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Post by hop2 on Mar 10, 2019 13:48:30 GMT
www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/critical-condition-the-crisis-of-rural-medical-care/And also the reason why I suffer the high taxes to live where I live so that I take access to medical care for granted. My 2nd surgery in July I went to a hospital 35 minutes away! And everyone here said omg why so far? The answer is because the surgeon is great and that is who I need, she is good. But there are 6 closer hospitals, including the one I started at. Which is no longer a full hospital was repurposed 10 years ago to several things, but kept its ER. It is a women’s health center at one end, a same day surgery center in the back, most of the rooms were converted to nursing home. But the opposite end is the ER. People around here take medical care for granted, and look in horror at a 1/2 hour drive, with traffic, to the hospital. People are dying because the medical field is a for profit industry. And charity groups formed to help 3rd world countries need to operate here, within our own country. Sure medical care is working out for me, there’s plenty of hospitals here and doctors & healthcare. 1/2 hour 38 miles is ‘far’ to travel for medical care. But should we be only considering *ourselves*, especially when we are talking about ourselves as a nation. It’s easy to sit in your armchair in well populated suburbia, with your union or employer subsidized health insurance, and claim nothing is wrong with our healthcare system. Face it, as a NATION, we do not have the best healthcare in the world. If we did people would not be dying from simply treated things because there isn’t access to medical care either because it’s closed or because they have no money. Not when charities formed to help third world countries have to now operate within the US treating people in a fairgrounds.
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Post by salem on Mar 10, 2019 14:41:09 GMT
I just watched this on tv earlier this morning. You’re right. I live within 1/2 hour of 5 large hospitals and 40 minutes from Boston. There are doctors on every corner and med flights that race over my house with emergencies all the time. We have no concept of small town healthcare and I was terrified for that young couple with the small child that has seizures. I can’t even begin to understand the Mom’s terror of driving as far as she does to get to a hospital and just hoping her child’s still breathing by the time they finally get there.
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Post by busy on Mar 10, 2019 14:59:22 GMT
This article really resonates with me. We lived in a rural community for ten years and while we did have a hospital, we lacked a lot of standard specialties and it was nearly two hours to the metro area. For a time, we didn’t have any OBs in the county because the population was too small to justify the insane malpractice insurance premiums. (The hospital ended up hiring two OBs so the services were available - but it was a non-profit hospital; I doubt a for-profit hospital would make the same choice.)
A cousin’s daughter has Dravet, so my heart breaks for the mom in the article. So so scary 💜
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Post by hop2 on Mar 10, 2019 15:02:43 GMT
The woman’s husband who died if a complication of diabetes got to me, simply because thier hospital Closed.
And the whole fairgrounds full of people from 8 states all there for medical care, from a charity.
The hospital closest to me, 6 miles, was half ‘closed’ 10 years ago. They were merged with a hospital not far away and many of the services were divided. What they did do, thankfully, is keep thier ER open. Instead of a regular ‘hospital’ they now have the ER, an outpatient/same day surgery & testing center, women’s health center ( Mamo grams etc ) long term rehab, dementia care & assisted living. You can go to the closest ER & be treate. If you need the ‘hospital’ more than the ER, you drive 9 more miles to their sister hospital, where they have thier birth center & everything else. It’s working so far and I think it’s innovative way to keep the ER open.
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Post by gillyp on Mar 10, 2019 15:04:42 GMT
I know this isn’t particularly relevant as I’m on the other side of the pond but we are in a similar situation here. I can see the local hospital from my house yet most maternity and many out patients and surgical patients are having to be transported over 100 miles away. The roads are bad, unlit in many places and can be closed through snow. The most recent, horrendous case was a young mum whose twins decided to be born early. She was taken to our local hospital where it was agreed she would be driven by ambulance to the one 100 miles away. 2/3 of the way there they had to pull into another hospital, with less facilities than up here and the first twin was born, breech, there. It was decided they would continue the journey south and a helicopter was requested but couldn’t land because it had ice on the propellers. A second helicopter was unavailable. So poor mum, having already given birth to the first twin, was taken by ambulance to the hospital they were headed for, the first twin went down in another ambulance and the father followed along by car. The second twin was born safely and after 6 weeks mum and twins were allowed home. So each twin was born in a different county and neither of them in their home county. It beggars belief that we have a brilliant National Health Service yet people are treated like this. A few years ago when it was first decided to downgrade our maternity unit so the majority of mothers had to travel that distance to have their babies, a new health chief was asked to come and talk to the community about the decision. It would have meant her driving the 100 odd miles to get here. She refused BECAUSE.THE.ROADS.WERE.TOO.BAD with snow but she could not see the irony of expecting mothers in labor to make the journey. It infuriates me. I’ll get off my soapbox, back out and let you carry on talking about your own health care.  |
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Post by hop2 on Mar 10, 2019 15:13:13 GMT
Yes gillyp I didn’t straight out say universal haelthcare for a reason. I said reforms because I know that universal healthcare has it’s own issues as well. We need more innovative ideas to provide medical care to areas that need it. And we need to talk about it without turning ideas down because they are not universal healthcare ( on one hand ) or because it is subsidized by the government ( on the other hand ) I think we need a combination of what we have, government subsidy & technological innovation. I think we can get there. |
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DEX
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,360 
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Post by DEX on Mar 10, 2019 15:15:34 GMT
Deleted my post.
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Post by gillyp on Mar 10, 2019 15:27:40 GMT
I think you can get there hop2I’m not decrying our health service per se, if you have access to what is available it can be wonderful. A few years back my doctor sent me straight to the hospital when I had chest pains. Within 3 minutes of walking through the doors I was on a bed being monitored by a number of staff. I personally know two men here who both had heart attacks, were helicoptered that 100 miles, had pace makers fitted and were home within 24 hours. I would take our National Health Service over any other form of care, tbh. |
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Post by LavenderLayoutLady on Mar 10, 2019 15:51:14 GMT
For profit medical industry can be so cruel.
I'm no financial expert, but I don't understand why the government can offer banks financial bailouts, and the auto industry too I think, but can allow hospitals to close and create hospital deserts.
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Post by hop2 on Mar 10, 2019 15:58:28 GMT
For profit medical industry can be so cruel. I'm no financial expert, but I don't understand why the government can offer banks financial bailouts, and the auto industry too I think, but can allow hospitals to close and create hospital deserts. hospital deserts and food deserts |
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Gravity
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,232
Jun 27, 2014 0:29:55 GMT
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Post by Gravity on Mar 10, 2019 16:18:53 GMT
For profit medical industry can be so cruel. I'm no financial expert, but I don't understand why the government can offer banks financial bailouts, and the auto industry too I think, but can allow hospitals to close and create hospital deserts. Because it doesn’t directly affect politicians |
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Post by frenchie on Mar 10, 2019 16:46:26 GMT
For profit medical industry can be so cruel. I'm no financial expert, but I don't understand why the government can offer banks financial bailouts, and the auto industry too I think, but can allow hospitals to close and create hospital deserts. This is just a thought, I have no facts about it, but are these hospitals closing due to a lack of doctors and nurses? Obviously, there is more need for medical professionals in higher populated areas. |
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Post by scrapmaven on Mar 10, 2019 16:48:40 GMT
Healthcare costs are astronomical and the drug/insurance companies are a large part of that problem. When we have to defer to insurance companies to approve services that are medically necessary as determined by our doctors we're not getting the care we need. The problem is finding a solution that really works. Socialized medicine has it's share of problems, as well. What happened to putting doctors in charge of patient care?
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melissa
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by melissa on Mar 10, 2019 19:18:11 GMT
The many hands grabbing the pie is what is wrong with healthcare.
There's a graph out there that I saw that shows the number of administrators in hospitals has gone up exponentially in the last decade. So many more layers that I just cannot see as being necessary. Instead, at the local level alone, I see administrators essentially creating work for themselves and others to justify their positions. Is it a surprise that we have more layers of administrators in a department that is now struggling to find enough nurses? Nurses are going into administration as well for the higher pay and lesser (or different) demands.
That's to say nothing of medical companies- both pharmaceuticals and devices. There's nothing in a CEO's contract that benefits them to keep costs down. In fact, it's the exact opposite. It doesn't cost more to produce insulin today than it did 5 years ago at the bare bones level, yet look what's happened the price.
The system is broken.
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Post by LavenderLayoutLady on Mar 10, 2019 19:22:27 GMT
For profit medical industry can be so cruel. I'm no financial expert, but I don't understand why the government can offer banks financial bailouts, and the auto industry too I think, but can allow hospitals to close and create hospital deserts. This is just a thought, I have no facts about it, but are these hospitals closing due to a lack of doctors and nurses? Obviously, there is more need for medical professionals in higher populated areas. The article mentioned having to lay off medical personnel due to lack of funding. |
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Post by LavenderLayoutLady on Mar 10, 2019 19:26:56 GMT
Healthcare costs are astronomical and the drug/insurance companies are a large part of that problem. When we have to defer to insurance companies to approve services that are medically necessary as determined by our doctors we're not getting the care we need. The problem is finding a solution that really works. Socialized medicine has it's share of problems, as well. What happened to putting doctors in charge of patient care? Your statement really hit home. I feel like I really have to fight our insurance company for every single procedure and prescription my kids need. It's infuriating. And I'm tired of hearing a doctor say, "XYZ would be the best treatment for your child. Now I have to see if the insurance will say yes." Then we all do the back and forth, trying to get the insurance allow us to have certain medicines, etc. |
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Post by mustlovecats on Mar 11, 2019 0:11:59 GMT
The woman’s husband who died if a complication of diabetes got to me, simply because thier hospital Closed. And the whole fairgrounds full of people from 8 states all there for medical care, from a charity. I have a relative who receives most of his health care from RAM in a small town in southeastern Kentucky. It is devastating to me to think how hard they work for people and how much they try to do knowing they cannot solve all the problems of rural healthcare in a location in deep poverty. My relative will lose his foot to diabetes because he can’t get a doctor to see regularly, and I live three blocks from a premier hospital with a full service medical complex attached and can get seen 7 days a week for no primary co-pay. It’s not right. |
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Post by Zee on Mar 11, 2019 1:04:21 GMT
The 'for profit' aspect is probably what keeps nursing programs and medical school so dang hard to get into. I know quite a few really smart kids who would've been an asset in that field, and they can't find an opening anywhere in this country. I find that hard to believe. There are tons of nursing schools all over the country that aren't hard to get into. A good option for those who are claiming this might be to do an ADN course at a community college (I did that, and I had an excellent education) and then do the BSN online. But I know of tons of new grads that had no problem getting into nursing school. Definitely I'd encourage the BSN as soon as possible, though. It wasn't really necessary when I first went to nursing school but nowadays many hospitals won't even grant you an interview without it, depending on your party of the country. I was an RN with 15 years cardiac experience in IA who couldn't get an interview in my area in PA. I moved to GA and got hired immediately with excellent pay and I hadn't finished my BSN yet. Employment opportunities are very different around the US. |
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Post by Zee on Mar 11, 2019 1:07:55 GMT
This is just a thought, I have no facts about it, but are these hospitals closing due to a lack of doctors and nurses? Obviously, there is more need for medical professionals in higher populated areas. The article mentioned having to lay off medical personnel due to lack of funding. Yeah but they don't mention how many admins make 6 figures and how many expensive informatics nurses and case managers, etc etc etc have to be hired just to make sure standards of care meet federal guidelines. It's infuriating to have your salary frozen while a waterfall is installed on the OB floor. |
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Post by Zee on Mar 11, 2019 1:14:17 GMT
The many hands grabbing the pie is what is wrong with healthcare. There's a graph out there that I saw that shows the number of administrators in hospitals has gone up exponentially in the last decade. So many more layers that I just cannot see as being necessary. Instead, at the local level alone, I see administrators essentially creating work for themselves and others to justify their positions. Is it a surprise that we have more layers of administrators in a department that is now struggling to find enough nurses? Nurses are going into administration as well for the higher pay and lesser (or different) demands. That's to say nothing of medical companies- both pharmaceuticals and devices. There's nothing in a CEO's contract that benefits them to keep costs down. In fact, it's the exact opposite. It doesn't cost more to produce insulin today than it did 5 years ago at the bare bones level, yet look what's happened the price. The system is broken. Excellent point about all the nurses who would rather go into administration because of the workload floor nurses have. I LOVE being at the bedside, it's what I was meant to do. But we get sicker and sicker patients and more of them with less help. It's not only physically demanding, it's mentally draining to deal with retching hacking fevered patients with low blood sugar and low blood pressure etc etc etc and a million complaints and try to soothe them when no one is going to soothe you. And you have five of them to worry about, for 12 straight hours. Fortunately I'm pretty strong mentally and I don't break easily, but the demands are often too much for many nurses and burnout happens. Even I got burned out after 15 years. I had a 5 year break so I'm ok again but not everyone can just take a 5 year break. |
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melissa
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by melissa on Mar 11, 2019 18:59:13 GMT
@z*G, what I am also seeing is nurses moving into these positions at younger and younger ages. And going to advanced degrees with insufficient clinical background... but that's another issue altogether when a NP can practice independently with the same number of hours under their belt as a third year medical student who still has another year PLUS 3+ years of residency left. (Don't let anyone be fooled that these are the same things!)
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