After having two days of watching the American healthcare system in action, I'd have to say that I'm very disappointed. The people who were responsible for Alexis' care were outstanding, some of them even amazing. Everyone did everything they could to make a scared little girl, and her scared parents, as comfortable as they could. The problem was that the hospital was horribly understaffed. The first time she needed pain meds, they didn't have any of them on the floor, so they had to order them from the pharmacy. That took about an hour and a half...which for pain, especially pain in a small child, is completely unacceptable. The other problem was that there weren't enough nurses in her section of the hospital. They were friendly and seemed skilled, but there were too many patients for them, so we had to remind them often of what she needed. In fact, when it was time for us to be discharged, there was actually only one nurse working. The desk was being run by a nurse who was supposed to be on her lunch break, so she was eating and working at the same time.
So, kudos to everyone for taking care of my little girl, but something needs to be done about staffing in hospitals. I realize that a lot of this has to do with the insurance companies, and whether someone thinks Obamacare is the best thing to ever happen, or the worst, I think most people would agree that there is a desperate need for an overhaul of the insurance companies in this country.
Saturday, February 22, 2014
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I think this is a problem that took time to happen. It wasn't only the insurance companies but the legal threats that kept feeding off each other. The 3M+ lawsuits caused insurance companies to pay more which caused them to increase premiums which means that doctors/hospitals needed to charge more which means that patient's insurance companies had to pay more which caused them to fight back by capping things (or raising insurance premiums for patients) which then rolled all the way back into the legal fees again (among other things).
Couple in the crippling expensive of getting a MD (which is expensive because everything else is so high) and the pinball scoring just builds off each other.
It isn't cost effective to be a general practitioner anymore. Which is frustrating because that is what encourages young ones to be doctors, nurses, and the like.
And then, twenty years down the line... you have empty halls and overworked everyone.
SMWM was in school to be a registered nurse and I got to see a lot of it. She was so happy when she got a $0.02/hour raise after six months. And that was a "big" one according to the hospital.
But, beyond that rant, glad that things mostly went for your little one. I know how scary it can be... vaguely, it's been quite a few years since I was a kid in a hospital. :)
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