Lost In Healthcare
Abstract
This piece is meant to portray the dismay and confusion present in the lives of patients who are lacking humanistic care, which can be defined as an intimate relationship between the patient and healthcare workers. It is a relationship of empathy and understanding. Initially, I came up with this title describing the uninsured patient as confused, the elderly patient as forgotten, and the doctor as misunderstood. I realized that these different words can be used to describe all of the characters in my story.
I have made 6 parts to this story. Each part consists of a picture and the thoughts of each narrator as they are having poor experiences in the healthcare system. The pictures are meant to be figurative expressions of the patients, given the color of the image. Color is being used to portray the emotion of the individual, blue is associated with sadness in my work. My piece is inspired heavily by the work of Atul Gawande in the book Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End and by Ricardo Nuila in his article “Poor and Uninsured in Texas.” These pieces helped me understand the thoughts of people with lives and experiences similar to those of my characters. Specifically, Being Mortal inspired me to think more from the perspective of elderly individuals. A lot of them live free lives, but many lose this freedom and dignity once they become old and are cared for under the healthcare system. Many, however, want to keep their dignity and freedom and simply do tasks by themselves and have a purpose.
My work is not aimed to show healthcare professionals as unkind people, most healthcare professionals put in the utmost effort to care for their patients. The goal is to show that the conditions of the healthcare system in this country are not optimal for physicians (or healthcare professionals) to treat their patients. The system often overworks doctors and fatigues them physically and mentally. Many doctors are chronically fatigued due to their work-life balance. This can often compromise the care they give to their patients. These patients, who are often in some of the most vulnerable moments in their lives, do not receive the best care that they could potentially receive. I want to show that sometimes a little help from someone else, a little humanity, can make a difference. I hope to inspire healthcare professionals to try to reach out and help while also showcasing the difficult hardships healthcare professionals face.
Confused
I am tired. No, exhausted. Confused? The last thing I can recall is walking upstairs, everything went black after that. Where am I now?
Ah. I am at a hospital. What hospital am I at?
I do not have insurance.
¿Donde estoy?
The doctor’s do not speak Spanish. What do I do? They both look at each other in confusion and they realize I cannot speak english. They call for a translator. I ask him what happened.
Okay, I fell off some stairs? “¿Que está roto?” My back is strained, something about the nerves needing time to heal?
How much will it cost?
“¿Cuánto cuesta?”
I receive no answer. I am told I can make a near full recovery, but I am not sure if I will be able to afford the medical bills. I am scared and lonely. I have nobody in this country to visit me, to care for me, or to even talk to me. Everyday I am worried. Nurses and doctors check up on me and tell me of my continued improvement, but I cannot help but be distraught of the future. The translator is still called, but not as often as I would like. I feel disconnected from my healthcare. The majority of my nurses do not speak Spanish, some do, however. I look forward to talking to them, it is a joy!
I like to feel joy whenever I can. Right now,
I can’t.
Restricted
I am bored.
There are very few things here that bring me joy. Interacting with the other people here is interesting, but it is only a pastime. Days such as today, I look outside of the window and see the rain pouring. Seeing the rain makes me feel lonely and isolated from the rest of the world. However, it also makes me feel nostalgic. I remember the days when I was young and was with my family, who understood me and my limitations. I was able to go out with them and have fun, I was free. Now, I am stuck in a house for old people. I cannot go outside on my own. I am restricted. I am trapped inside of my own body, my aging body. I want to get dressed by myself, I want to have a purpose to get out of bed.
I just want to go out to the city, a restaurant, or a park. I am spiritless.
Exhausted
“Hey man, how are you?” said James.
“I’m fine, work has been a lot recently, how has your work been?” said Collin.
“I don’t know man. I am so exhausted. I have been working long hours more often than I work normal hours.”
“Yeah… I’ve been working more to get through my patients. I hope they know I’m trying my best. We have just been really understaffed and we have to divide our time to all of the patients.”
“Man, we have also been having to divide a lot of work between so little people and it really gets to you, you know? Also, dude, I’m pretty sure they do. The other day I had a patient walk in after a spine injury, I did my best to make sure he felt comfy and would recover quickly.”
“Hey James, this coffee is on me. I’m gonna head home and rest, tomorrow is another long day,” said Collin
“Thanks, I really hope that things are headed towards the best, I don’t know how much longer I can keep going before crashing.”
“Me too James, me too.”
Understanding
I am tired. I cannot stop thinking of the potential medical bills, it just hurts my head every time I think about it. Yes, I will heal and go back home, but I will be in tremendous debt. I will be a prisoner to that debt in addition to my injuries.
**Knock Knock**
“Hola, mi nombre es Valentina I will be your doctor from now on, how are you?”
Wow, she speaks Spanish just like me! Finally I can speak directly to my doctor! Is this joy?
“Dr. Valentina, gracias, it means a lot to be able to understand what you are telling me.”
“Señor Pedro, we are going to take care of you, we will figure out a plan to help guide you through this. I understand this is a lot go through. All I want you to focus on right now is on getting back to full health”
“Gracias Dr. Valentina, thank you so much for your kind words, it means a lot to me.”
It really means a lot to me. You have no idea how much this has helped me.
A New Face
“Hi Diana”
“Hello, what is your name young lady?”
“My name is Kinsley and I am your new caretaker! How are you feeling?”
It is nice seeing a new face around here, its a good breath of fresh air.
“Hi Kinsley, can I tell you something?” I want to tell her how I have been feeling. What do I have to lose?
How lonely I have been.
How down I have been.
How I have been with a purpose.
“Yes Diana! Tell me what’s on your mind.”
“I have been bored out of my mind. I do the same things everyday. I play bingo on Wednesdays, play trivia on Fridays. I have nothing to be excited about. I want to experience something new. Do you think you could help?” Perhaps something good will come of this?
“Diana thank you for telling me! I was planning on taking some of y’all to a park nearby in a couple of days! Would you like to come?”
“Yes, I would love that.”
I am so happy she invited me, I have not been this excited in a while!
A Step Forward
“Hey James, hey Collin,” said Valentina.
“Hey Val, how are you, how have you been?” said James.
“I am kind of tired, but I have been managing, I have been assigned new patients at the ICU. We have been better off since we got some more nurses with us to help us, they have been a great help and everyone’s been more lively and healthy,” said Valentina
“Dang, I wish we had more help, our senior center got a new caretaker for the elderly and she has been great,” said Collin.
“Hey who are those people over there?” said James.
“Woah, that’s Kinsley! I think those are some of the patients at the senior center.” said Collin. They all look so relaxed and calm, being in the park is actually pretty calming.
“They look like they’re having fun! Hey Collin, how often does the senior center take the patients out to the park?” said Valentina.
“Hmmmm, not much actually, said Collin.” Damn, I never had patients have a little bit of excitement by going to a park. Why did I never think of that??
“They look really relieved, I would be lying if I didn’t say I am relieved just being here, too,” said James.
“How, about we make this a regular thing?” said Valentina, as did Kinsley in the distance to Diana and the elderly patients.
Everyone looked forward to the next time they would relax and take a breather in the park, from the stress that can be caused by being in a hospital. Perhaps this can be a fresh start for everyone.
References:
Decety, Jean, and Aikaterini Fotopoulou. “Why Empathy Has a Beneficial Impact on Others in Medicine: Unifying Theories.” Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 8 (2015). https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00457.
Demaerre. Lonely senior patient suffering from insomnia and sitting on the… https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/lonely-senior-patient-sitting-on-the-hospital-bed-at-night-gm1215106615-353793561.
Gawande, Atul. Being Motal: Medicine and What Matters in the End. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2014.
Hardee, James T., Frederic W. Platt, and Ilene K. Kasper. “Discussing Health Care Costs with Patients.” Journal of General Internal Medicine 20, no. 7 (2005): 666–69. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1525-1497.2005.0125.x.
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Nuila, Ricardo, Larissa MacFarquhar, and Alastair Gee. “Poor and Uninsured in Texas.” The New Yorker, August 18, 2016. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/poor-and-uninsured-in-texas.
Williams, Ian. The Bad Doctor. Oxford (GB): Myriad., 2014.