The Sevillian intensivist Tamara Contreras, 42, did not think that her reflections on Instagram about the daily life of ICU doctors would become a space where colleagues in her specialty and many others expressed their frustration about the 24-hour shifts. hours. But that's how it was. And that unrest spread like wildfire. So much so that it has reached the Senate, where the Minister of Health herself, Mónica García, committed last week to putting an end to those endless days that not only harm the health of the doctor, but also put that of the patient at risk.
Tomorrow, in fact, Dr. Contreras will travel from the Mateu Orfila public hospital in Maó (Menorca), where she arrived in 2013, to the Ministry of Health, in the heart of Madrid, to deliver to the minister the most 90,000 signatures (under the motto
Surprised?
Pleasantly surprised. Just the fact that they listen to us is important to us. It is vitally important for the health system to find solutions because new generations are fleeing specialties that require guards. If this continues like this, there will be no intensivists, anesthetists, surgeons, or traumatologists... They will go to dermatology or aesthetics, where there are no on-calls. Because young people are clear that they do not want our lives.
What a life?
Well, work your eight hours (in my case from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. from Monday to Friday) and, at least once a week, extend that day until 8 a.m. the next day if you don't have to continue with your usual shift. It's not 24 hours, it's more and more. At least, I do about six and in summer, between 8 and 10. This month of July, for example, I have 11 in 31 days! Do you know what that is?
Live to work.
Exact. And that has an enormous personal cost. Health, both physical and mental, suffers greatly. Do you know what it's like to work hours and hours in the ICU, take a nap and wake up again because an emergency comes? In those 20 meters that separate the room from the ICU area, I stretch, shaking off the sleep that's clinging to me and cursing myself for being a doctor. But then you walk in there and you see a very serious woman and only she matters.
How do they do it? Aren't they afraid of doing something wrong?
No, because you get the doctor who thinks first and foremost about his patients. It sounds cliché, but that's how it is. And you understand well why you became a doctor... But when your guard ends and you return home, you get down again. The adrenaline drops and the curses return. You're tired, tired of not seeing your children (I have two twin girls), of raising them that way, of not having time for yourself...
Don't your reflexes fail after so many hours of work?
Obviously, in the morning, during my usual shift, I see and analyze situations more quickly and clearly. When you spend many hours, it takes a little longer. But, the patient is always on top. Of course, the long hours and the fatigue that comes with it do influence the “dehumanization” of healthcare. Because, after 24 hours they can't expect us to show the best of our smiles.
What solutions are there?
It is clear that more and better paid doctors are needed, which means more money. And, if the guard system has to be maintained, at least there should be more rest time. It is unacceptable that you leave a shift and have to return to work the next day. But, I tell you, either a solution is found or we will be left without doctors in a short time.
Many doctors are not happy with the end of on-call
Already. Because a good part of our salary comes from them. A doctor can earn between the base salary and the community supplements around 2,400 or 2,800 euros. And with the guards (which are not charged as overtime but as complementary hours) it can be close to 4,000 per month. It's not that we earn a lot, it's that we work a lot.
At 55 they are no longer obliged to do them, right?
True, but life has changed a lot in these 40 years of the guards. And many doctors have, at 55, young children to continue paying for college and they cannot give up that part of their salary.
