From my childhood, I learned about superheroes, but I actually learned through my father’s admission to the hospital while fighting with severe heart attack phase. It was a really painful and burning time but I do need to mention the quick and effective response of duty doctors, medical staff, and Nurses of a public hospital. The one and only reason for them was to save the patient. They utilize their all skills, experience, time, knowledge, and services to save him and by the blessing of Allah Almighty, he struggled out of danger. Sometimes what we expect from doctors is to be there with patients instead to be perfect. Helping people at their most vulnerable time is a privilege. Humanity remains accessible in the countenance of the doctor.
Why we always go with the fixed mindset to perceive working physicians in the hospitals. We do always complain about their negligence, high treatment rates, rigid behavior, un-loyal professional behavior, not good listeners; even sometimes we name them un-human. It’s obvious when we have individual differences among people, our personality traits define us, our human logo defines us then how can we expect all doctors and surgeons to be the same. Human beings are different from each other, as patient attendants, we are progressing through tense situations so it’s natural to react.
The doctor’s purpose is to adjust the patient’s autonomy, maintain health, to build up trust relation. The physician gave up their lives learn to save others, learn not to be perfect instead to be there to serve people. They just not give, they just not let things happen, they make a stand! They say No! They have Guts to do what’s right even when everyone Else just Runs away.
Having assumed care of a patient, the physician’s responsibility is to provide competent, compassionate, and economically prudent care within the standards of acceptable medical practice and to make treatment decisions that are in the best interest of the patient. Doctors are heroes because they’ll do more than get you back on your feet. They are there so any disease has a chance to beat. Despite great adversity, a doctor is always kind. They keep their humor when most others would lose their mind.
Now as we all are attentive with the second wave of pandemics prevailing right through around the country and we wish for it to be controlled. The situations of our public hospitals and the conditions of safety measures are not maximum although the government is even within its limited resources is dealing most excellent with the present situation of COVID-19, rather than all this condition our front line warriors are fighting with COVID-19 situation with bravery and healthy energy.
Lack of safety measures
Ø Screening Equipment and Procedures
Ø Need of Proper Personal Protective Equipment for deputed Doctors and Nurses at Quarantine Wards.
Ø Require Precautions for Duty Doctors and Nurses, Medical staff,
The World Health Organization (WHO) is calling on governments and health care leaders to address persistent threats to the health and safety of health workers and patients. According to WHO; COVID-19 has exposed health workers and their families to unprecedented levels of risk.
While health workers represent less than 3% of the population in the large majority of countries and less than 2% in almost all low- and middle-income countries, around 14% of COVID-19 cases reported to WHO are among health workers.
In addition to physical risks, the pandemic has placed extraordinary levels of psychological stress on health workers exposed to high-demand settings for long hours, living in constant fear of disease exposure while separated from family and facing social stigmatization.
5 steps to improve health worker safety and patient safety
According to the World Health Organization;
· Establish synergies between health worker safety and patient safety policies and strategies
· Develop and implement national programs for occupational health and safety of health workers
· Protect health workers from violence in the workplace
· Improve mental health and psychological well-being &protect health workers from physical and biological hazards.
Spread of COVID-19
The COVID-19 is a disease based on an unknown virus. It seems that it started in China and has widely spread in almost all countries in the world. This pandemic situation is one of the widely spread diseases in recent history
Despite the rising number of cases, most who become infected suffer only mild symptoms and recover.
“Lifestyle of a doctor” upholds its merit of being the most stigmatized notion of history and today. The role of a doctor is a very critical and effective response to the COVID-19. Their roles in treatment, trust relationship, diagnosis, and their commitment. These all frontline warriors have been experiencing societal pressure, personal Risk, Healthy work degree to fulfill the extraordinary demands of healthcare.
Unusual state of affairs
The rising pressure of infectious diseases such as COVID-19 insists much more than that doctors continue to work as usual. The COVID-19 demands for longer hour duties, its mean maximum exposure to the virus, subject to the risk of illness, depression fatigue, moral pain. Medical professional all each have to play their roles. Community is much concerned with this profession in the frame of trust as compared to police, lawyer, journalist, government personnel according to some Gallup polls, when it was asked to rate the trust and ethical standards of different professions, participants in the survey rated doctors with high honesty.
Bur, unfortunately, I want to share here my thinking and perceptions of a small group of society towards the role of doctors in this pandemics phase.
Follow to what the doctors say
People circle to doctors as a foundation of their health information, so misinformation can be perilous. People must listen, cooperate, and follow what the doctors suggest and direct to them. Doctors and medical staff would be tired due to long hours and short sleeping hours. The healthy working volume would be the reason for their burning disposition; we should show patience as liable citizens. On the other hand, doctors should be humble and adjustable towards the patient’s attendants because of their love and relation with patients is scheming all such attitude. Doctors would act as an advocate for spreading consistent information by getting back to the original source of information, listening to the experts, reading from multiple sources, communicating compassionately, and having the humility to admit to error.
Through Social media, doctors would exercise the need and importance of social distancing and how important is this especially for children. They should design and plan some short interesting messages, clips through their social media accounts to publish the awareness of social distancing and why we need it!. What precautions and measure should children with and without special needs to take? The government needs to aware of parents through media that they need to maintain social distance and why? Through dramas and different bright events, they could should teach and engage parents regarding the COVID-19 awareness goal. It’s not only the government’s duty, we are all part of this society. And we should play a vital role in through different awareness campaigns regarding our profession and duty without any discrimination. It’s time to be united for COVID-19 free Pakistan, IA.