The Abandonment of Responsibilities as Professionals: A Personal Account of my experience in Hospital Settings

I have never been a lover of hospital settings since childhood. I mostly felt sick to my stomach once I step into a hospital. Hello, guess who currently works as a Pharmacist in the hospital and have learnt to adjust to my reality?. Yes you guessed it. Although still not my preferred area of specialization, I have decided to make do with it and always give it my best. The reason I'm beginning this write up with this brief confession is to demonstrate that it is not alien to be where you don't want to be for the meantime especially if there's no cause for alarm as regards one's wellbeing or safety. what is inappropriate and unacceptable as a professional is to be present in an environment and abandon basic responsibilities that directly affects patients' care and in some cases causes significant difficulties to patients' caregivers. For many of us, pharmacists and others working in the hospital environment, we share the common sentiment that this is not where we want to be. This sentiment is reinforced by repeated events we witness pointing to system failures, redundancy and conditions of service in some public hospitals. Our decision to accept a job opportunity is a declaration of our intention to take full responsibility as such. It is therefore immoral in my view, to accept a job opportunity in a crucial sector like the health sector solely to keep afloat considering its financial benefits, with the intention to relegate your duties and responsibilities towards patients and caregivers as afterthoughts. We don't want to be in the hospital has nothing to do with the patients/caregivers we owe our services. They did not employ us neither did they provide counsel in our decision to accept the offer to provide them services. That we do not feel fulfilled in our jobs should not warrant unnecessary aggression towards patients and caregivers who are mostly lost and confused considering their situation. This is in no way trying to ignore or trivialize the unruly behavior of some patients or caregivers. However, our position as professionals require us to remain professional even with such encounters. What is disturbing to me, is that there are many of us who do not prioritize patients' care, who see patients as burden, who would easily dismiss them without so much as an attempt to listen to their complaints, who would not move an inch to ensure or guide them on how to navigate the system they are probably experiencing for the first time. I urge every single one of us to reflect on our actions, to put ourselves in these patients' shoes, to realize that the decision to accept an offer means the declaration of acceptance of all responsibilities attached to that offer. To recognize the immorality of resuming a 9-5 job with no intention whatsoever to impact positively on the health or well-being of a single soul or assume responsibility for major duties in the work place. This is no attempt to declare moral superiority over others, but a plea on behalf of patients and their caregivers to all health workers. Let the reason your patients and caregivers forget the stress of visiting the hospital be our service to them. Let them remember our goodness and most importantly professionalism. In all honesty it is the sweetest and greatest of fulfillment.