Hospital General Ward: Where Patients Learn Patience

Same hospital, different treatment

Walk into a general ward and you’ll quickly understand what “busy” really looks like. One doctor for dozens of patients, nurses running non-stop, and relatives doing half the work. The patient might be sick, but the staff look even more exhausted.

It’s not that the doctors and nurses don’t care, they simply don’t have the time (or maybe they just don’t care).

Funny thing is, move the same patient to the semi-private, private, or even deluxe section of the hospital, and suddenly everything feels efficient. Smiles, quick responses, regular checkups. Same people, same hospital, but care changes depending on the type of room you can afford. Of course, these sections often have different medical staff who seem more attentive and better able to provide care than the general ward staff.

From the perspective of medical staff in the general ward, too many patients, too few staff, and never-ending rounds. (Fair point.)

But what I wonder is, if there are so few medical staff, why aren’t hospitals hiring more people? There are plenty of trained doctors and nurses waiting for jobs. More hiring means better service, less burnout, and more employment. A total win-win.

1. Unemployed medical professionals get work (unemployment is one of the biggest global issues, after all).
2. The general ward will have more staff to handle patients properly (patients get attention, staff get relief).

So the big same question for hospitals is, why are they not hiring more medical staff?

Maybe because:

1. They don’t want to.
2. They can’t find new candidates.
3. They don’t have money to hire.
4. Their money is tied up in other priority projects.
5. Or who knows why.

GIF from medium library