You come to the hospital because you are sick and you want to get better. Makes sense. You get admitted, finally, after sitting in the Emergency Department for six hours. You're out of sorts and your only wish now is for healthcare professionals to do their job and help you get better. The resident physician walks in and before even saying hello, wallops out three sneezes in a row.
This happens all the time, in part because residents are in a workplace culture of 'suck it up and get back to work.'
A recent study on training attitudes and behaviors of medical students and residents during the 2009 H1N1 influenza epidemic found that more student doctors chose to work ill. But was it their first choice?
Resident doctors, aside from being in a highly stressful work environment for hours on end, may receive conflicting guidance from their employers, state health departments, professional associations, and occupational health experts. In other words, OSHA may say, "Do X..." but your Department says, "Oh no, no, no ... we need you to do Y." And the result is that, you the patient are exposed to more illnesses in the hospital than on the street...just at the time when you are most vulnerable.
There is also pressure on medical students to be present in the hospital, even when they could be passing on infections to patients.
"There are no incentives by medical schools for sick students to stay home - just the exact opposite of what you would see if there was a healthy and caring workplace and patient safety culture," said Bill Borwegen, Occupational Health and Safety Director for SEIU.
The Centers for Disease Control, according to the study, indicated that the majority of H1N1 cases affected people under 25 years of age, the same age as many medical trainees.
While the resident physician has ethical responsibilities to adhere to, that ethic is frequently impossible to carry out.
Every patient in the hospital deserves to get the best care possible, and that means being treated by a healthy doctor. Likewise, every resident doctor should feel that taking a sick day is in fact the more professional thing to do.
