The grueling fight against the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the sacrifices and dedicated contributions of healthcare professionals. However, healthcare providers have served the world for centuries, tirelessly fighting diseases and dispensing the gift of wellness.
While doctors and surgeons enjoy recognition and accolades, nurses and technicians go largely unrecognized and unrewarded. Healthcare professionals dedicate their lives, often putting themselves in harm’s way, to save others. And yet, their contributions are the most monumental, considering they spend more hours catering to patient care and treatment outcomes.
While the rest of the world can slack and take time off, healthcare professionals must give their best each day. They work exhaustingly long hours, fight life-and-death battles, and return to work without a trace of anxiety, diminishing their efficiency. Keep reading to take a closer look at how healthcare professionals dedicate their lives to saving others.
Poor Work-Life Balance
If you’re a nurse or have family and friends in this profession, you’re well aware of their struggles and challenging work routines. TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Scrubs can never do justice to the dedication and devotion demanded by the nursing profession. Full-time nurses typically work 36-40 hours per work, often more, depending on their job requirements.
They work exhaustingly long hours and struggle to find time for family, friends, and recreational activities. Their work routines take over their lives, denying opportunities to enjoy the simple pleasures of life. Many RNs look towards academic advancement to explore lucrative opportunities to carve out flexibility and progress in their careers.
We strongly advise RN and BSN professionals to consider pursuing a masters of science in nursing online to support career advancement. An MSN degree allows nurses to specialize in their chosen field and carve out more flexibility and financial stability. Academic progress comes with the promise of flexible working hours, clinical significance, peer respect, and more autonomy for patient care and treatment.
Combining education with a full-time nursing job isn’t easy, and many nurses find traditional classroom settings overly inflexible. Luckily, the e-learning infrastructure offers accessibility, flexibility, and ease, allowing full-time professionals to learn at their own pace. Once you look past the struggle and focus on the advantages, an MSN degree can help you achieve a healthy work-life balance.
Overwhelming Bouts of Occupational Stress
Imagine fighting against time to save a patient who has lost a staggering amount of blood in a road accident. Or worse, imagine saving a patient with bullet wounds, brain damage, or premature labor. Those who don’t work in the healthcare sector can never comprehend the overwhelming occupational stress healthcare providers experience.
Unfortunately, Hollywood depictions of life-saving debacles can hardly do justice to their stressful and anxiety-ridden work routines. Doctors, surgeons, nurses, and other healthcare providers overcome overwhelming bouts of stress to save lives. They deal with life-threatening fatalities and put together the human body after correcting a vast host of damages.
Occupational stress contributes to mental illnesses and concerns, and stress alone is a significant cause for concern. You see, stress gives birth to the damaging bodily hormone cortisol, which damages every organ in the body. Nurses are exposed to the full brunt of occupational stress, as, unlike physicians and surgeons, they don’t get much time off.
All healthcare providers have different strategies to deal with occupational stress. However, many fail to bust it off and suffer the brunt of mental concerns, reduced life quality, and sleep disturbances.
Risking Their Lives
The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has made us realize that healthcare providers are our real superheroes. When the world truly needed its heroes, they were found wearing scrubs and protective gear to save millions while risking their lives.
It’s pertinent to mention that healthcare providers, doctors, and nurses worldwide had the choice to stay home and ensure their safety. They were under no oath or responsibility to risk their lives and work tirelessly to save infected patients. But instead of choosing privilege and sitting at home, these professionals decided to honor the moral code of their esteemed professions.
They actively chose to risk their lives and treat people infected with the airborne virus. Nurses made staggering contributions, acting as care providers, skilled physicians, health campaigners, and mental health counselors. They treated, nurtured, and healed millions of patients, helping them fight isolation and staying optimistic.
Hundreds of nurses and healthcare professionals worldwide lost their lives in their quest to save millions of people. Many feared carrying the infection home to their families, and therefore, had to relocate and isolate themselves. It’s crucial to recognize these services and pay homage to their efforts and dedication.
Volunteering their Time
Physicians, surgeons, nurses, and other healthcare providers play an instrumental role in fighting healthcare inequality. They work tirelessly to improve health and life quality for the underprivileged by volunteering their time and services. Many esteemed physicians and surgeons set up health clinics for the poor and travel worldwide to offer free services.
Healthcare providers often travel to far-flung, remote communities to set up clinics and provide healthcare services. Prominent physicians and surgeons volunteer their time helping young professionals through telemedicine and virtual tools. They offer their guidance and advice in treating complex cases in healthcare facilities that lack resources and infrastructure.
Healthcare professionals have made monumental contributions in reducing the divide between the rich and poor. They have worked tirelessly to make healthcare more accessible to the underprivileged
Raising Awareness
Nurses are vital pillars of a community and play an active role in raising awareness, offering healthcare advice, and raising awareness. In recent years, BSN and MSN nurses have enjoyed similar clinical significance as skilled physicians. These qualified nurses often run community clinics and campaigns to raise awareness and offer diagnostic tools to detect cancers.
Healthcare providers collaborate to run impactful campaigns on cancer detection and awareness, amongst other issues. The coronavirus vaccine drives are a prominent example where nurses and other healthcare providers worked to fight misinformation. They actively encouraged their community members to get vaccinated and ensure their safety.
Final Thoughts
Paying homage to the dedication and devotion of healthcare professionals isn’t easy. It’s an endeavor that demands we begin from the inception of healthcare, tracing all the contributions made over the centuries. While that’s not an easy endeavor, we can do our part in reducing the burden on the healthcare sector.
Reducing the burden demands us to prioritize health and wellness, embrace positive lifestyle changes and take preventive measures. By reducing the burden on the healthcare sector, we can help its dedicated professionals enjoy a healthy work-life balance. It doesn’t take much to make a meaningful contribution!
