Message #41454

[Kilika]

when the nation is already grappling with overtaxed emergency rooms and a shortage of physicians.

Uh, the medical schools, hospitals, and the government are to blame for that!

The very high-minded medical school system is and always has been the reason doctors are in short supply, if that is in fact true. I also think the government system is to blame for putting too much on doctors to learn, thus it severely restricts who can manage to learn how to be a doctor. Many procedures don't need a doctor, but a trained technician. Not even a Physicians Assistant (PA). With the supervision of a doctor, there is no reason a nurse cannot sew up minor wounds, etc. with just a little bit of hands-on training. My wife has managed to learn wound care to the point she surprises doctors with what she knows how to do, and she's just a Medical Assistant (in most states, that's equivalent to one step below a LPN). So effectively, regulations has caused excessive restrictions, which in turn puts more burden on doctors. Ultimately, it's another reason that causes prices to skyrocket for patients in the end.

Hospitals are to blame because they won't hire outside their "budget". Corporate boards won't allow it because they are in it for profit, not charity. They are driven mad with the determination to "keep costs down" and "increase profit margin".

True, a hospital has only so many beds they designed into the hospital emergency room. So at times, it's going to get crowded, but that doesn't excuse the excessive waits overall, yet hospital staff use that as an excuse all the time. When the reality is that there is an indifference settled into these people, I believe because of no faith in Jesus, and so they treat patients like cattle. "We'll see if we can't get you something for the pain" is basically code for "Your in for a LONG wait pal, so deal with it".

It's as if they have the attitude that if the patient isn't coding and is stable, they are fine and get in no hurry to treat them, regardless of the pain and discomfort the patient is feeling. It's easy for them to say to lay there on your back for the next 2 days, you cannot get up, blah, blah, blah. They lose touch with what patients have to endure. It's an emotional disconnect that they are taught, so their relationship with a patient "doesn't get personal". They don't want personnel to "get too close" to the patient.