health care and responsibility

does anyone else work in emergency medicine? i find it really hard dealing with the responsibility of it im always so worried ive hurt my pt or missed something crucial or noticed something crucial but what if no one else thought it was crucial and no one is gonna listen to a pct telling you to do a stroke scale on your pt lol. (im a pct) among so many other things from today im now worried and cant stop ruminating and checking a senerio today where i was helping transfer a pt onto a stretcher and holding up the bar that holds the life pack (bc long person lol) and then with out thinking i let go of the bar and idk if it even made contact w the pt and the paramedic assesed it and said he saw no mark and the pt even said their foot didnt hurt so the paramedic said good enough for me and took them on their way but now all i can think abt is omg what if it hit the pt and broke their foot and nobody reported it or had the dr look at it like i mean the pt was a&o enough to speak for themself if they were hurt to my recollection but im so concerned ive been ai googling for reassurance for hours the other instances from today are much bigger but this is definitely more realistically in my scope of responsibility than the other things ive crashed out abt today ems is so fun but also im constantly looping like this and i dont think im cut out for it w my anxiety im worried it makes me worse than others i highkey feel i should quit i cant get it out of my head that maybe that pt has an injury and its my fault even though the pt and paramedic both said it was chill

sunny8

Date posted: 6d

Hi there! I’m also in healthcare (nurse practitioner) and I relate to this so much. I had already been a NP for like 7 years (RN for 10) before getting diagnosed with OCD. I’ve found a few things to be helpful so far, definitely still a work in progress. My biggest tool is labeling those types of spirals as OCD. I’ll say to myself “this is OCD, not reality” and then try to move on to the next task at hand with as much presence as possible. Later at home or on lunch if I’m doom googling/OpenEvidence/UpToDate I generally just have to do a distraction technique like listen to true crime while doing a puzzle. Another thing that helps me is just reflecting that I’ve had thousands of other patient spirals in the past and the vast majority of them I can’t even remember what they were about. I’m not sure where you are in your OCD journey, but I know for me that when I finally knew what I was experiencing was an issue with my brain that other people have also experienced, it was a huge help. I’ve tried to learn as much as possible about it. It sounds like you really like your job and care so much about your patients. You can absolutely work in healthcare, and it’s so great that you are recognizing how your anxiety and OCD are impacting you in the work setting. I have so many different things to say about this and examples to give but I just want to let you know that you can totally do this. I somehow made it this far in my career (and life) with undiagnosed OCD and the fact that you are actively seeking help and support is huge. You got this!

xyzwqr

Date posted: 6d

@sunny8 thank you❤️ i think i just have troubles distinguishing between real concern another person would worry abt and ocd exaggerating things which is hard with peoples literal lives a steak lol

xyzwqr

Date posted: 6d

@sunny8 low key thinkin abt just being a barista lol

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