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Why Don't Doctors Feel Like Heroes Anymore
Why Don't Doctors Feel Like Heroes Anymore
Anymore?
"The sorrow that you know will melt away," Carey sang. "When
you feel like hope is gone," the song continued, strength and
answers can be found within, and "a hero lies in you."
We can't expect depth and nuance from pop songs, but we can
find in them the imagery that runs through our culture. The "hero
narrative" — the idea that doctors, nurses, and others in
healthcare have superhuman endurance and selflessness — has
long been an undercurrent in the medical field.
Dr Brian Park
Dr Ala Stanford
Stanford got call after call from Philadelphians who had been
turned away from testing centers. When she questioned
colleagues, "they gave me every reason under the sun," Stanford
says. "It was because someone took public transportation and
they were only testing people in cars, or because they weren't
over 65, or because they didn't have other comorbid health
conditions, or because they weren't a healthcare worker, or
because they hadn't traveled to China…" The list went on.
Since then, Stanford's mission has evolved. She and her team
provided COVID vaccinations to thousands, and in 2021, opened
the Dr. Ala Stanford Center for Health Equity
(https://bdccares.com/). The center offers primary care for all
ages in underserved communities.
Nicole Jackson
On June 23, 2022, Jackson's emergency department was
understaffed and struggling with an influx of patients when three
gunshot victims arrived. Two needed to be transferred to a
trauma center, and one — with multiple gunshot wounds —
required a critical care nurse in the ambulance. But the ETA for
that transport was 90 minutes, which meant the patient might
not survive. Although Jackson was already working beyond her
shift, she rode in the ambulance with the patient herself and
probably saved his life.
Can the "hero narrative" help that situation? Jackson says she
doesn't see herself as a hero, but the supportive environment
and gestures of recognition by staff do make her feel
appreciated. These include daily messages offering "kudos" and
nominations for the DAISY Award, which she herself received in
2022.
Dr Jasmine Marcelin
For him, hearing neighbors banging pots and pans during the
early pandemic was complicated. "The first phase for me was,
‘Thank you. I feel seen. I feel appreciated,'" he says. "Yes, I'm
wearing a mask. I'm going in. I'm changing in the garage when I
come home, so my kid and my partner don't get sick."
But after a while, the cheers started to feel like pressure. "Have I
done anything heroic today?" Park asked himself. "Have I been
as heroic as my friend who is in the hospital in the ICU? I don't
deserve this, so don't bang those pots and pans for me."
When your identity becomes about being a hero, Park says, when
that becomes the standard by which you measure yourself, the
result is often a sense of shame.
"I think a lot of people feel ashamed that they feel burnout," he
says, "because they're supposed to be heroes, putting on their
capes and masks. They're waking up and saying, 'I'm exhausted
and I can't play that part today. But I know that's the social
expectation of me.' "
Dr Alok Patel
For Patel, the issue is not lavish gifts, but an attitude shift. He
recalls colleagues who felt ashamed asking for mental health
services or time off, "because they were bombarded by the hero
narrative, by the manufactured pressure that they needed to put
their jobs above their own health — because that's what 'heroes'
do. I'm willing to bet most physicians would rather receive a
sincere email with a transparent plan to better support
healthcare workers than any Doctor's Day gift," he says.
By those standards, clearly anyone can step up, offer help, act
with courage and kindness, and be heroic. "We humans, as
ordinary as we are, can be extraordinary by using our power to do
what's right," Marcelin says, "because there's no such thing as
healthcare heroes, just good people doing the right thing."