Paramedic: He called me a fag because I asked him to wear a mask
– STOP passive aggression – says paramedic Natalia Twarduś. He publishes a post online in which he writes: – Insults and malicious comments, including those with sexual overtones, are commonplace.
Natalia Twarduś has been living and working in Rzeszów as a paramedic for over 2 years. She spends most of her life at work and at university – she studies nursing. When she finds free time, she shares her thoughts on Instagram, running the “propofolek” profile. Recently, she published a bitter post in which she asked patients to show more respect to medical staff.
How do patients insult medical staff?
This is how Natalia Twarduś described the situation with one of the patients:
I am only a human. The same as everyone else. I feel emotions, hunger, tiredness, frustration. I feel everything you feel, sometimes even more. I remember how a patient whom I agreed to see even though he didn’t have an appointment called me an idiot. Reason? I asked him to wear a mask. Frustrated, he added that he wished me the worst and a few other epithets, including those with sexual undertones. At that moment I felt that the muscles in the very center of my body were shaking with nerves, and outside I could see the pulsating vessels around my temples.– wrote Natalia Twarduś on Instagram.
The patient wrote a complaint because he “had a bad day”
The rescuer also recalls other unpleasant situations from the hospital. One of the patients allegedly snorted in her face when she was about to take his blood. He commented disdainfully on whether she could even do it.
“I got stressed. And I didn’t download it. I asked him to drink some water and we would try again in a moment. He wrote a complaint against me, calling me an incompetent intern. Then he withdrew it after a week, explaining that he had a bad day. He had a bad day and I had a bad week because of it,” she says.
Malicious comments towards interns and experienced employees are commonplace.
– Huffing, sighing, passive aggression, expressing anger about the weather, the health care system, the government, COVID-19, a bad day, or green socks – there will always be a reason. Many people assume that they are entitled to everything because they pay taxes – comments N. Twarduś.
The other side of the coin
Patients often complain about the slow health service and queues to specialists, not realizing that the staff works hard.
“I often sacrificed my break to see a patient earlier so that he would not have to wait even though he had a later appointment. I was often hungry and tired, as long as the patient was satisfied. And having over 2 years of professional experience, I often came home without the strength to do anything, with the impression that I was noticing the beginnings of burnout.”– says Natalia Twarduś.
In such situations, he recalls kind words from patients who can thank him, for example, for the fact that taking blood was not painful. “Kind words and kindness from a patient are priceless. They allow you to continue to believe that your work makes sense and is something good. Let’s be kind and understanding to each other. I’m just a human being just like you.” – she wrote.
