Blame the "Consumer"
(yes, it has been a long time, later i will take time to read the blogs of others and catch up on the community---but now, i will just jump in like i never left)
Reading the Monitor this morning, I was first interested, then outraged by the article "Study: ER patients often overloaded with info".
The study concluded what most of us could have told the researchers about ER (and, even less acute care visits to health care providers at times) visits. Patients are not in a good emotional or physical place to hear and understand a barrage of information about their condition. After leaving the ER, they may not remember the most important information. The discharge information may not make sense. (Has anyone seen the discharge sheet from your local ER? Nurses often have to call back to make sense of them, and they contain minimal information.)
The problem? "Patients are emotional and distracted, failing to listen carefully." I am surprised they acknowledged that people become "patients" here, rather than shoppers.
The answer? "Make sure you are an aggressive consumer of your health care. You know best. Ask questions. Challenge things that don't make sense to you."
EXCUSE ME? The patient is failing? Don't 'buy' it. The system is failing.
I for one have missed your posts. Good to hear from you again!
Anytime the subject of medical care and health care is brought up, it's a sticky wicket. There is much wrong with our health care system that certainly has been hashed over and over, but I've said this before, people do have to take some responsibility for their own health care.
We recently had our health insurance representative come into our workplace to talk about our plans. We were told that we should shop around and question every test and procedure the doctor recommended. Basically the insurance company wants us to act more like "consumers" in order to cut down on costs. Horrors of horrors, they want us to do research and get the best deal.
Now I'm one who likes to get the best deal. I also believe that in most cases, you get what you pay for. We all shop around and do the research when we're buying a new house, car or TV, don't we? We do the research on the latest electronic gizmos to be sure we get the best product at the best price. (Hopefully) we read the fine print when we sign anything. We don't expect to walk into a store and take whatever we want and tell the cashier as we leave that we'll mail them a check. But when it comes to health care there are more people than not who don't have a clue what their insurance plan is, why the doctor is seeing them, what tests he has ordered, the side effects of the drugs they are taking and who come into the office with the expectation that they will be seen no matter their intention to pay or ability to show proof of insurance. You wouldn't drive a car without a license (most of us anyway), why would you show up at a doctor's office without an insurance card, checkbook, credit card or money? Don't think it happens like that, come work for our office, you'd be surprised how often it happens daily.
We seem to have this expectation that all we have to do is show up and everything just magically falls into place. We have an expectation that the doctor we see is some divine being come straight down from heaven who can cure everything from vague aches to old age, yet condemn them the moment they show themselves to be less than saint-like. Not only that, some of us will go so far as to try to sue a doctor who can't cure them or come up with all the answers after only one office visit.
It's a wonder anyone even wants to be a doctor anymore. Be a dentist instead. You can pick and choose who you see, refuse to treat someone who can't pay and never be questioned about your moral compass. Try doing that as a medical doctor and your ethics, morals and business will be hung out for the vultures to devour.
Yes, the health care system needs fixing on every level from the doctors, hospitals, insurance companies and everything in between. But to say that the "consumer" doesn't also hold some responsibilty in their own health care is the biggest problem of all. Until we begin to realize that health care is a necessity, but not an entitlement, we will never really be able to fix the health care system.