Incompetent Worker Rant

[GoinAllTheWay]

/\/\/\/\

That is a promising start, I really hope that happens. But I really think educating the public has to be done as well. As many have stated in this discussion, far to many people are waiting in ER's or clinics for reasons the doctor can do nothing about.

A nice little tv/radio ad campaign is in order I think. DO go to the doctors office/ER if you have abc, do NOT go if you have abc....

Someone mentioned something about health link, willin to bet most people don't know about that. I know I didn't.

[Superflyer]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

This is so weird, I was just about to hammer out my own medical rant! Trust me, I doubt you will have an easier time in Calgary.

My issue is this:
I have to have a medication renewed once every few months. Nothing exciting, just an inhaler. However, the doctors only give me 1 or 2 repeats before I need to go see them again. I have a walk in clinic around the corner of my house in Braeside. Tried to go Friday but the closed the doors at 530 (even though the clinic is advertised to be open till 9) saying that they had to many patients to see. Fine. I go back the next day at 300, office is CLOSED. WTF? So I head to one near Russel Sports, get there and a sign out front saying it's not open until 4. Ok, kill a few mins and come back at 345 and the parking lot is PACKED! Try again Monday at the usual place, packed as usual and closing early. Try one today down the street from where I work. 4 or 5 people wating and I'm thinking I'll finnaly get er done. Recpetionist quote 1.5 hour wait for 6 FREAKIN PEOPLE!! I realize that some may have left and plan to come back but man, what takes them so long to see these people. They have to be thourough I know but 1.5 hrs? If it was anything really serious, these people should be in a hospital.

One day I would LOVE to do an interview of people waiting in the walk in clinics to see what they are in for. Willing to bet a good chunk of them don't even need to be there.

I mean, WTH is going on here? How is it in a province as rich as Alberta, we can't keep doctors around and clinics with the right amount of staff? It really annoys me that I have to write off almost an entire evening just to see the doctor for literaly less than a minute so he can write down my prescription on a peice of paper?

The worst part about it is, how do you complain about the medical field? These people often have attitudes that would just not cut it in any other industry, it's not really like you can talk with your wallet and take your business elsewhere.. I realize they have tough jobs but no one put a gun to their head and told them to become doctors.

/end rant

My wife is a nurse at a walk in clinic and they have what you describe here. They will close early or open late because they do not have doctors that are available to work. They are short staffed on doctors, but it not for lack of trying to get them, they just are not there to hire.
Some of the doctors will only take their patients and not the walk ins unless they have a big gap and are in the mood. Sometimes she will even get to work, open the clinic and then the dr calls and says I don't feel like coming to work, so she has to tell everyone this and gets yelled at because of it.

She will admit as well that in a day there are really only a few cases are requiring actual attention, especially this time of year they can go an entire day of just cold and flu.

It is pretty bad but the doctors know they run the place and they don't care.

[fredr123]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

/\/\/\/\

That is a promising start, I really hope that happens. But I really think educating the public has to be done as well. As many have stated in this discussion, far to many people are waiting in ER's or clinics for reasons the doctor can do nothing about.

A nice little tv/radio ad campaign is in order I think. DO go to the doctors office/ER if you have abc, do NOT go if you have abc....

Someone mentioned something about health link, willin to bet most people don't know about that. I know I didn't.

If you have the sniffles, suck it up butter cup. If, on the other hand, you have blood in your urine...

[REDVAN]

Originally Posted by fredr123

If you have the sniffles, suck it up butter cup. If, on the other hand, you have blood in your urine...

I've had a cold for a few days... I should go to the doctor and sneeze all over the place, just for jokes.

I never go to the doctor for anything that isn't important... I must be in the minority.

[chuckchick]

nm

[GoinAllTheWay]

Ok, my story continues. My g/f had a thought come to her tonight as we were on the way home. She has told me that in some cases, if you are having difficulties getting to a doctor, a pharmacy will refill a prescription once. In this case, her birth control pills. So I call the pharmacy I always go to, explained to the pharmacist that I have been trying to get into an office since Friday with no luck and that in the past, they have filled my g/f's prescription. He said yes, in some cases they will do that for important medications like heart pills or something. So I said to him, "but you have filled my g/f's birthcontrol in the past without a new prescription". He said "Yep, sounds about right" To which I replied "Ok, so you will fill BIRTH CONTROL, but not a freakin INHALER!?!?!?". he replies with "yes".

if someone could explain the logic behind that, I would be VERY grateful.

[Rathji]

This might explain why it seems like the majority of CP would rather get a problem diagnosed here than deal with an ER or Clinic.

On a related note... I remember finding a website that described how to do home surgeries, maybe a mod could sticky it?

[evilcougar]

hmmm i was going to bitch about incompetent workers in my field, but since we're on the topic of the terrible state of our FREE health care/lack of doctors issue....i was seeing a doctor for pretty much my whole life. once i started on teh pill, i would go in every year for my physical and get my prescription renewed. so, one day, i call up my doctor to make an appt, i find out she's retired. when i asked where my file has been sent to, they tell me, the other doctor in that office. so, i ask to make an appt there, he's not taking any more patients. doesn't matter that my file has been transferred to him from my retired doctor. so, i call the CHR and get a list of doctors supposedly taking new patients, i called about 80% of them (the ones that were convenient and not ridiculously inconvenient) and most of them weren't taking new patients. i finally ended up BEGGING one doc's office to take me via swearing that i NEVER come in except once a year for a physical for my damn birth control pills. SOOO RIDICULOUS!

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by Jayems

It's the same with local ERs. So many people don't need to be there, they just clog it all up because their kid has a cough, or they have an upset tummy because they just ate a whole tub of icecream. Then they have the gall to complain about wait times.

I've had to go to the ER on multiple occasions last year and I never had to wait long. I suspect that they make the people who were just there for a cough or a sore tummy wait a bit longer then the people who have serious issues.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by evilcougar

hmmm i was going to bitch about incompetent workers in my field, but since we're on the topic of the terrible state of our FREE health care/lack of doctors issue....i was seeing a doctor for pretty much my whole life. once i started on teh pill, i would go in every year for my physical and get my prescription renewed. so, one day, i call up my doctor to make an appt, i find out she's retired. when i asked where my file has been sent to, they tell me, the other doctor in that office. so, i ask to make an appt there, he's not taking any more patients. doesn't matter that my file has been transferred to him from my retired doctor. so, i call the CHR and get a list of doctors supposedly taking new patients, i called about 80% of them (the ones that were convenient and not ridiculously inconvenient) and most of them weren't taking new patients. i finally ended up BEGGING one doc's office to take me via swearing that i NEVER come in except once a year for a physical for my damn birth control pills. SOOO RIDICULOUS!

... and your screename is evilcougar. Just thought I'd point that out.

[Jayems]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

I've had to go to the ER on multiple occasions last year and I never had to wait long. I suspect that they make the people who were just there for a cough or a sore tummy wait a bit longer then the people who have serious issues.

Oh, they have to wait. Problem is, they still have to get a bed, so sooner or later they get in. Then, inevitably, people will come to the ER with serious problems, but can't get a bed because they're full. ERs do have certain areas reserved for more serious cases, but those too fill up fast. So when you have 30 people who could have gone to a walk in clinic waiting, it backs up pretty quick. Couple that with system abusers such as the homeless or drug addicts who have to take beds the system gets clogged very easily.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Last summer I was working on a scene and the director of photography walked into my shot...

[nickerjones]

Well on monday i called a internal medicines specialist because i was feeling crappy and i needed to get a new prescription for my insulin. Now i have seen him before i moved to missouri ( my parents are also his patients) but now that i moved back to Oklahoma i needed a diabetic doctor. I called at 4pm monday and got an appt for 830 am tuesday. I went in and got everything take care of. The total of the visit and blood work was 400 bucks.... 320 after my insurance.... and that doesnt include the insulin or other meds.... SO the point is i have good medical service but have to pay out the butthole for it.... you guys have crappy service but really cheap ... which is the lesser of 2 evils?

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by nickerjones

Well on monday i called a internal medicines specialist because i was feeling crappy and i needed to get a new prescription for my insulin. Now i have seen him before i moved to missouri ( my parents are also his patients) but now that i moved back to Oklahoma i needed a diabetic doctor. I called at 4pm monday and got an appt for 830 am tuesday. I went in and got everything take care of. The total of the visit and blood work was 400 bucks.... 320 after my insurance.... and that doesnt include the insulin or other meds.... SO the point is i have good medical service but have to pay out the butthole for it.... you guys have crappy service but really cheap ... which is the lesser of 2 evils?

Your answer is probably going to vary depending upon people's employment status and wage.

People with disposable income will say they want to pay and complain about why they can't. People struggling to make ends meet would rather free, since food and housing is kind of important, too.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

Your answer is probably going to vary depending upon people's employment status and wage.

People with disposable income will say they want to pay and complain about why they can't. People struggling to make ends meet would rather free, since food and housing is kind of important, too.

Judging from the healthcare experiment of pretty much the rest of the developed world, it's possible to have both and have everything work out pretty well. The dualistic comparison between Canadian and American healthcare systems does not capture the vast array of options available to policymakers.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

Your answer is probably going to vary depending upon people's employment status and wage.

People with disposable income will say they want to pay and complain about why they can't. People struggling to make ends meet would rather free, since food and housing is kind of important, too.

I agree with that comment if in fact people's money went for those purposes and had nothing left over. However I think you'd find in the case of most people, they spend all kinds of money on things much less important than their health. By making Healthcare the responsibility of the state it really is the lazy less efficient way out. It also incurs a much less desirable outcome due to the free-rider problem and blatent abuse of the system. I'm not opposed to users fees to deter bed-blockers, and GP jammers from walk-ins and ERs. Of course there's going to be typical outrage when someone dies because they were discouraged from the doctors office by that $25 fee. By in my opinion if $25 (or something in that ballpark) was enough to keep you away from consulting a doctor about a serious medical problem you probably deserve what's coming to you. "Death by Cheapness"

[Bobblehead]

But I think it has also been determined that it won't result in "Death by Cheapness", what it results in is, "Illness made much more severe and much more expensive to treat because delayed by Cheapness".

So you may keep away a lot of people who shouldn't go there, but you will also delay treatment of people who should be there. And do those costs offset, or which way does the scale swing?

And looking at discussions of different healthcare systems seems to me like the quintessential "Grass is greener" debate. Every system has detractors that want their systems to work like someone else's system, and round and round it goes. I don't think there is any established system that is proven to be totally equitable.

[ken0042]

Or allow somebody 2 free doctor visits per year, and then charge a fee after that. So if you are really ill you can still see the docto for free. But if its something you think might be serious you would consider using one of your visits up.

[Cowboy89]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

But I think it has also been determined that it won't result in "Death by Cheapness", what it results in is, "Illness made much more severe and much more expensive to treat because delayed by Cheapness".

So you may keep away a lot of people who shouldn't go there, but you will also delay treatment of people who should be there. And do those costs offset, or which way does the scale swing?

And looking at discussions of different healthcare systems seems to me like the quintessential "Grass is greener" debate. Every system has detractors that want their systems to work like someone else's system, and round and round it goes. I don't think there is any established system that is proven to be totally equitable.

So the answer is to keep the status quo and have people die waiting in an official queue because the free-riders clog the system? What we have now is 'delayed treatment' for everyone. I bet more people neglect to see a doctor because no one is accepting new patients, Walk-ins are full, and ER's take hours than a fee per visit.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by Cowboy89

So the answer is to keep the status quo and have people die waiting in an official queue because the free-riders clog the system? What we have now is 'delayed treatment' for everyone. I bet more people neglect to see a doctor because no one is accepting new patients, Walk-ins are full, and ER's take hours than a fee per visit.

The hyperbole is getting strong, and you are mixing issues to try and prove a point.

Is the system perfect? Nope, far from it. But I don't think there are any perfect systems, and anyone who believes they can solve one issue without creating another is mistaken.