30 Things Healthcare Workers Say They Will Never Do After What They Have Seen

Working in healthcare can be extremely stressful. The demands of the job, limited resources, long hours, big expectations, lack of support, and gruesome experiences leave their mark.

Content creator ‘Tribe Nursing,’ an emergency room nurse, recently went viral online. He asked doctors, nurses, EMTs, and other healthcare workers to share all the things that they’re refusing to do or buy because of the traumatic things they’ve seen while on the job. You’ll find their insights and stories below.

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According to one study, depression, burnout, and stress are extremely prevalent among emergency department (ED) physicians. Between 15.5% to 19.3% of ED workers were found to have depression, 18% to 71.4% dealt with burnout, and 19.5% to 22.7% experienced stress.

These factors led to lower job satisfaction, less compassion satisfaction, less life satisfaction, and higher intentions to quit emergency medicine. In other words, the stress of the job has profoundly negative impacts on these workers’ private and professional lives.

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Meanwhile, another study found that the key sources of stress and distress for general practitioners (GPs) are related to emotion work, practice culture, and work role and demands.

Namely, GPs are required to manage and respond to violent or confrontational patients. They also have to deal with collegial conflict, bullying, isolation, and a lack of support in the workplace. And they have to worry about making potential mistakes, complaints, appraisals, inspections, and their finances.

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Orbeez, small magnets and pill batteries

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Do we have any Pandas working in healthcare in the audience with us today? What are some of the biggest challenges and daily sources of stress for you at work?

What have been the most traumatic things that you’ve personally witnessed, and how has that affected your habits and purchases? If you feel like sharing, feel free to do so in the comments at the bottom of this post.

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Why is nobody talking about mandolines🫢

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Balloons and orbeez are not allowed in my house

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Former EMT, I refuse to not have my dog secured in the car, for her safety and mine. She rides in a crash-tested crate.CHIROPRACTORS! People need to know that the person who started it was a con man😭Hair down near machinery or fast moving parts. Seen a lady get her scalp removed from her long hair getting caught in machinery at work.FireworksI’ll never look at alcohol the same after seeing end stage alcoholic liver cirrhosis. I’ve cut it completely out of my life.Feet on dash, not wearing my seatbelt, tanning beds3rd year psych resident…..I will never use chat gpt due to the amount of psychosis episodes I’ve seen it induce in many patients 😭 very random but it’s scary!!Texting while drivingthose damn electric scooterscosleeping. i don’t bash moms who do it but me? seen too much.I’ll never push someone in a pool.Not wearing a helmeti’m a vet assistant in tech school and a retractable leash for a dogNEVER DRIVING DRUNK the amount of sad situations and bad traumas I’ve seen...At this point, pretty much everythingWatching kids on quad bikes without helmets 🥺Pediatric nurse here: batterieshigh heels 😭Steak off a grill cleaned with a wire brush… not a trauma but seeing how close that wire got to his carotid through his throat 😳Never forget your safety glasses when doing DIY and pruning ,etc. It's not just for work.I will NEVER walk multiple dogs on the same hand.Single engine aerobatic planes (Doctor Killers). Seen two crashes in my lifetime.Flip flops 😳 damage done by flip flops on escalators 🫣Home births…as a nicu nurseceramic wax burners, I never listened to the warning then I fell asleep on the sofa after lightning one in the kitchen. fire alarm woke me. it had exploded and the fire was already pretty big.Refuse to use a tall ladderAnything Styrofoam