After two years of epidemic, our doctors are done.

How do you help them?

When we went out to applaud them on the balconies, children did not want to play with their children.

Those who wanted to shorten shifts to 16 hours "only" were called "spoiled."

Just a year ago, a fourth doctor in Soroka put an end to his life.

So what can be done to keep the people who were there to protect us in the difficult moments of our lives?

Maor Moiger

25/01/2022

Tuesday, 25 January 2022, 09:40 Updated: 09:54

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In the video: Demonstration by doctors specializing outside the Knesset and the Ministry of Finance (Photo: Roni Knafo, editor: Amit Simcha)

When you think of the heroes of the Corona days, alongside the obvious jokes about messengers who brought us all food and groceries, of course the first thing that comes to mind are the doctors, nurses and nurses and support staff - who stood at the forefront of the fight against deceptive virus. To the health systems in Israel and around the world.

One of the prominent symbols of the first wave was people going out to the balconies and applauding the medical staff.

At the same time, those who were at the forefront of the struggle say that they did not feel that people really saw them or appreciated their sacrifice.

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Prof. Golan Shachar, an expert in clinical and medical psychology at Ben-Gurion University, who also serves as an adjunct faculty member at Yale University School of Medicine, is well aware of these feelings.

He treats physicians at all levels - from medical students to senior executives.

"At the beginning of the first wave, just as people were going out to the balconies to clap, a doctor I was treating said children did not want to play with his child because their parents asked. Because he is a doctor, so he is more exposed. So he asked what the palms help if his child feels so Lonely and outcast? "

Demonstration by specialty doctors in May 2021 (Photo: Reuven Castro)

He says there is a dramatic gap between our expectations of the medical staff, the way we perceive them and the importance of their role, and the conditions and treatment they actually receive from all of us.

"In my opinion, the treatment of doctors is like in the horse's parable - you take down some straw every time until one day he just collapses. We take the best of our sons and daughters, put them in an impossible situation - and the effect is evident at all levels. I see it in students, Interns, interns, specialists and also very senior doctors. "

In fact, the hierarchical structure and the sense of mission and intensity of working as a doctor are very reminiscent of service in the IDF, although Prof. Shachar emphasizes that there is one significant difference between soldiers and doctors. "A doctor is a special kind of hero.

He's not a killer, he's a healer.

He is expected to be both empathetic, containing, enduring, even when dealing with complex situations and patients.

Therefore, when it erupts, breaks, or just does not do what is expected of it, it shocks us.

That is why we are seeing outbreaks and even violence against medical staff, even during the corona, "he explained.

The most vulnerable workers are also the ones who probably won’t call for help

Just as the military sometimes ignores the sacrifice and hardships of combat supporters, even in the medical arena not always enough importance is attached to the dedication, commitment and of course the hardships of the nurses, brothers and support staffs who face complex and unique difficulties every day anew.

Dr. Odia Cohen worked for 15 years as a nurse until she decided to pursue higher education at the academy. She is currently an emergency preparedness expert at Ben Gurion University and along the way has conducted a series of studies on how nursing staff have been affected by emergencies in general and the Corona crisis in particular. With Dr. Rami Pozis from the Department of Software and Information Systems Engineering at Ben Gurion University, one can understand the intensity of this vulnerability from a unique angle.

The study was published in 2020 in the Journal of Medical Internet Research during which they analyzed the Twitter discourse of English-speaking health workers in the days before and during the epidemic.

They are always there.

Nurses in the difficult days of the plague (Photo: AP)

"The data clearly show that the level of sadness went up and the joy went down. Emotions like anger and fear also went up and down in exact sync with the outburst waves. "Health needs to think about how to support these teams that have been dealing with these difficulties for a very long time, with uncomplicated consequences for the body and mind."

And it was not just the Twitter study that reflected this bleak picture.

In other studies, Dr. Cohen saw that about 90 percent of health care workers testified that they expected their organization to provide them with emotional support - but what was more interesting was those who did not ask for it. The strongest.

These are usually people who received low scores in the level of their professional commitment. "

At first the teams were praised - then came the violence

Anyone who knows the health care system from the inside understands that something must change in the attitude and care given to people that it would not be an exaggeration to say that the lives of all of us depend on them.

"The plight of doctors is a clear marker of society's pathology, because if doctors are in distress, society as a whole is in distress," emphasizes Prof. Nadav Davidovich, an expert in epidemiology and public health, head of the public health school at Ben Gurion University and head of health policy at the Taub Center.

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Prof. Davidovich, like his colleagues, also conducted studies that dealt, among other things, with the erosion of the medical staff, but also with the violence against them.

"Such violence may seem illogical, because at first everyone praised the teams, but later, with all the tension accumulating in the population, especially in the more advanced waves, unfortunately, the aggression came out in some cases precisely on those who were there to treat and help."

When he served as chairman of the Public Health Workers 'Organization, Davidovich worked in conjunction with the Prescription Organization, which initiated the interns' protest. That medical professionals are, according to official data, at increased risk for depression and even suicide.

"The series of suicides at Soroka Hospital last year is one of the most painful evidence of this."

But this, it is important to remember, is only one aspect of the story.

"We have published articles that also show hard feelings on the part of doctors that indicate that even if praised and appreciated, it is not reflected in the results on the ground. Doctors feel that they are treated a bit like spare parts. At the beginning of the crisis, for example, .

What can be done to improve the situation?

Of course, in order to produce a substantial and long-term change in relation to the medical staff in Israel, something must change at the systemic level.

Dr. .

Do not tire doctors it is in the interest of us all.

Tired doctor (Photo: ShutterStock)

Prof. Shachar, who published an article on the subject this month in the scientific journal Journal of humanistic phycology, agrees with his remarks and adds: The population's reactions to the eruption waves are a direct function of the manpower situation in the hospitals. Under restrictions in general. "

But one must not hang all hopes on the system that will produce the change.

It is important for each of us to remember that when it comes to receiving medical care, it faces people - tired, worn out, who have chosen to work with people out of a sense of mission - but their endurance also has a limit.

"The uncertainty that exists in the entire population also exists in the teams themselves - and they suffer from a lot of tensions and pressures, probably during this period," Prof. Davidovich emphasizes. "It's important to see how solidarity is created between the patients and the therapists who end up on the same side of the barricade."

Even a hero can be vulnerable

Prof. Shachar believes that a different look is needed at the way emotional support is required for medical staff.

"Over time, I realized that these people need a unique therapeutic approach - that understands the dynamics between vulnerability and resilience, that understands the important social role assigned to them, that understands the impossible stress system within which they operate."

"Doctors face insomnia, a rigid hierarchical system, a fear of mistakes that can be fatal and especially exhaustion and burnout," he says, "I care for my patients, they will be fine. The problem is with all those who will never seek help. "First and foremost to be more compassionate towards our doctors. And above all we need to change the medical ethos - to move from an ethos of a fearless warrior, to one that recognizes the fact that a doctor is allowed to be vulnerable, allowed to ask for help."

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