Here, have my thoughts on healthcare system

[zeffy_amethyst]

I honestly thought I’d never say it, but I do. I miss ortho. I miss the fractures and the X-rays and the patients who have something wrong with them. The worst thing about DEM is how many patients don’t need actual emergent management. How many people come in to DEM just wanting a bed for the night or food. The people who waste time and money and

Comments

[zeffy_amethyst]

That's a good point. I suppose it is the ease with which the DEM can be accessed. No appointments needed. Just rock up and you get what you want.

But y'know, those people who complain about waiting two hours to see a GP, have to wait even longer to see an emergency doctor, especially given where I work. Honest to god, with an earache or a sore throat, you'd be seen quicker by the GP than in a tertiary hospital where you're competing with heart attacks and multi-traumas. And if they don't like their GP, well, compare the amount of GPs to emergency doctors. Just find another GP. At the same clinic or ten minutes drive down the road.

I am perfectly aware I sound like a right bitch, but for every bed space people take up by wanting a medical certificate or because they have a cold, that's another person who has an actual problem but can't be seen because someone like that is in front of them.

Do we need better education for people regarding how to use an emergency department? Hell yes. Do we also need people to just exercise some common sense once in a while? Yes.

tl;dr I'm frustrated by a fucked up day. When I'm away from ground zero, I can find it in me to see it from the patient's point of view and think "it took me seven years to learn this shit and I have insider info." And I don't know their whole story so maybe they really had no choice but to come to us. And recognise I'm being a privileged asshole. But at the time, I'm just like "ARRRRRRGH."

[ritaxis]

ARRRRRGH is a legitimate response.

It's probably way different where you are, but my coworkers are telling me that when their kid has an ear infection it takes four days and up to be seen (I do not have this experience with my doctor, though if it's my asthma acting up, if I don't trigger the "we need to see you now" response -- which means "four hours from now" -- they will put me down for next week, thank you: but I do know better than to go to the emergency room for this).

You don't sound like a right bitch, you sound like a doctor who wants to do the right thing but the patients keep wandering around doing dumb things like Alice trying to play croquet with flamingos and hedgehogs. But that's the thing. Anytime you have to take care of people, they're flamingos and hedgehogs right down the line. And, as I said, ARRRRRGH is a legitimate response to flamingos and hedgehogs.

[zeffy_amethyst]

I've never tried to go in for something urgent like that. My family believes in the old adage "if you're still breathing you're fine", so my contact with the GP system hasn't been all that much. My dad has gone in for high blood pressure and stuff though, and he's been able to get in on the day but whether that's just my GP centre being good or *shrug*

Hahaha, oh man, sometimes? The ER department is just like Wonderland. I think I'd be one of the hedgehogs. XD