Empathy ?

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Chrish

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After working in retail for so long, I feel like I have become numb to the feeling of empathy. I try my best to help patient out, but not out of compassion. I do it because that's my job.

Does anyone relate? Like you don't really care about patient on a personal level? I feel as if I have turned into machine!
 
Chrish said:
After working in retail for so long, I feel like I have become numb to the feeling of empathy. I try my best to help patient out, but not out of compassion. I do it because that's my job.

Does anyone relate? Like you don't really care about patient on a personal level? I feel as if I have turned into machine!
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customers dont have empathy for you behind the counter. Arrogant and narcissism has won. Everyone thinks they are kings and queens when they are poor , thats what Americans are. Poor Americans thinking they are king when they dont want to pay copay and have no money. Same thing goes around when they act arrogant but have no money at all. Though there are some nice ones, its a culture of disrespect
 
At least you still had some left after working in retail. I have already lost all of my empathy and patience just 3 months into APPEs.
 
I have seen techs cry couple of times when they couldn't get the med covered for the patient who really needed it. Me on the other:

"Ms. Smith, your insurance won't cover your med. I called your doctor to change it and waiting for the response. The discount card won't take as much off. Nothing else I can do about it other than waiting.". Then I would say sorry as a formality and walk away. I wouldn't feel the least bit of sympathy for Ms. Smith who is sobbing at the moment.

When I think about it, I feel I have become too cold and detached. Like part of my soul is dead after working with needy customers and management for so long.
 
my customers buy me food al
lord999 said:
That's about right. Almost every pro-welfare pharmacist I ever met changed their minds after a year or so working with them. I've always wanted to figure out social worker burnout as a sidegig, but I think the answer is too depressing.
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sorry for the comment, I became cynical. I guess I lost my empathy, except for some patients
 
I have never done retail full-time but I have been doing it part-time for almost twenty years, including five years before I got licensed. I have empathy for some patients. Depends on how they behave. If they are polite and humble and decent - I will do everything I can for them, and I will be sad if I can't help them. If they act entitled and/or rude - I will do the minimum required by law and repeat "I am sorry, there is nothing I can do" in a flat tone as many times as it takes to get them to go away. And the only emotion I will feel is irritation at them having wasted my time. How big or small their problem is has no bearing on how I feel about them, only how they present themselves.
 
At my job I deal with patients ranging from elderly hospice patients receiving end of life care to young patients in rehab from drug abuse. My emotions went numb, otherwise I would go insane from all the sob stories you would hear. I just do my job and give them what they need and make sure it's paid for. That's all I can do in my current capacity.
 
I've had a pt toss a stack of Medicaid cards (probably from the last 10 years or so) at me on the counter and told me, " you figure it out."
 
At the end of the day, I tell my team "you cannot care more than these customers about their own health." Exerting compassion is a complete waste of energy. A lot of these people have severe mental health issues too and cannot be functional in our "society."

Working retail really opened my eyes to how the urban gutter trash of society lives and as society continues to collapse on the margins the vulnerable ones will be the first to go
 
Lnsean said:
I've had a pt toss a stack of Medicaid cards (probably from the last 10 years or so) at me on the counter and told me, " you figure it out."
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Take them, toss them next to a computer in the back, and proceed to do everything else. When whey inquire, tell them in the cloyingly sweet voice, "well, it's taking time to figure it out". Continue to ignore these cards until you have done everything else that needs to be done.
 
Would you guys really have the balls to do that?

Every year or so I get at least one "meet you in the parking lot" but they never see me
 
I think this depends on your setting. When I worked at cvs, due to the type of patients it attracted, I felt the same way. Once I moved to independent, I actually care and worry about the patients. Even the mundane aspects of checking prescription, i am paying way more attention and focused.
 
ITT: People that heavily benefit financially from a state-mandated, competition-limiting licensing scheme operating within a heavily state-subsidized capitalist system complain about having to deal with the inherent consumer-favoring confines of said system.

Oddly, I still feel a lot of empathy for people. It's difficult living in a meaningless, hopeless, absurd world. People act that way because of stressors in their life. Or because they weren't raised by competent guardians. Or because they themselves suffer from mental illness. Or whatever. Very few people wake up every morning and say to themselves "I'll go be an ass to the local pharmacist."

Also, just keep in mind that in 100 years we'll all be dead and none of this will matter. That always cheers me right up. In the end, we are all equal. Don't waste your time being angry at stupid things. Like how the local impoverished people don't treat you nicely. Oscar the Grouch was a grouch because he lived in a damned trashcan. If he was Oscar the Affluent he'd have been as friendly as Earnie. Or at least Bert.
 
I think the general lack of apathy grows from the fact that, as my friend once stated, there is no such thing as a true emergency in retail pharmacy.
Your medication is out of refills? Needs a prior auth? Is too expensive and needs to be switched to something cheaper? Is expired?
1. Call your doctor
2. Doctor not available? There are multiple urgent cares and emergency rooms that are available to assist you for your dire medication needs.

All these scenarios day in and day out are sure enough to make any pharmacist apathetic. I once had a girl freak out on me at 6 pm on a Saturday night that I couldn't transfer her birth control from a coastal pharmacy that was closed due to a mandatory hurricane evacuation. When the girl started freaking out at me, I suggested she use backup birth control methods or call the on-call OBGYN at 6 pm on a Saturday night to demand her apparently very urgent refill for her birth control (because I'm sure they LOVE that). She was mortified at the thought of taking responsibility for herself and decided it actually wasn't that big of a deal. Funny how that works....
 
Chrish said:
After working in retail for so long, I feel like I have become numb to the feeling of empathy. I try my best to help patient out, but not out of compassion. I do it because that's my job.

Does anyone relate? Like you don't really care about patient on a personal level? I feel as if I have turned into machine!
Click to expand...


I never struggled with the concept of empathy. I developed a deep seeded sense of ignorance. It was almost like I was “there” but I wasn’t really “there”.

I took the concept of ignorance and brought it to a whole new level. It was the true and deep essence of the definition of ignorance.
 
Don't have much empathy for other adults. Unlimited empathy when it comes to kids though. One time a mom with 2 kids came thru, kid had a broken bone so I filled their scripts first. Some dude had the balls to ask me why I let her skip the line.
 
WVUPharm2007 said:
ITT: People that heavily benefit financially from a state-mandated, competition-limiting licensing scheme operating within a heavily state-subsidized capitalist system complain about having to deal with the inherent consumer-favoring confines of said system.

Oddly, I still feel a lot of empathy for people. It's difficult living in a meaningless, hopeless, absurd world. People act that way because of stressors in their life. Or because they weren't raised by competent guardians. Or because they themselves suffer from mental illness. Or whatever. Very few people wake up every morning and say to themselves "I'll go be an ass to the local pharmacist."

Also, just keep in mind that in 100 years we'll all be dead and none of this will matter. That always cheers me right up. In the end, we are all equal. Don't waste your time being angry at stupid things. Like how the local impoverished people don't treat you nicely. Oscar the Grouch was a grouch because he lived in a damned trashcan. If he was Oscar the Affluent he'd have been as friendly as Earnie. Or at least Bert.
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Being poor isn't an excuse to treat ppl like sht. Otherwise, I agree with the other part about not taking it to heart.
 
Chrish said:
I have seen techs cry couple of times when they couldn't get the med covered for the patient who really needed it. Me on the other:

"Ms. Smith, your insurance won't cover your med. I called your doctor to change it and waiting for the response. The discount card won't take as much off. Nothing else I can do about it other than waiting.". Then I would say sorry as a formality and walk away. I wouldn't feel the least bit of sympathy for Ms. Smith who is sobbing at the moment.

When I think about it, I feel I have become too cold and detached. Like part of my soul is dead after working with needy customers and management for so long.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Can't solve everyone's problems. I usually say "I'm sorry you're in the situation that you're in. We (insert what you said above) and we'll notify you when your prescription is ready."
 
You have empathy burnout. It happens to almost everyone who works in patient/customer interacting positions.

Empathy is projecting yourself into another's position and feeling their emotions as if they were your own. It's easy to see why this process is dangerous in excess, you yourself can only handle so much pain/anger/despair, your mind's natural preservation response is to numb your empathy response before it drives you completely mad.

The key is knowing when to allow yourself to care. It's good to have walls and professional boundaries to realize that you do not have the time/energy/power/knowledge to fix every suffering in the world. But you don't want to turn into a complete nihilist either. Try to focus on the small things that you can reasonably change and allow yourself to feel satisfied about the little good things you accomplish throughout the day.
 
What Subvisual said. An effective health-care worker can't be emphathetic (although they need to convey that they are.) Effective health-care workers need to be able to do their job without being frazzeled or frustrated or depressed, or enraged. Imagine working in an ER if you were emphathetic, how could you do your job feeling overwhelmed with depression at the terminal cases being brought in, maybe feeling enraged at drunk drivers or mass shooters who caused these terminal cases, maybe feeling frustrated at motorcyclists who drive without helmets or people in automobiles who don't wear seatbelts.
Now retail pharmacy isn't that extreme, but the element is still there. Imagine feeling enraged at the parents who decide not to pay the $2.00 co-pay for their kid's antibiotic but want you to ring up their hair dye, or frustrated with the opioid abuser who doesn't realize how s/he is destroying her/his body, or depressed when friendly customers die.
Emotions lead people to errors in judgement and to mistakes. Health care workers need to be able to compartmentalize, to be able to do their job without "feeling". Because that is the safest and most effective way to do their job.
 
Chrish said:
After working in retail for so long, I feel like I have become numb to the feeling of empathy. I try my best to help patient out, but not out of compassion. I do it because that's my job.

Does anyone relate? Like you don't really care about patient on a personal level? I feel as if I have turned into machine!
Click to expand...

Yes. People say I’m so kind and nice and awesome. But it’s all just a front. Inside I hate them all. (Haha)
 
Personally, I don't think of it as empathy, but more as a sense of duty, like "Here's someone who needs help, I'm in a position where I can help. Sure, I can ignore her problem, leave it on the backburner while I clear the Q and make the richest company in the world a couple bucks richer, but why not do something that actually has a tangible benefit?".

Now, if this person is an ass, I wouldn't wanna go the extra mile, though I might, just to spare the unpleasantness from coworkers every once in a while. Call it human nature, but its easier to go above and beyond the call of duty when you're approached with honey. Either way though, if after doing my part (whatever that may be), the situation isn't resolved, I simply let the patient know. If it's insurance rules, I tell them that. If it's something with company policy, I tell them that. If their doctor screwed up, I tell them that too.

Of course, it helps to apologize for the situation, even if you had nothing to do with it, and at least to verbally empathize, even if you don't really feel it. One method I've found really helps to diffuse a situation is to place yourself on their side, I.E. saying stuff like "believe me, if it were up to me, I'd do this or that or the other thing", or "I hate to say it, but our computer system can be dumb sometimes, and sadly stuff falls through the cracks..." or especially this one: "Sadly, that's correct, insurance companies are a beast to navigate around, we hate every second of it too". Personally, it's much easier to actually believe lines like this, as opposed to acting shocked when someone's copay from last year shot up $20.
 
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