"Whatever Happened To Compassion?"

I had worked with Joe (name changed) for some time in the ER. I always had great respect for him and he was what I considered a man's man. He's tall, muscular, has sweet skin art, and had always had my back when a hostile situation arose. My view of him went completely upside down last July. It had been a long day, the ER had been packed consistently for 9 hours, and we were more than ready to go home 3 hours before we were to clock out. I could tell that Joe was having a bad day to begin with so I tried to be as helpful as I could to not make it any worse. When 930 rolled around the double doors opened and the EMT's brought in a women in her late 40's who had attempted suicide by slitting both of her wrists. Apparently there had been a domestic dispute with her daughter and her solution to get back at her was to take her own life. Joe and I assessed the situation and he took one look at me and said "What a *$#@&$ waste of flesh". He then proceeded to get two by fours and clean off the dried blood. Afterwards he got a roll a gauze and started wrapping it around her wrists. He was being very rough with her during this time and I could tell that he was silently judging her as well. All the respect that I had for Joe dissipated on that day. I couldn't believe that someone caring for another in crisis could be so heartless. Right then and there I made a promise to myself that everyday before I come to work I would pray that God would give me the wisdom and patience to make my patients' stay as comfortable as possible. I also promised myself that as soon as I walked through those double doors that is where my problems would stay and they would not be brought into the hospital with me. Now I won't lie to you....I have my moments and there are some patient's who absolutely make me want to raise my fists in anger and scream to the heavens. Why don't I? Because it isn't about me....its totally about them. These people are at their worst, their stressed, and sometimes you have to be the whipping boy/girl. I could easily give them a dose of attitude but that would only exacerbate the sitaution and accomplish nothing in the end. So to wrap this up, those of you in any healthcare setting remember why you got into this business to begin with and the yearning desires to help others that drove you to it.
God Bless,
~N