AUTUMN 2022 | Page 7

Whilst there has always been and always will be families and society where there is some form of division for whatever reason , with COVID this has become more public than private . Fear and Uncertainty alongside Abuse and Confrontation have become more visible and more frequent . Mental Health issues are on the rise namely the increasing amount of anxiety both for our patients but also the staff in medical centres ( from the receptionist on the front desk to the nurses to the doctors and on to the management teams ). Life is starting to resemble a WAR but without the guns and bombs unless you count the verbal grenades that parts of our society like to throw at those of us just trying to do our job .
Where has our Compassion gone – for some of us it is starting to wear very thin when we are faced with this constant hostility from even a small group of people . We are becoming increasingly frustrated and irritated at constantly being questioned about WHY do we have to do it this way when last week we didn ’ t ? The rules are there for a reason and with the constant changing face of COVID , these rules will need tweaking frequently and we will have people questioning why . My standard answer as likely is the same for many of you is : We are following the rules and working in new and different ways to keep ourselves and our families , you ( our patient ) and your families and the community SAFE . For some this works , for others it never will , and I guess we just have to accept that we cannot please everyone .
We all know COVID isn ’ t going anywhere soon despite our wishing it would , so what can we do to reclaim / reinvigorate our Compassion and reduce our Frustration ?
We need to be on the lookout for stress and frequent illness where we weren ’ t exhibiting either of these before . I believe we notice it more frequently in patients and family members than we do in ourselves or our colleagues as we see it as “ normal ” because of the nature of our work . As a professional group ( here I speak mainly but not exclusively of medical and nursing staff ) we are often loathe to admit we are not coping for appearing weak and therefore we hide it and battle on privately instead of seeking help early . Invariably , this is likely to result in burnout or breakdowns from which it is hard but not impossible to recover . So , we need to stop hiding and take action – take care of our physical and mental health which long hours and constant stress puts pressure on . Try to find the enjoyment in the things we used to enjoy instead of seeing them as just another chore that needs doing . Eat well , do some exercise , spend time with family , read a novel , do something relaxing or be outdoors whatever works for you and get enough rest / sleep which for many is hard to come by as the mind is constantly turning trying to stay ahead of the next change to our already busy lives .
I ’ m not sure if it is just the state of my mind of late but I noted that interestingly , one illness in the past was the Plague we got rid of that by getting rid of the RATS , but now we are using RATs to check for an illness – thankfully a different type of RAT ( s ).
Let ’ s all try to reinvigorate our Compassion and look after our Health . We are not here for a long time so we need to make the best decisions and enjoy life .
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