Hospital report: Staff incident

Hospital Incident Report. Resident Psychiatrist Doctor Kessle. One of the junior nurses has suffered a nervous breakdown. His assignments included Patient 5A3, whose afflictions manifest in habitual self-harm. Patient 5A4, who - while not violent - does aggressively grab and paw at whoever is trying to administer care. And also Patient 5B7, who breaks down into loud, un-consolable fits of crying with no apparent cause or trigger.

That, and the constant attention and sanitary cleanup required throughout the day for all of his charges, was too much for the young nurse. We found him standing outside the door to one of the patient rooms, carrying a tray of food but not moving anywhere. One of the other nurses noticed he had been standing in place for over an hour. When he finally responded to our attempts to get his attention, he seemed surprise that any time had passed.

During our exit interview, he broke into tears. He wanted to know if something was wrong with him. If he would end up here as a patient. I explained that nervous exhaustion was a common ailment, especially for hospital workers. Maybe after some months of rest, he could re-apply for his job. That didn't seem to console him.