With the whole "Everyone Should Learn to Code" movement taking on so much steam, I cannot help but wonder why there isn't a similar "More People Should Learn to Do Basic Diagnosis" movement. We need a shit ton more Nurse Practitioners and "basic" doctors to diagnose and treat minor ailments, so doctors who have gone to 6-year plus medical school can spend time on the more serious ailments.
Doctors Unionize to Resist the Medical Machine
21–30 of 120 posts
Re: Doctors Unionize to Resist the Medical Machine
#22All of this rings true from what I've heard my dad, a GP, complain about for years. It's hard for him to watch other doctors game the system to increase their earnings -- not only seeing more patients with unaccountably short sessions, but also up-coding their maladies and ordering unnecessary tests. In addition to the pressure of seeing more patients per day, they have all this new administrative bullshit (ironicall…
Not having dictation is just dumb. Voice rec is quite capable these days and the doctor's time is too valuable to waste on their typing speed.
One note though, the PC never really has to be any good because most of the EMR crap is accessed over Citrix... To make IT's life easier (in theory) and avoid having the need for fancy PCs on the wards.
Re: Doctors Unionize to Resist the Medical Machine
#23One thing that I never understood about the US medical education is the requirement of the bachelor's degree (pre-med) before applying for most med schools. In my home country and many others, you can directly apply to med school. Now that the college costs are quite considerably expensive, four-additional year of college studies simply adds to the cost of becoming a doctor and therefore, the newly minted doctors exp…
I actually prefer the US system in that it potentially provides doctors with a more well-rounded education.
Ah yes, the moral duty American colleges feel for ensuring a rounded education at the low low price of tens of thousands of dollars per year.
Re: Doctors Unionize to Resist the Medical Machine
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
And yet, when Texas put a cap on medical malpractice awards, the cost of medical care didn't go down at all. Surely you have a good explanation for that and you're not just repeating discredited talking points for personal gain.
Whoa, calm down now. No need to resort to an ad hominem and speculate on someone's personal motivations.
I don't really see it as pure ad hominem; it's a demonstrable fact that malpractice insurance rates are not tied to malpractice award amounts, and that capping malpractice awards does not rein in the absurd ballooning of malpractice rates.
Re: Doctors Unionize to Resist the Medical Machine
#25With the whole "Everyone Should Learn to Code" movement taking on so much steam, I cannot help but wonder why there isn't a similar "More People Should Learn to Do Basic Diagnosis" movement. We need a shit ton more Nurse Practitioners and "basic" doctors to diagnose and treat minor ailments, so doctors who have gone to 6-year plus medical school can spend time on the more serious ailments.
Some of it is a perception issue, no one wants anything but the very best for their loved ones. So nurse practitioners, while great in theory, are only acceptable for others...
Of course if you live in the boonies, a nurse here is a heck of a lot better than a doctor 4h away.
Re: Doctors Unionize to Resist the Medical Machine
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Doctors are already paid absurd salaries in the US To put it in context, when I finish all my training, I will owe over $600,000. It's not the doctors being "paid absurd salaries" that makes medical care in this country expensive. It's lawyers - malpractice insurance can take upwards of 25+% of your income - and it's insurance companies, who have shareholders they are responsible to, and it's hospital administratio…
And yet, when Texas put a cap on medical malpractice awards, the cost of medical care didn't go down at all. Surely you have a good explanation for that and you're not just repeating discredited talking points for personal gain.
You're incorrect, the cost of medical care is measurably lower as a result of tort reform in Texas. And maybe more importantly, accessibility of care has increased. You see price reflected in at least two places: 1) the variable in the formula for medicare reimbursements that reflects practice environment costs, and 2) more visibly, in Obamacare rates for the State of Texas, which would be significantly higher in the pre-2003 med mal environment.
Here's an interesting read on the financial impact of various State medical malpractice environments:
http://epmonthly.com/article/the-medical-malpractice-rundown...
Re: Doctors Unionize to Resist the Medical Machine
#27Earlier quoted context omitted.
Precisely we just created an start-up with a product that helps doctors making the EHR much faster and intuitively so they can focus on the patients.
I believe you, but when I worked in a medical office in 1993 vendors were saying that exact same thing.
I know, I hope my Background as MD and CS plus the idea we had will make it different. We are working on something similar to an IDE :)
Re: Doctors Unionize to Resist the Medical Machine
#28I don't understand this about healthcare in the USA. Why not import a few thousand doctors from Asia through H1Bs, and drive down the cost of medical care? Remove artificial caps on licenses imposed by the AMA while at it.
Re: Doctors Unionize to Resist the Medical Machine
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Precisely we just created an start-up with a product that helps doctors making the EHR much faster and intuitively so they can focus on the patients.
I believe you, but when I worked in a medical office in 1993 vendors were saying that exact same thing.
Cool, me too :) would be interested to hear more on what you are working on if you are in the city. (SF)
Re: Doctors Unionize to Resist the Medical Machine
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
I actually prefer the US system in that it potentially provides doctors with a more well-rounded education.
Ah yes, the moral duty American colleges feel for ensuring a rounded education at the low low price of tens of thousands of dollars per year.
My CS degree focused on a rounded education, which would have been okay if it had also taught me how to, say, write a useful program. I didn't realize 'til I'd graduated that I would have to teach myself if I wanted a career.