Life is not a constant smooth ride. There are some situations where a person could be at their highest peak while the others have reached rock bottom but the best way to cope with it is just to keep on going with life until it becomes a memory.
This quotation can be applied in a person’s everyday routine such as work. There is a certainty that events in the workplace are not always good, bad, or neutral. On some occasions, an employee could be at their best because the atmosphere of the workplace is lively, nice, and full of positivity. On other days, it could be the total opposite due to some external factors like the atmosphere or the vibes of the fellow employees in general, or it can be the employee’s job was not satisfactory which is why most employees are stressed about how to be able to redeem themselves.
The constant change of atmosphere in a place is normal and it is inevitable. Added to this, the performance of a person depends on different situations. Even if they are known to be dexterous and extremely trains for tasks, it still could not guarantee success at work because there will be disruptions in the success of a person
This article will specifically tackle medical professionals in medical establishments, surgeons, to be specific and about their performance in their expertise.
Factors that Increase the Mortality Rate of a Patient in Surgery
It is no joke that surgeons are highly trained for one of the hardest responsibilities of a professional in general since surgeons are responsible for providing healthcare and medical needs to their patients through their practices as a surgeon, meaning, surgeons operate on a patient’s body as a way to provide their medical needs.
But can a surgeon really meet the patients’ demands constantly without any errors? To answer that question, well, no. That is not always the case since performing surgery is extremely hard, although there are actually some cases when a surgical operation is successful without errors but realistically, mistakes or errors are inevitable.
These types of mistakes could be done by the surgeons by accident, like accidentally nicking an artery that caused the patient to experience hemorrhage. Next is when a surgeon performed the wrong surgery, which could lead to worsening the patient’s condition or not even solving it at all. The last mistake a surgeon could make is to have another surgeon perform their surgical practices on a patient for them due to some interruptions in their schedule. This is called ghost surgery.
But of course, there are also some factors that are beyond the surgeon’s reach. The least they could do is to try to lessen the damage or risks that it will cause.
How Often Do Surgeons Lose Patients?
Research has reported that surgeons could lose about 11 up to 20 patients in only just a day, coming from the 51 up to 60 patients that a surgeon attends to every single day. The number of patients that is accumulated by a medical establishment in a single day is actually considered as a factor to why surgeons practice medical malpractice sometimes. Surgeons experience burn out in practicing surgical operations due to the huge amount of patients they have in a day. They run out of energy and get exhausted, which could disrupt their performance and make them mess up.
Another research has also reported that some patients who experienced any complications during their surgery, starting from after their surgery, counting from 30 days, reports that they passed away.
In five people, sometimes lower than 1% of patients have passed in the operating table while they are being operated on. Another information regarding the patient’s mortality rate is that about 500 patients have passed away in the hospital. Perhaps it could be in their hospital room due to some complications that surgeons failed to check.
How do Surgeons Cope With the Loss of Their Patients?
Being responsible for a person’s life is a very heavy and important task but there are some unavoidable instances wherein a surgeon has no choice but to mourn for the loss of a patient they were operating on.
Losing a patient could be extremely heavy for the surgeon since they were entrusted to save the, provide medical care for them, and of course, the surgeon would really want their patient to heal and survive no matter the odds but things happen and the only best way to handle it is to move on and not let the pressure get a hold of them.
According to some surgeons, they mentioned that they are already prepared for the worst. It is true that they are tasked to save their patients from diseases and illnesses but there is still no certainty whether the operation would still be a success that is why they have prepared themselves when it comes to losing a patient despite their confidence in performing the surgical operation.
Some surgeons had mentioned that the best way to cope with the loss is to mourn privately and push themselves to be a better surgeon so that they will be a better surgeon for their next patient. It was also mentioned that a surgeon also seeks help and guidance from their surgeons at times when they lose a patient. This is a healthy way for coping because not only that the senior surgeon could give their junior some advice, the surgeon who was seeking for help will also release their pent-up stress and emotional baggage that they have been keeping since the loss of their patient.
Another way to cope is for surgeons to seek support from their family or friends. A surgeon who just lost a patient might probably need a different environment or atmosphere to be surrounded in, in order to ease their stress. This is why some surgeons seek the comfort of their family and friends since they are the people who know them personally. Through communicating with them, the surgeon could ease themselves and perhaps gain a sense of security despite the troubles they are experiencing at work.
As for the family of the patient who have lost their loved one, surgeons have to be strong and comfort the bereaved family
Sources:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-surgery-complications-idUSKCN1UO29J
