Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Emergency Medicine went by without the usual drama. I am surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did during the rotation and how little clinically, I know about illness. Some of these doctors can look at a person and know what's ailing them. I unfortunately, cannot, but it's interesting how much you know by the them you leave the service.
I can see myself doing EM, like I can see myself doing trauma surgery. And "I can see" is like something I've thought about, but it hasn't settled in yet. I can do medicine and I believe I can do it very well, but what if I do EM and then decide to serve? How about doing trauma surgery and working in Trauma I centers? I want my life to be able to do things, but I haven't specified what these things are to me.
The shifts I did at the EM at PBMC convinced me that we need some sort of government based/sponsored medicine. I have seen families come into the ER because they decided that they did not want to wait for an appointment with their primary care doctor. Or the primary care doctor decided that they cannot take them in the next few days. Or that they came to the ER to get care, but have no way of paying the three thousand dollar visit they just rang up.
Many of them are uninsured, some underinsured. And I'm sure they're all well-intentioned (the pain seekers aren't well-intentioned), bu the ER is the ER and should not be used for primary care. Yet, people do, the ER becomes clogged with people who have to wait for care. Emergency care is supposed to be emergency care. And not a swinging door just to see a doctor on a short notice.
Using the ER as primary care hurts everyone, doctors are stretched thin, staff is pulled every-which-way, and patients, especially patients who need emergency care are often short-changed. No, the solution isn't to take Emergency care and make it harder to access. Emergency care should be the easiest care to access, but the use of primary care needs to be incentivised.
And because it clearly is a monetary issue, that extends from an insurance issue, we clearly need to change how people pay for healthcare.
We really need to bring back MC Hammer.
I can see myself doing EM, like I can see myself doing trauma surgery. And "I can see" is like something I've thought about, but it hasn't settled in yet. I can do medicine and I believe I can do it very well, but what if I do EM and then decide to serve? How about doing trauma surgery and working in Trauma I centers? I want my life to be able to do things, but I haven't specified what these things are to me.
The shifts I did at the EM at PBMC convinced me that we need some sort of government based/sponsored medicine. I have seen families come into the ER because they decided that they did not want to wait for an appointment with their primary care doctor. Or the primary care doctor decided that they cannot take them in the next few days. Or that they came to the ER to get care, but have no way of paying the three thousand dollar visit they just rang up.
Many of them are uninsured, some underinsured. And I'm sure they're all well-intentioned (the pain seekers aren't well-intentioned), bu the ER is the ER and should not be used for primary care. Yet, people do, the ER becomes clogged with people who have to wait for care. Emergency care is supposed to be emergency care. And not a swinging door just to see a doctor on a short notice.
Using the ER as primary care hurts everyone, doctors are stretched thin, staff is pulled every-which-way, and patients, especially patients who need emergency care are often short-changed. No, the solution isn't to take Emergency care and make it harder to access. Emergency care should be the easiest care to access, but the use of primary care needs to be incentivised.
And because it clearly is a monetary issue, that extends from an insurance issue, we clearly need to change how people pay for healthcare.
We really need to bring back MC Hammer.