Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

It is wrong to exploit physicians’ compassion

Tom Belanger, MD
Physician
August 28, 2019
128 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share

When a patient comes to see me for a migraine headache, I know that they will leave feeling 100 percent better. They will finally be rid of that pounding, nauseating pain in their head, and they will be happy. And that makes me happy.

Doctors derive great joy from helping their patients. In addition to a strong sense of accomplishment, the ability to reach out and make another life brighter appeals to the humanity in each of us. The world feels smaller and so much more relatable when you are able to cure the sick, and there is no replacement for that joy.

However, this intense compassion is also, unfortunately, a vulnerability.

A few years ago, I was on the phone with a staffing agency that was looking for last-minute help at a facility where I worked part-time. They needed help over the weekend, and I had planned a trip with my family at the same time. And I told them so.

They said that they wanted me to just give them a number — whatever it would take to have me fill their shifts. I gave them a number, and they told me it was too high — could I work for half of that?

“Please, we’re just asking for some help at getting these shifts covered!”

We are so used to coming to work to be compassionate, to take care of patients, that we can often forget that there is a distinction between the patient care part of the job and the business side of the job.

The general medical complex is so large, and it all feeds on the patient-physician interaction. There are many necessary jobs that are fed by this. There are many good things that the business/administrative side of the general medical complex accomplishes. There is also a great deal of waste.

Regardless, it is important to know that we go to work not just to make patients well, but also to feed a horde of credentialers, businessmen, billers and coders, stockholders, and administrators. These are not bad people, but they are not our patients.

But it is easy for a doctor, who is used to providing compassion for a living, to conflate the two. To think that they have a duty to provide compassion to the medical complex. To think that they owe the hospital their time and their love. To think that they have a responsibility to work more shifts than they’d like, stay longer hours, see patients under worsening conditions, attempt to do more with less.

It doesn’t benefit our patients to work for less, or longer, under worse conditions. In fact, we owe it to our patients to push for less burnout, better hours, and better working conditions so that we deliver excellent care compassionately.

Who would I have been helping by taking those shifts that weekend?

While businesses are entitled to try and make money, I feel less inclined toward generosity when the recipient is a large corporation and their shareholders.

It is wrong to exploit our compassion as a vulnerability — it hurts us, and it hurts the people we have promised to heal.

I told the staffing agency no and took my family on vacation. We had a great time.

Tom Belanger is an emergency physician and CEO, DRPLZ.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

A surprise pregnancy in medical school

August 28, 2019 Kevin 1
…
Next

The story of a hospital collapse and how small towns were devastated

August 28, 2019 Kevin 1
…

Tagged as: Practice Management

Post navigation

< Previous Post
A surprise pregnancy in medical school
Next Post >
The story of a hospital collapse and how small towns were devastated

More by Tom Belanger, MD

  • How non-physician practitioners are pawns of large health care organizations

    Tom Belanger, MD

Related Posts

  • Are patients using social media to attack physicians?

    David R. Stukus, MD
  • The risk physicians take when going on social media

    Anonymous
  • Beware of pseudoscience: The desperate need for physicians on social media

    Valerie A. Jones, MD
  • When physicians are cyberbullied: an interview with ZDoggMD

    Monique Tello, MD
  • Surprising and unlikely rewards of social media engagement by physicians

    Lisa Chan, MD
  • Physicians who don’t play the social media game may be left behind

    Xrayvsn, MD

More in Physician

  • From solidarity to co-liberation: Understanding the journey towards ending oppression

    Maiysha Clairborne, MD
  • Finding peace through surrender: a personal exploration

    Dympna Weil, MD
  • The struggle to fill emergency medicine residency spots: Exploring the factors behind the unfilled match

    Katrina Gipson, MD, MPH
  • Beyond the disease: the power of empathy in health care

    Nana Dadzie Ghansah, MD
  • How to overcome telemedicine’s biggest obstacles

    Harvey Castro, MD, MBA
  • The patient who became my soulmate

    Anonymous
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Nobody wants this job. Should physicians stick around?

      Katie Klingberg, MD | Physician
    • The real cause of America’s opioid crisis: Doctors are not to blame

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
    • Healing the damaged nurse-physician dynamic

      Angel J. Mena, MD and Ali Morin, MSN, RN | Policy
    • The struggle to fill emergency medicine residency spots: Exploring the factors behind the unfilled match

      Katrina Gipson, MD, MPH | Physician
    • From physician to patient: one doctor’s journey to finding purpose after a devastating injury

      Stephanie Pearson, MD | Physician
    • Breaking the stigma: Addressing the struggles of physicians

      Jean Antonucci, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • The hidden dangers of the Nebraska Heartbeat Act

      Meghan Sheehan, MD | Policy
    • The fight for reproductive health: Why medication abortion matters

      Catherine Hennessey, MD | Physician
    • The vital importance of climate change education in medical schools

      Helen Kim, MD | Policy
    • Resetting the doctor-patient relationship: Navigating the challenges of modern primary care

      Jeffrey H. Millstein, MD | Physician
    • Nobody wants this job. Should physicians stick around?

      Katie Klingberg, MD | Physician
    • Why are doctors sued and politicians aren’t?

      Kellie Lease Stecher, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Unlock the power of physician compensation data in contract negotiations [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • From pennies to attending salaries: Why physicians should teach their kids financial literacy

      Michele Cho-Dorado, MD | Finance
    • From solidarity to co-liberation: Understanding the journey towards ending oppression

      Maiysha Clairborne, MD | Physician
    • Changing the pediatric care landscape: Integrating behavioral and mental health care

      Hilary M. Bowers, MD | Conditions
    • Contract Diagnostics is the only firm 100 percent dedicated to physician contract reviews

      Contract Diagnostics | Sponsored
    • The real cause of America’s opioid crisis: Doctors are not to blame

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 3 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

CME Spotlights

From MedPage Today

Latest News

  • Pregnant, Black? Here's Your Drug Test
  • Progestin-Only Birth Control Linked to Small Increase in Breast Cancer Risk
  • Fatty Acid Tube Feeding May Backfire for Preemie Breathing Disorder
  • Case Reports Detail Vision Loss Linked to Recalled Artificial Tears
  • Admin Trumps Med Students: Anti-Abortion Group Allowed on Campus

Meeting Coverage

  • Outlook for Itchy Prurigo Nodularis Continues to Improve With IL-31 Antagonist
  • AAAAI President Shares Highlights From the 2023 Meeting
  • Second-Line Sacituzumab Govitecan Promising in Platinum-Ineligible UC
  • Trial of Novel TYK2 Inhibitor Hits Its Endpoint in Plaque Psoriasis
  • Durable Vitiligo Responses With Topical Ruxolitinib
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Nobody wants this job. Should physicians stick around?

      Katie Klingberg, MD | Physician
    • The real cause of America’s opioid crisis: Doctors are not to blame

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
    • Healing the damaged nurse-physician dynamic

      Angel J. Mena, MD and Ali Morin, MSN, RN | Policy
    • The struggle to fill emergency medicine residency spots: Exploring the factors behind the unfilled match

      Katrina Gipson, MD, MPH | Physician
    • From physician to patient: one doctor’s journey to finding purpose after a devastating injury

      Stephanie Pearson, MD | Physician
    • Breaking the stigma: Addressing the struggles of physicians

      Jean Antonucci, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • The hidden dangers of the Nebraska Heartbeat Act

      Meghan Sheehan, MD | Policy
    • The fight for reproductive health: Why medication abortion matters

      Catherine Hennessey, MD | Physician
    • The vital importance of climate change education in medical schools

      Helen Kim, MD | Policy
    • Resetting the doctor-patient relationship: Navigating the challenges of modern primary care

      Jeffrey H. Millstein, MD | Physician
    • Nobody wants this job. Should physicians stick around?

      Katie Klingberg, MD | Physician
    • Why are doctors sued and politicians aren’t?

      Kellie Lease Stecher, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Unlock the power of physician compensation data in contract negotiations [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • From pennies to attending salaries: Why physicians should teach their kids financial literacy

      Michele Cho-Dorado, MD | Finance
    • From solidarity to co-liberation: Understanding the journey towards ending oppression

      Maiysha Clairborne, MD | Physician
    • Changing the pediatric care landscape: Integrating behavioral and mental health care

      Hilary M. Bowers, MD | Conditions
    • Contract Diagnostics is the only firm 100 percent dedicated to physician contract reviews

      Contract Diagnostics | Sponsored
    • The real cause of America’s opioid crisis: Doctors are not to blame

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today iMedicalApps
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

It is wrong to exploit physicians’ compassion
3 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...