A healthcare worker candidly admitted that she’s struggling to find time for herself because of the amount of hours that she works at a hospital.
In her TikTok video, Megan Rae claimed that her work schedule might seem normal compared to other full-time employees, but she’s found herself becoming increasingly burned out by the demands of her job.
In Rae’s video, she explained that she worked that day but was off for the next two days. While it was nice to have those two days without having to go to work, she admitted that once those days ended, she was scheduled to work for five days straight.
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Whenever she tells non-healthcare workers about her work hours, they never seem to understand just how consuming they can be.
“When I tell non-healthcare workers that I have 5 shifts in a row, they’re like … okay, good for you. You’re working a normal 40-hour week like the rest of us,” Rae said. “Because I work 8-hour shifts, I think there’s a misconception that 5 shifts in a row isn’t really that bad.”
While working 8-hour shifts is normal for many working-class people, Rae’s circumstances are different, considering that she works in a hospital during those hours.
It’s a physically demanding job that requires her to walk, run, stand, and carry things for the hours she works.
It’s also both mentally exhausting and extremely mentally stimulating to the point where even at home, Rae still feels those effects.
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Working in a hospital means Rae is dealing with different smells, sounds, alarms going off, and bright lights that can be overwhelming. Phones are constantly ringing, and there’s just a sense of urgency all the time.
Once she’s home after a couple of days of back-to-back shifts, Rae admitted that she would sometimes hallucinate the sounds that she heard for hours on end at the hospital.
“I know people make TikToks about ‘healthcare workers do this when they get home,’ and people might be like, ‘Oh, that’s an exaggeration.’ It’s not. It’s real,” Rae continued. “I didn’t think it was real until I started working at the hospital. So next time you crack a little joke about how we’re only working 40 hours a week, mind your business.”
Rae definitely wasn’t exaggerating when she pointed out how excruciatingly exhausting it can be to work as a healthcare worker.
A 2022 Vital Signs report using analysis from the CDC Quality of Worklife survey found that nearly half of health workers (46%) reported often feeling burned out in 2022, up from 32% in 2018. Half of health workers (44%) also intended to look for a new job in 2022, up from 33% in 2018.
It seems to be even worse for female healthcare workers. A recent survey from nursing marketplace platform ShiftKey shared with The Hill that 86 percent of women in the field — including nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and technicians — reported experiencing burnout, with 64% saying they were at risk of burning out “right now.”
The rates for male healthcare workers were significantly lower, though still quite high. Sixty-six percent of male healthcare workers said they have experienced burnout, and 55% said they were at risk of burning out right now.
Researchers were able to determine that gender inequity, a lack of autonomy in the workplace, and poor work-life balance contributed to this higher burnout among women.
Women in many fields, but especially in healthcare, are expected to stay late and take on more shifts without complaining. They’re often taken advantage of and, most of the time, are penalized for either speaking up or making a fuss about the lack of consideration for their own mental health and physical well-being.
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Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.
