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")
Please let me know what you think the criteria is for putting patients on a ventilator — beside your obviously firm grasp of pathophysiology, you are now a psychic in telling me how I feel?
Wow, you are more and more godlike every post — how could I possibly doubt your knowledge, sincerity, or humanity (/s in case you missed it)
If true, and I'm not saying that it is because the CDC and hospitals have been pretty 'flexible' in how they define 'unvaccinated' (e.g., only having received one shot, or only having received two shots, or only having received two shots and one booster, etc), but if true, I have to admit that the US tends to be 'fat'. And this CoVid bug seems to be a heat seeking missile for the 'fat'. Also, the US has had a large influx of unvaccinated illegal aliens (influx designed and abetted by the Democrats) - from all over the world - and probably carrying a lot of other bugs. And this population group would go to the emergency ward for treatment.
So, there are couple of things that makes the US unique, and that might make the US different than other Countries (who as you note: show either equivalence, or worse hospitalization rates for the vaccinated).
Either you are straight from the Salem with trials with that statement, of heavily irony impaired and lacking a certain fundamental knowledge of actual scientific method. Whatever it is -- your glaring statement literally speaks for itself.
If I am not mistaken this is the exact argument used for geocentric view of the universe and flat earth theory. Rational people can see! We dont need all that stinking data! Wow. It is breathtaking how in one sentence you have crystallized your entire stance
No because large majority of patients in hospitals are vaxxed. Being medical professionals they also understand the vax stop the spread. They’re more angry they can’t have help thanks to mandates that force many folks out of the workforce.
The fallacy is the absolute number of ICU cases currently with CoVID as the primary cause of respiratory failure is minimal. Omicron is a Godsend.
I just got out of the hospital Monday. Unvaxxed, I didn’t feel any lack of compassion.
It might have been my individual circumstances, but I found everyone to be caring and kind (although a couple of my nurses were nazis - but caring nazis).
I saw your comments earlier in the thread, and I thank you for making this observation - as it is an important one.
but they love the faggots wi aids...
Check out the chart at the link. Hochul et al have some splainin' to do...
I can’t help but wonder how many of the “unvaxxed” deaths from Covid are deliberate murder by medical protocol. Revenge. Clearly out the resistant trobulemakers, thinking they are accomplishing something.
What they are accomplishing is storing up God’s wrath on themselves.
You know your statement is disgusting. It is the worst of the worst, and I am surprised it is even tolerated. Conservative ideals involve live and let live thoughts and theories. Your statement is uneducated, unkind, uncaring, and devoid of the least bit of human compassion.
You are a disgusting pig. We treat all people with kindness and compassion — no matter if they have brought their circumstance on their own or not. I treat cancer patients with critical illness who have just awful luck. I treat the trauma who was drunk who wrapped himself around a tree with the same expertise.
And I treat the obviously ignorant and stupid and those devoid of humanity an IQ less than 10 just like you with the same expertise. Your hatred has no place in a a conservative forum, your obvious self superiority is rooted in insecurity and ignorance. And it is nauseating.
Perhaps you should consider learning kindness and compassion. Or in the alternative — perhaps learn the advice that is it better to be silent and though a fool than to speak up and remove all doubt
You have a seriously bleak soul.
How about vaxxed employees who contract the coof and give it to patients.
Betcha there’s a reason why we’re not hearing anything about nosocomial spread of CoupFlu in hospitals.
So if a vaxxed employee gives the coof to a vaxxed patient, who are we supposed to feel sorrier for...? 🤔
NPR - National Propaganda Radio
Suck it up! I treated drug addicts, gang members, AIDs patients (who had contacted AIDs from dirty needles), and some pretty obnoxious patients, for 25 years as an R.N. I managed to do that effectively, despite any negative personal feelings about their lifestyles. There, but for the grace of God, go I. If healthcare workers can’t do that, they’re in the wrong profession.
NPR.. Useless POS.
The vaccine-junkie hypochondriacs will be dropping like flies soon.
Exactly right.
I’m unvaxxed. In the hospital with the ‘rona all of July. High-flow O2 @ 100%. Multiple co-morbidities. Blue state. Remdesivir, convalescent plasma therapy, steroids out the wazoo. Came close to the ventilator, but my doctors worked hard to keep me off it.
And I worked hard. I did whatever they asked. Breathing exercises, proning, whatever. We worked as a team. Never felt any lack of compassion. I explained why I was unvaxxed, they understood.
We’re in a blue state. Obviously, they weren’t going to treat me with HCQ or IVM, but within their protocols, the went all out.
I just got out of the hospital again om Monday after a week, for a different issue. Still unvaxxed. Still very compassionate treatment.
On the ground, I see the doctors and nurses trying to dodge the political crap and do their jobs within the parameters by which they’re constrained, and granting a lot of leeway while no one is looking.
I'm sorry, you must have missed the fact that this is 3rd grade level reasoning so there is no science at work here. Rational people don't need scientific methods and data to figure out in your face lies.
It's nothing more than coercive political pressure to assure compliance.
Just another mark of the regressive 'kancel kulture'.
Civil Rights lawsuits will challenge that in dollar$$$, by suing the variou$ ho$pital admini$tration$.
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