I'm not in it for the money

I'm a nursing student at my university. Yes, I got in! How wonderful!  But by now this is old news.  The nursing program is very comprehensive, and I take part in hands-on, supervised training with a group of 5 other girls at health care facilities.  This training is called "clinicals" and the places we work/learn at are called "clinical sites."

The first seven weeks took place in a long-term nursing home, or rehabilitation center.  It was a sad, disorganized, under-stimulating place.  Today I started at an actual hospital, but we are still focusing on rehabilitation care.  In the TCU, or transitional care unit, there are puzzles, books and magazines for the patients to entertain themselves with.  The unit is on the fourth floor, so the many windows allow natural light to come in.  The public rooms are warm and inviting, like a picture from a Better Homes & Gardens fall issue.  There are sconces that provide indirect, soothing light.  There are framed artworks and photographs on the walls, and fake plants that provide an aura of life and ease.  Since today was an orientation day where we got to know our new clinical instructor and familiarize ourselves with the unit, I did not meet any patients or see what their rooms were like.  However, I can tell that this site is of a much higher quality from the previous, and the patients are probably better cared for, and comparatively much more satisfied with their standard of care. It probably helps that the hospital is a MedStar hospital, which tend to have much more stringent procedures and repercussions for failure than "normal" hospitals.

This sets the scene for the following conversation I had with my cohort.  We were in an empty dayroom (which had a piano, wide-screen television and a tall bookshelf with very many different kinds of books!), gathering up our possessions we had stashed behind armchairs and other furniture. Our instructor had left the room to speak to someone who works on the unit, and for whatever reason the election had come up.

Of course I am voting for Obama, and I vote whenever I can, not just every four years.  I voted in the mid-term elections in 2010, and I will be voting this season.  Yes for gay marriage in my state, Yes for the DREAM act in my state, and Yes for the various other issues that look more like they are measures against in-state corruption than things I am typically aware of.  I'm sitting on the fence for allowing more gambling in my state.  There are many good arguments for it, while the arguments against it lean more to untruths about rising crime rates, increased prevalence of gambling addiction and not-in-my-backyard statements from those who would live near the new, second facility that is slated to be built.  I'm leaning more to "yes" than "no" but I feel uneducated about it so I can't say for sure yet.

This discussion led to my peers stating that they didn't pay attention and don't care for politics and policy.  I, doing that feminine thing where I explain away my perceived weirdness, give a brief run-down on why I have to care (Hispanic, immigrant family, been on welfare, military lifestyle and possession of a uterus generally indicate a high prevalence of new or existing legislature that dictate my life).  One girl stated that she was worried about Obamacare, how it would "mess things up for us."  This was probably a different feminine thing where she aligns herself with another girl to show allegiance and equality.  I, of course, didn't recognize this until just now.

I jumped in with a synopsis of how my maternal great uncle had just died after living with stage IV kidney cancer for six years, and the NHS (National Health Service, the UK single-payer health care system) had taken excellent care of him and his pain, and how the NHS had generally done great things for that entire half of my family.  There were statements that this was more an example of how it would help patients, which I responded to "But isn't that the point?"  There were murmurs and comments that it was also more medical care than nursing care, which was countered with "There are nurses in the hospitals giving him meds.  There are nurses visiting him at his home to help care for him.  Nurses are very involved in this kind of care."  The girl restates a previous point about how it was still the patient side of things, and I burst into an impassioned speech:

"But that's what matters!" I start "If [Obamacare] helps patients, who am I to complain?  I'm here to help people.  I'm here to help people who are injured, ill, who are hurting and need care.  That's what I want to do, that's why I am here.  I'm not in it for the money, if I was in it for the money I would be doing something completely different.  Patient care comes first, I want to help them, they need help and I am for anything that encourages this.  That is the entire point."

The entire exchange was unsettling.  I genuinely don't care how much or how little I could earn a year, because I will be doing something incredibly important.  The thought that anyone would go into medicine or health care without a dedication to the needs of a patient is sickening to me.  The fact that American health care is so miserable at providing consistent, timely basic care across the board is something to be ashamed of.  The fact that 90% of Obamacare's provisos are to protect patients and require these basic needs are met is shameful.  We should be doing this anyway, regardless of time constraints and staffing.  Health care is not an easy job, it is not simple work.  It is involved, exhausting and heavy with responsibility with pay that does not reflect the amount of work and dedication put into it.  Entering the field with a basic disregard for these widely known facts is patently irresponsible. This work is hard.  It is unforgiving. And it is so because of how important human actions play into the success of each patient's case.

I don't find myself to be very intelligent, or wise.  I don't think I know everything about anything, and I doubt my own mindfulness and intuition often.  Despite this, I am so deeply sure that my analysis of the field I am dedicating myself to is correct and obvious that I'm shocked and appalled that my peers do not recognize these same truths.