Medical officers go through a lot of pain after losing a patient – CDA Consult

The Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) has asked for public support for medical officers and nurses, who face daily challenges that go unrecognised by the broader public.

"It can be discouraging for the public to observe shortcomings in medical officers and nurses while overlooking the great efforts and sacrifices,” Mr Francis Ameyibor, CDA Consult Executive Director, stated.

He noted that the most difficult thing medical officers and nurses go through that is rarely acknowledged is when a patient dies while in their care.

As an advocate, "we have had years of interaction with medical officers and nurses and have observed that the most difficult task for a medical practitioner was to write the death certificate of a patient who had just passed away."

The CDA Consult, which is dedicated to a holistic health advocacy campaign under the title "Your Health: Our Collective Responsibility".

The initiative aimed at promoting health-related communication and providing a platform for health information dissemination in order to influence personal health choices through improved health literacy.

The public health advocacy platform "Your Health! Our Collective Responsibility" investigates the elements of four health communication approaches: informing, instructing, persuading, and urging.

Mr Ameyibor noted that regular and constant interactions with medical officers and nurses have indicated that the majority of them break down in their consulting rooms or go home with emotional burdens.

The CDA Consult Executive Director disclosed, "Our medical professionals and nurses are going through silent mental and emotional torture and psychological breakdown and need regular counselling and societal support."

"After losing a patient, some medical officers told us that they suffer greatly. A doctor will start to question their diagnosis and competence if they are grieving over past fatalities," he added.

According to him, CDA Consult observations also show that doctors and nurses frequently make a bond with their patients, which has an immediate impact on their physical, mental, and emotional well-being if that patient passes away.

Mr Ameyibor emphasised that while the medical officer or nurses are dealing with the emotional difficulties, the next patient is still waiting for their attention.

He pointed out that the majority of these difficulties are not publicised or shared on social media.

Medical officers and other health professionals require institutional and public support, according to the CDA Consult Executive Director: "They need our support to build their self-esteem and confidence to manage patients."

"We have to be careful not to instil panic and anxiety among medical personnel. They are worried about what the public would think of them, so we shouldn't put them under stress while they work. The public typically doesn't comprehend them," Mr Ameyibor said.

"I have witnessed a medical doctor, after losing a patient who wasn't his relative, cry uncontrollably when he returned to his consultation room. The doctor who happens to be a friend cried in my arms and finally lost it. These are a few of the challenging times they face," Mr Ameyibor said.

"This scares most doctors and nurses; sometimes they needed to take days off to get over the trauma of the death of a patient," said the CDA Consult Executive Director, who disclosed that the majority of medical officers and nurses confirmed that witnessing a death was their greatest fear when they first started their careers.

Mr Ameyibor pointed out that occasionally doctors may seem numb to a patient's passing, which some doctors believe is a coping strategy to avoid bearing the weight of the death and jeopardising the care of other hospital patients.

The Executive Director of CDA Consult urged the public to reject the idea that doctors are negligent about patient fatalities and emphasised the importance of providing medical personnel with emotional, physical, and psychological assistance.

“We must talk about medical negligence, but we must be circumspect about how we discuss it, especially in both the traditional and social media. Let’s criticise them, but let's not throw them under the moving train,” Mr Ameyibor stated.