My First Webblog Entry

Hello, welcome to my new website.  I plan to write daily or weekly thoughts here.  I hope you’ll find them interesting.

Showing 9 comments
  • Annie Tucker RN
    Reply

    As a former (now disabled) cardiac surgery nurse, I have witnessed first hand the continued implosion of health care. The physicians and medical industry representatives are cloistered/immune from many of the checks and balances seen in other areas of consumer protection (ex: medical malpractice vs. personal injury law). The logical governors of the system – nurses – are silenced, and I believe this oppression is increasing. There are so many moving parts in this deeply broken health care system. I have difficulty remaining optimistic the system can be successfully overhauled.

    Example: The distorted culture between different physician specialties plays-out in your commentary. 25-30 years ago, cardiologist were the ugly, red-headed step-children of cardiology. With little exception, they were subordinates to the cardiac surgeon. With the growing field of Interventional Cardiology as a mammoth source of revenue, the cardiologist is now in charge. The cardiac surgeon now currys the favor of the cardiologist for surgical cases. Without the cardiologist’s referral, the surgeon will rarely receive patients. The pandering of industry representatives is relentless. Vendors often bring in breakfast and lunch daily for the cardiologists and the cath lab staff. The motivation for Medicare payment of treatments without evidence-based validation is power and greed. Physicians, vendors, and rewarded politicians all benefit. This is corruption.

    I believe the key to salvaging health care, as with the broken financial system, is transparency. Without transparency, I cannot get my head around any solution that will fix what is broken and build a responsible, patient-focused solution.

    Sincerely,
    Annie Tucker RN

  • Anita Bamford-Wade
    Reply

    Hi Suzanne
    I enjoyed reading your piece. It stirs upp all sorts of emotions as I have written extensively about the New Zealand health reforms in my doctoral thesis and in an undergraduate textbook after living through them as a Director of Nursing at that time. There are 3 themes /questions that I think could be explored and they are: Does compassion fit with the market model of healthcare? The role of the market versus humanity; No excuse for extravagance; Who hears the cry of the poor? I would welcome an opportunity to write with you on any one of these. Thank you for inviting my comment
    Best wisehs
    Anita

  • Rosalyn Mantle
    Reply

    I could not agree more. Your message reminds me of my first class in medical ethics some 27 years ago. In one of our assignments, we were given a fixed sum of money to fund the medical needs of a group of people. We formed a committee to determine the fate of patients in need of care. Our purpose of course was to decide who would benefit most from the limited resources we had for medical care. We were faced with the dilemma of saving a dying infant who needed a liver transplant or saving a 55 year old man who also needed a liver transplant. It seemed futuristic at the time. But, as you have demonstrated, the future is here.

  • Pat Woods
    Reply

    One of my favourite quotes when teaching about ethics in health care is by Eugene Ionesco.
    “It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.”
    Thank you ,Suzanne, for asking the questions in your writing. We all need to step back and ask those difficult questions. Who benefits from the course of action ?What are we doing, why are we doing it and should we be doing it ? Just because we can should never be the answer. Although in Canada our health care system has some differences to other systems , it is still in need of major health care reform and very lacking in resources. Input into intelligent policy making is a collective responsibilty of all of us!

  • Kellyann Curnayn
    Reply

    Health care crisis; everyone is looking for funds to improve things. Department of Health and Human Services has determined it spends aproximately $20,000,000,000 billion in Medicare funds on hospital aquired infections. I propose quality of care is declining because health care professionals spend more time charting then implementing care. My job dissatisfaction started with an inability to take ‘care’ of my patient. When I broke down the environment I came to the very clear conclusion that the system is slave to the accreditaion process. (Oppression)So quality of care continues to go down and America pours billions into the process.
    The link below is an article that outlines the accreditation process and pitfalls.

    http://www.centerforajustsociety.org/press/forum.asp?cjsForumID=1134&nav=publications

  • Reply

    Great stuff. Nice to read some well written posts that have some relevancy !

  • mark
    Reply

    Very interesting site, Hope it will always be alive!

    • Suzanne
      Reply

      I try to write about what concerns me at the moment. But that means there’s so much to write about. What would you like me to write about? What are your concerns?

    • Suzanne
      Reply

      thanks so much, I hope so too cause it means I’ll be alive.

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