desantis full of nonsense also
https://www.fox13news.com/news/gov-desantis-covid-19-vaccines-are-saving-lives-reducing-mortality
And what is your data that says different. What are you seeing in your practice as you daily treat patients?
Oh, right. Never mind. You have no reference point. Just a self inflated sense of expertise. Got it
There is a HUGE problem with obesity in this country HUGE PROBLEM!!…When I was growing up I never saw obese people!!!
.................................................
I think about that everyday that I’m out in public, in the stores, etc. It’s really obscene, especially teenage girls and older females. Gross obesity is not something you will commonly see in most EU countries, especially not in cosmopolitan areas. Of course it’s primarily due to differences in dietary habits, but it’s also a matter of self-respect.
Hamstrung by an overwhelmingly leftist/authoritarian alphabet soup of government agencies who incessantly work to sabotage any elected official who is not in lockstep with their ideology....
I am really reaching my limit with this crap
Where’s the FLU??? And the Southern Border’s still open!
almost all hospital nurses and doctors are vaccinated - around 96%. The hospital workers throwing a hissy fit and getting fired over being vaccinated are the non-exempt workers - cleaners and janitors. Of course, the pandemic hucksters and profiteers won’t tell you that - it might hurt their ad and book sales.
From September 2021:
Most nurses are vaccinated – so why do people think health workers are vaccine hesitant?
“ 88% of nurses and 96% of physicians in the US have already gotten vaccinated or plan to do so, according to surveys by the American Nurses Association and the American Medical Association.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/09/us-nurses-vaccinated-vaccine-hesitant
from the article, the most unvaccinated are those caring for our elderly in nursing homes - which is a bloody crime.
Just wear your designer mask and do your job!
I don’t care what you think, you’re a coward.
Go get your fourth shot and hide in your basement.
“I am becoming unsympathetic toward morons who repeat thjnfs they know nothing of while accusing us of take care of the ill of being murderers, nazis, deep state and in on some bizarre global conspiracy. It’s beyond belief”
The outright hatred and hostility I am seeing towards Dr’s and medical professionals and hospitals I see on these threads scare the beejezus out of me...ok maybe does not scare me but concerns me greatly.
The hatred is growing exponentially. On another post I was told hospitals are death camps who are purposely killing people to make more money. It’s not just from 1-2 posters but many , many posters I see these rants.
It’s an excuse to give substandard care to those they judge unworthy because they didn’t comply with tyranny.
I’m unvaxxed and everyone around me (mostly vaxxed) are sick. I’m not sick. How could this be???
I talked to someone recently whose doctor is refusing to see patients in person. So called virtual appointments only. Vaxx status doesn’t matter.
I find that behavior despicable.
BTW, if vaxxes work, why would the doc refuse to see vaxxed patients in person, eh?
Its more than that
Sincs when do individual doctors and nurses care about the politics or personal medical choices people make?
They used to just be there for anyone.
Its deeper than that
Its because government and libtard media are fostering and creating the propaganda of uzte towzrds those they have judged to be responsible for everyone elses problems and also the increased government control over everyones lives
And people are believing this whopper
Including vaxhole freepers here
Bicyclists?
Tennis players?
etc. etc. etc.
There is none.
It is an article of faith for the True Believers in The Narrative(tm) that the unvaccinated must be sicker than the vaccinated.
It would be trivial matter for hospitals to collect this data and make official reports to the States that would bolster The Narrative(tm). But they don't do that. And the States don't ask for such data. The conclusion is that they don't want to know. Instead, we get scattered anecdotes which cannot be verified.
Meanwhile, the official Government statistics from Great Britain and Israel clearly indicate there is no significant difference in the outcomes for vaccinated and unvaccinated patients. The incidence of infection in exposed populations is about the same. The incidence of serious or fatal complications is about the same.
The "vaccines" don't do anything useful. There are indicators that they do a lot of things that are very harmful in both short-term and long term.
The Insurance companies know this by now. There is big money riding on accurate predictions of mortality rates and a compelling incentive for accurate, unbiased data. They do not make the mistake of believing their own propaganda and have no use for Government propaganda at all.
The "All Cause" mortality rates have been rising for several years now, and very sharply in the 16-60 age groups where this was not expected. The Insurance companies have put their smartest people on projects to discover the reasons for this.
The biggest increase has been in the last 18 months and tracks unnervingly well with "vaccination" rates in the general population. Their actuaries can tell you to six decimal places what the mortality rates are right now for any combination of age, gender, racial or ethnic background, sexual orientation, religion, and "vaccination status".
They are sitting on a political firestorm should they publicize their findings. The data most certainly does not support "The Narrative(tm)".
Of course, Insurance companies have enough money to buy and sell politicians. No doubt they are working on campaigns to discreetly raise their rates and cross-subsidize the more costly "vaccinated" population (if that becomes necessary) without raising too much alarm.
They will ask for, and probably get, major concessions from the Government to stay as quiet as possible about what they know.
Yes because they believe the q nonsense that hospitals are paid to our people on ventilators so we are all ordered to jam people on vents. No understanding of the actual truth but it’s a great sounding story
And honestly getting accused of death camps and everything. Fine. Don’t come to the hospital if this is what you believe. But when push comes to shove and you can’t breath or are having chest pain or scared for your life they will come anyway. Snd be abusive and nasty. And just like always we will take care of them with love and compassion and try our best.
It’s why medicine is a calling. Not a job
“BTW, if vaxxes work, why would the doc refuse to see vaxxed patients in person, eh?”
Maybe he/she has a comorbidity?
Yes vaccinated can still get sick and die from covid but the stats show vaccinated are less sick and have less deaths than unvaccinated per capita.
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