Until a few years ago in Germany we had the Wehrpflicht, a programme that forces young males (about 18yo) into either absolving a military training (Wehrdienst) or if you can't because of health reasons or because of pacifism, absolving a few month of work in the social / healthcare sector (Zivildienst). I went for the Zivildienst. Generally you are an intern at a residence for disabled people, in a hospital or something like that. Duties include washing disabled / old / ill people, feeding them, changing their adult diapers, but also driving them around, going to the mall with them, entertaining them.
So I started to work in a hospital. Everything was fine at first but after a while I saw the real nurses sitting in their rooms, drinking coffee, while I made their jobs. One time they told me to lern from an apprentice how to measure the blood pressure of patients. I always measured differently than her. When we were finished we told the nurse and she checked and my results were right. The nurse also said we had to wash someone with a broken back. She didn't show us how. "don't life the head too far", was her only advice. I said to her I wouldn't do it, because I feared to injure the patient. She told me to go with the apprentice and watch her doing it. The apprentice told me, that she never did this before, and nobody showed her how to to this.
There were other things, mostly small things I didn't understand why I should do something in a specific way, and they just didn't tell me why. But then the day came. We had an old Polish guy in one of the rooms. He had two broken knees (and badly healed), a displaced hip, was 90 years old and could barely walk. He refused any kind of help from me, because "he can do it alone". Yeah. Nurses told me to shower him. Alone. I was 18 years old, I had absolutely NO muscle tissure, I was scared shitless that he dies on me. There was no sitting thing for him in the shower, they said I should make him hold to the railings and shower him. When I saw how he moved, and concluded that I would NEVER be able to shower him without him dying, I went to the nurses and again told them I wouldn't do it. After we argued forth and back, one of the nurses ended their coffee break and went to do their job.
After a while a nurse came to me, and said that I should care for the laundry. Putting it together, folding it nicely and so on. With the remark "Or is that another thing you wouldn't do, because it's too dangerous?". Then my head exploded. I yelled all over the floor, that fucking NOBODY showed me how to handle people with broken knees, necks, backs, hips and that they even dont WANT to help me, and that I am not one of their stupid apprentices, but a grown man, and the nurses should stop treating me like their bitch.
I have never heard the floor so quiet. Every tv in every room was off. I was sent home. The next day I got to the leader of the nurses. He accused me of refusing to work. When I told him, that I refused to work without instructions on nearly dead people, he accused me of lying, because "his girls" told him otherwise. He then asked me about the First Aid course I was sent to, in order to prepare me for this work. I told him that it was rubbish. My collegues drank and smoked weed all day and it was fun but not really necessary. He then told me that I would be the first to say that. I replied, that Maybe I am the first not to run away with a tucked in tail. He then toled me it would be better if I searched for a new place to make my Zivildienst, which I did.
I then came to a residence for disabled people and everything worked out fine. The people there showed me how to deal with the disabilities of the customers (yea, we weren't allowed to call the disabled patients..), were always on hand, except for lunch break, which we took together, were fun and I liked working there.