Physicians shouldn't be entitled to hazard pay unless the nurses, nurse assistants, respiratory therapists, and environmental associates are also getting hazard pay
ALL front-line health workers should be receiving hazard pay. However, the situation arose specifically because many allied health professionals (e.g. nurses) were being offered significant hazard pay meanwhile residents/fellows/attendings were not.
Almost all other allied health professionals make much less than this, and financial recovery would be much more difficult.
imo, this is really the heart of the issue. Offering hazard pay to physicians must be expensive just because salaries are already relatively high.
Regardless, it is unforgivable to not offer hazard pay at the very least to residents and fellows, whose salaries are more in line with that of other non-physician health pros. And it should really be offered to
everyone coming in, regardless of the cost. At the end of the day these are the people who are putting their lives and their family's at risk for the greater good. Why is there so much reluctance from hospital administration towards just doing the right thing? And how can you defend the administration's actions
which negatively impact your colleagues?
Our health system lost 50 million dollars in just a few months due to canceled elective surgeries
This really speaks to how scared the population was and how little we knew about the virus at the time; the same time during which physicians and health professionals were going into work because they just wanted to help. My health systems
hemorrhaged money too, but what about all the leftover cash from all those other years when things have been going great and we've been bringing in record revenue? Suddenly disappeared? Or perhaps the hospital doesn't want to lose any more money because they're a business who only cares about the bottom line?
All managers and administrators took a pay cut.
Categorically false. Maybe at your hospital, but I worked at
5 different hospitals throughout this pandemic. Some community, some private. The closest any of the administrators ever got to a pay cut was an optional one for high earners. Some CEOs didn't take bonuses but some did. The first thing to get cut however were employee benefits. I'll live without their retirement contributions, but the 60 y/o janitor who immigrated here 5 years ago and works two full-time jobs is going to feel it a lot.
We are not talking about some mom-and-pop shop that is barely staying afloat, we're talking about a multi-billion dollar industry where executives are raking in millions of dollars but are simply unwilling to set aside some cash for workers. Every day, my email is flooded with "thank you" videos and inspirational messages and all the feel good stuff. Unfortunately, my landlord doesn't yet accept hugs as my rent payment.
Nobody was getting hazard pay
False. Nurses were receiving lots of it. Some hospitals gave it to many (or all) healthcare workers. And many,
many executives were making the same 6-figure salaries and lucrative bonuses while working from the comfort and safety of home. Don't get me wrong, they worked hard to get where they're at and I'm happy for them! But I'm exhausted of seeing their hypocrisy ooze out with every thank you message/video/activity where all they have to offer is lip service, some cheap screen-printed Hanes and lukewarm coffee. Give me a ****ing break.
Seriously, people. If you want to be a doctor for the money, you're doing it for the wrong reason. Some people have lost everything because of COVID.
This is the part of your post that angers me the most. Do you
actually think residents/fellows/attendings are being greedy for asking for hazard pay? But you don't think hospital executives are being greedy by withholding said hazard pay, or by continuing to make their exorbitantly high salaries and bonuses? Do you think when COVID hit that physicians just woke up one morning and said "wow today is going to be such a great day, I can't wait to make money off all these sick people" ????? Nobody was asking for 10 zillion dollars in renumeration or thinking that they were suddenly going to get rich off hazard pay.
It is inconceivable to me that hospital executives are okay with doing stuff like this. This kind of attitude is the same one that told people to shut up about inadequate PPE because of "professionalism" and threatened to fire people who reported about it.
Allow me to provide you with some advice my friend: look out for yourself. If you think the hospital cares about you,
you are wrong. They know where your heart lies and they're using it to exploit you. They know you won't walk away from patients or just not show up to work. If you die, they will send a "RIP" email about how great you were and move on. In their eyes, we are replaceable.