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Apr 3, 2024
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Healthcare Professions and Their Challenges an Analysis of
Raya Elfadel Kheirbek’s At the VA, Healing the Doctor-Patient Relationship and Lydia Polgreen’s Nurses Are Burned Out and Fed Up, With Good Reason
Kasey Bernhard
English 111 English comp.
Professor Jeff Paschke-Johannes
Ivy Tech Community College September 17, 2023
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Healthcare Professions and Their Challenges an Analysis of Raya Elfadel Kheirbek’s At the
VA, Healing the Doctor-Patient Relationship and Lydia Polgreen’s Nurses Are Burned Out and Fed Up, With Good Reason
Healthcare providers experience various challenges in the workplace, which must be addressed for efficient patient care. Raya Elfadel Kheirbek (a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland) wrote about the relationship challenges physicians and patients face in the VA. Examples of such challenges include burnout, workforce shortages, and failure of patients to cooperate with the physician, among others. If barriers prevent a suitable patient-physician relationship, the patient and the physician must know how to
eliminate this barrier for efficient care (Kheirbek, 2017). For example, racial, ethnic, and cultural
differences might hinder efficient care because the patient and the provider might fail to communicate effectively. In this case, the physician must communicate better with the patient to ensure efficient care, in case of a language barrier the physician can have a translator to help the patient and provider communicate efficiently. Although the physician-patient relationship is essential, it is determined by both parties' cooperation. Physicians who experience challenges in the workplace, like burnout, might find it challenging to establish a good relationship with the patient. In this regard, healthcare providers should have a conducive working environment for efficient patient care. Lydia Polgreen author of ‘Nurses are Burned Out and Fed Up, With Good Reason’ speaks of the struggle nurses endure in their profession such as burn out, high patient to nurse ratios, and short staffing. I will be comparing the views of Polgreen and Kheirbek on the challenges faced by healthcare workers, specifically the troubles of patient-physician relationships and the challenges nurses face with work burnout and unsafe patient to nurse ratios.
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Both readings explore the importance of overcoming workplace challenges by healthcare providers for efficient patient care. Polgreen argues that nurses are at the forefront of healthcare provision, but the healthcare system does not recognize this because most nurses work in unfavorable conditions (Polgreen 2023). For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare facilities were unprepared, and nurses had to perform extra duties to protect patients from the disease. Nurses worked long hours in unsafe environments, risking their lives to protect patients. Nursing burnout affects patients’ quality of care, as well as their health. Polgreen calls on governments to eliminate workplace challenges nurses face to ensure efficient care. Another problem experienced by nurses is workforce shortage. Polgreen notes that the workforce is decreasing despite increased nurse demand (Polgreen, 2023). Many nurses are employed every year, but only a few are still at work at the end of the year because they quit their jobs after experiencing challenges. In this regard, the healthcare system should provide a conducive working environment free from burnout to help retain nurses. Both readings also explore challenges nurses and other healthcare providers’ encounter. Kheirbek experienced a challenge in communicating with a patient who did not want treatment from a certain. The patient claims he did not like his primary care physician because she was from the Middle East, claiming that ‘those people’ wanted to kill him (Kheirbek, 2017). Kheirbek experienced an ethical dilemma because she had Middle Eastern origin, which the patient did not want (Kheirtbek, 2017). Kheirtbek wondered if it was okay to reveal to the patient
her origin because she wanted to help the patient. Still, she also feared that the patient might react the same way he reacted to the primary care physician after realizing that Kheirbek was also from the Middle East. Kheirbek understands her role and the importance of connecting with patients. She understands the strategies that should be used to eliminate this bias from patients
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and to help them improve their health. Through his interaction with the patient, Kheirbek also realized that she had predetermined bias because she remembered some of the painful moments in her veterinary service. Through this understanding, kheirbek could work with the patient despite their prejudices to ensure she improved their health and well-being. Polgreen states that nurses perform a lot of work in improving patient health, but their efforts are not recognized because they encounter several challenges in the workplace. The healthcare system does not value nurses, and their work has been taken for grade because, despite their services, their challenges are never addressed (Polgreen, 2023). As a result, many nurses are quitting their profession. Most nurses do not need salary increments, but they want their working conditions looked at and made more efficient to deliver quality and safe patient care. Kheirbek explains the importance of the patient-physician relationship in improving patient care, while Polgreen explains the importance of improving workplace conditions in improving patient care. Kheirbek explains a situation in which he encountered a veteran who did not want to be treated by a doctor from the Middle East. The veteran wanted Kheirbek to change his doctor because the veteran believed the doctor was from the Middle East and he had misconceptions about him. Kheirbek examined his bias to understand the veteran's bias but wanted to ensure a healthy patient-physician relationship (Kheirbek, 2017). After examining his prejudices, Kheirbek realized that biases exist in most situations, and even though they might have negative effects, they can also have positive impacts when managed well.
On the other hand, Polgreen explains that improving workplace conditions is essential in improving patient care because nurses cannot deliver quality care when they are burned out or experience other challenges (Polgreen, 2023). A nurse handling many patients might not focus on
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their relationship with the patient but might only focus on the outcome, which might not be good.
Polgreen also argues that nurses have been ignored way before the COVID-19 pandemic (Polgreen, 2023). She further states that nurses have gone on strikes to fight for their rights, but their cries have not been heard because many countries witness nurse strikes every year. Kheirbek's essential message is that active listening is critical in healthcare provision. Physicians must create an environment where they listen to their patients attentively without distractions. Active listening enables the physician to empathize with the patient, creating more trust and connection with them (Kheirbek, 2017). A patient who is listened to well can share their
experiences without fear, enabling the physician to get adequate information about the patient, hence delivering quality care. On the contrary, Polgreens focuses on the healthcare provider, not the patient. Polgreen does not explore the importance of the physician-patient relationship because she believes that when healthcare providers work in a conducive environment, they connect well with patients and deliver quality care. In conclusion, healthcare workers face many challenges related to the working environment or the patient. Kheirbek discusses challenges physicians face concerning the patient, while Polgreen explores workplace challenges experienced by nurses and other healthcare providers. All these challenges must be eliminated for quality patient care and to ensure the safety of all parties involved. According to Kheirbek, physicians should address any challenges they encounter with the patient and establish a good relationship that will enable care delivery. Polgreen calls on the healthcare system to eliminate the workplace challenges nurses face to enable them to deliver quality and safe patient care.
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References
Kheirbek, R. E. (2017). At The VA, Healing The Doctor-Patient Relationship. In (ED.), They
Say/I Say Custome Reader for Ivy Tech (p.119). W.W. Norton & Company, Inc (Original
Work published 2017)
Polgreen, L. (2023). Nurses are burned out and fed up, with good reason. In (ED.), They Say/I
Say Custom Reader for Ivy Tech (p.119). W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. (Original work
published 2023)
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