How do you manage when your work opposes your ethical, moral and evidence based views?
I work for a state government based public health department. We have recently gone through (and are still going through) some major restructuring. With this restructure, portfolios and work streams have been completely realigned. The fiscal environment is pretty gross and funding for a lot of services has been minimised or cut.
A few new higher-ups have been hired, mostly all with big private entity experience. Their views and way of handling everything very much align with that experience.
Long story short - I have reached a point where work is leaving me emotionally drained. The new directions that are being taken do not act on the data and evidence available. My personal belief and understanding is that the long term ramifications will be significant, in a really bad way.
I believe it is our duty as public health professionals to stand up for what is right, based on the quality evidence available. Yet whenever I do this, or ask questions, I get high level waffle back or no response at all. It’s making me feel absolutely crazy.
What do you do when faced with situations such as this?
So much in me wants to fight hard, as I’m incredibly passionate about the space that I work in. Though it’s not healthy to be feeling this way all the time. That makes me want to give up, as I feel like nothing is in my control anyway and I might as well just focus on what I can do for my family.
Have you been through this? What did you do?