If you are in medicine then you know that July 1st means the new residents have started working. And so, if you are a patient you will be one of the first actual patients that new resident gets to take care of- as an MD and not simply a medical student. This isn't a bad thing, this is how our training works. Think hyper-viginallant doctors that are going to check and double check everything because they are scared. Think nurses looking over shoulders and suggesting treatment options and medication orders. Think chief residents that are taking extra care. Don't get sick on July 1, but if you do, and you get treated at an academic hospital, chances are you'll get great care. Though the intern may need help figuring out how to order a lab or access the electronic charting system....
Now here is something else to think about.
The Patient Doctors Don't Know. I have no preconceptions that I will enter the field of geriatrics, but I am sure that in my residency I will have to take care of many elderly patients. And as this ob-ed physician points out it is not part of my required training.... Why is that we don't have a required geriatrics rotation? Geriatrics is one of the lesser paid medical fields and short on physicians. This will not change under or current health care system, yet with increasing numbers of the population reaching retirement age and living another 20-30 years this is going to be become an even bigger issue. Just some food for thought.
I'll be back in Grenada in just 32 days.
No comments:
Post a Comment