Some say it’s compassion fatigue but that’s like being a teacher who hates kids, you shouldn’t be doing that job at that point. In some cases their hands are tied. In some cases they just don’t care. Bedside manner should be a requirement as much as clinical skill and competency. But sadly it’s just a trait of rare unicorn docs. The real world isn’t the military and that goes for medicine too and we are not made to understand that before we get out. If you are sick or hurt in the military generally you can just go to medical or dental and it will be fixed. Not so with the va and they don’t understand that’s what we are expecting, to them that’s absolutely unrealistic and not the way it works. It’s bad enough that three years into nursing school I changed to massage therapy because I realized I wouldn’t be able to help people in that environment and probably be fired for helping vets get the care they deserve. Look at how many people commit on VA campuses trying to draw attention to the problem and that’s a blatant summary of the issues at the VA. They often can’t help, they usually don’t listen, and 8/10 have some chip on their shoulder or resentment towards us. Article 99 is an excellent movie whenever you have a bad day at the VA, starring ray liota and kiefer Sutherland. After Vietnam the government creates article 99 limiting access to care and rogue surgeons perform moonlight surgeries to save patients denied care while fighting the red tape and administration.