As a healthcare professional, I strongly disagree with any idea that we are overpaying for parents when we should be spending that extra money on patient comfort

I’ve heard this idea a thousand and one times, and it’s so disappointing to me that this is even a debate. Sure, there are certainly situations in which we are spending a lot of time and money on comforting our patients, but it is 100% worth it. <br><br>When we are re-traumatizing our patients by refusing to do the smallest of things to make them comfortable, we are going against the very reason why we became healthcare professionals in the first place. Our patients are at their most vulnerable when they are in the hospital, and we should be running hills for them and holding their hands through the worst days of their lives. <br><br>Yes, there are patients who are high takers and will use twenty vials of lidocaine if given the chance, but the vast majority of patients who abuse the comfort measures itemized on their bill are patients who have never been made comfortable by their healthcare system before and don’t know anymore than “make me comfortable.” <br><br>The patients who abuse and take advantage of our “open bar” are not helped by being handed a cold water and put in a doorless room with pads on the bed. They are patients who have been convinced that they are due something by everyone else around them, from their neighbors to their family members to their previous healthcare providers. They are patients who have been told “nothing can help you” for so long that they finally have someone telling them, “yes, we can try this, and yes, we can give you that.” <br><br>They may take advantage of our comfort measures, but not because we’re giving them mouth swelling narcotic patches, or because we’re giving them a warm IV bag and standing next to the door with the key. The reason they take advantage of our comfort measures is because they are given a sense of hope for the first time, and we need to be prepared to give them more than just a cold water and a fan.