Comments on: Emergency! (Well, it is to me!)

By: Taking Stock » GlassHospital

Taking Stock » GlassHospital — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:07:04 +0000

[...] “Emergency” (the very first one!), followed by [...]

By: Harrison

Harrison — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 15:23:41 +0000

As a physician in primary care, too many patients think we get compensated (paid) for any question or form done or for any advice given. Unfortunatly the insurance industry has made primary care a fee for service industry. If I don’t see the patient, I won’t get paid.

Would patients be willing to pay extra for all the behind the scenes services they expect? How about the insurance companies giving the physician a monthly stipend to cover these services patients expect?

By: ER

ER — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:45:31 +0000

So, you go home at 5PM and the baby develops an ear ache at 10PM and is screaming…or…mama gets a migraine and can’t function….or…sis gets a bladder infection that goes nuts on Sunday at 10AM…or…your neighbor has a rattling chest on Friday at 7PM and you are not sure it is pneumonia or just a chest infection… Where do we go? Not all of these things can kill you, but why do we have to suffer for hours or even days because the social norm is 8 to 5 M-F for doctors to keep their office hours? Why can’t doctors be like high tech workers or cops or firemen and have shifts? Not everyone, including doctors, is a morning person. I’d wager some would be even more effective if they could work during the hours when they are personally most effective.

By: glasshospital

glasshospital — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 08:26:26 +0000

I think we need something on the order of a “customer service” revolution in health care. We providers in general don’t concern ourselves enough with patient satisfaction, or put ourselves in your shoes enough.

By: Sue Rice

Sue Rice — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 20:07:31 +0000

As a patient, I find myself stuck. If I call my PCP and report a problem urgent enough that it is disrupting my normal daily life, function and sleep, I have been met with the response that I can get an appointment in 4-6 weeks!! (One exception was a breast lump – saw me the next morning; another was great difficulty breathing and chest pain due to a bad fall — saw me in hours, turned out to be just cracked ribs and muscle pain.)

Timely treatment of very painful or worrisome conditions is unlikely. At one point, during a yearly physical, my doc asked about x, y and z. I said that Z had been really painful. When did that start? My answer of it’s been going on for weeks puzzled him — why didn’t you call me? Because your office wanted to give me an appointment six weeks from now and if that wasn’t okay, they told me to take myself to an ER.

So, being a stoic, and unwilling to risk the insurance company refusing a trip to the ER that they might not view as an emergency, I often just suffer, swallow a lot of ibuprofen, do palliative care and get through.

At such times, I just act like I live on the far reaches of the tundra or somewhere far from medical help. If there was substantial bleeding, pain I couldn’t moderate somewhat, broken parts or obvious problems, I’d head to the ER. But otherwise, no… not the ER, nor to the doctor’s.

Having said all that, nearly all of my ER experiences to date (many due to being involved with horses!) have been good ones. Not all – there was the severe concussion (blacked out for 2-3 minutes, did not know my name, address, the date, etc.) where the ER staff parked me on a bed, and left me there for 2 hours — and yep, I surely did fall asleep but good. Glad I woke up!

I understand that the doctors and nurses and hospitals are all laboring under a very difficult system. I hope in my lifetime things change. People come from all over the world to learn from the very best here in the US, and yet, the US citizen can’t always benefit from so much that is available.

Thanks for your blog!