Monday, June 22, 2009
Healthcare in the Real World
I woke up with Pink Eye. Damn! Annoying, painful, but easily treated, right? Well... yeah... but not without hitting an initial speed bump. Namely...
Is it just me or does it seem that pharmacies should be open from... oh... let's say 7:00 am rather than 9:00 am?
So my day starts at 6:45 am. I wake up with my left eye killing me! I know what the problem is, I felt it coming on yesterday but hoped that it was simply "dry eye." No such luck. Upon heading to the bathroom to check the mirror it's clear... I have Pink Eye... time to hit the Neomycin/Polmyxin B!
Damn... DAMN! None in the medicine cabinet. Let me call my buddy the doc and have him phone in a prescription for me. But first... let's check to see which local pharmacy opens earliest.
None! Yep. Short answer... none; they all seem to open for prescription pick-up no earlier than 9:00 am.
What is this crap...?!?! Now I know that not everyone has a buddy who's a doc and that even going through "normal channels" one can't always get hold (or wouldn't try to short of a life and death emergency) of one's GP or eye doctor at 7:00 am, let alone earlier, but seriously, what about people who would rather pick up their "regular" prescriptions on their way to work vs. having to run out at lunch or stop on the way home after working all day? Heck, nowadays even "banker's hours" often begin at 8:00 am, not 9:00 am!
Well... what this meant to me this morning - aside from a two hour delay in starting the drops, starting the treatment - was that instead of Mary (my far, far better half) being able to run out and pick up my prescription prior to heading for her office, I had to go out... I had to drive back and forth to the pharmacy myself while suffering from Pink Eye! Frigg'n brilliant, huh...?!?!
So... my question... what's Obama gonna do about this? What's government going to do to "reform" the system - perhaps a federal dictate that all pharmacies must open for business at 7:00 am?
(*SNORT*)
Obviously I'm being sarcastic. There's nothing Obama is going to do about it. There's nothing any state government is going to do about it. Nor should the federal or any state government mandate that all pharmacies open at 7:00 am (perhaps even 6:00 am).
My point...? In the real world - the real world of healthcare - as with the real world in general, there're going to be bumps in the road. Regarding most of these bumps...
More government regulation isn't the answer. More layers of bureaucracy... not the answer. Mandates? Be careful what you wish for folks - the law of unintended consequences is a bitch.
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4 comments:
Another recent story - this one quite a bit more serious than my complaint concerning pharmacy hours:
My best friend's mom is suffering from Alzheimer's. It's to the point now where she's "forgetting" how to (when to) chew her food and suffering other advanced physical symptoms.
She had been in a very nice care facility for the past few years, but lately she's been declining rapidly. A couple weeks ago there was a problem and she had to be briefly hospitalized.
My wife Mary and I went to visit her. We found her in a two-person room (normal hospital room set-up - semi-private), apparently lightly sedated, with a saline drip for hydration.
Hey... fine. This was the level of care I'd expected to find her under. After all, what else could they do. Here's what I hadn't expected to find, though:
During our visit "mom" was in and out of it, dozing, and upon coming out of it fiddling around with her IV lines.
(They were taped up - taped so she couldn't pull them out... she's to the point where she doesn't really understand what they are, why they're sticking in her arm)
Well, you all know how hospital visits of this type go - when the person you're visiting is half out of it; you spend much of your time just sitting there, eyes wandering around the room.
So... at one point I notice the "nurse's check list" on the wall. There were all these things that are supposed to be checked at regular intervals... different categories including checking the monitors, IV functions, patient symptoms and distress issues... even whether all was well in the... er... "bathroom department," whether the patient was dry - stuff like that.
Well... anyway... at one point a nurse (or perhaps the "care monitor") came in to check on "mom."
Well... this "check" encompassed glancing at us, smiling and saying "hi," initialing the check-list, and leaving.
Get the picture...??? Actually PREFORMING the "check" wasn't done; initialing the check-list was.
Anyone wanna bet this isn't the norm - or at least a very frequent occurrence?
"Style over substance." Going through the motions - pretending proper care is being giving according the objective standards when in reality... it isn't.
Anyone think more government involvement is going to lead to LESS of this sort of thing rather than to MORE such shortcuts and deceptions...???
(*SIGH*)
BILL
You looked at a dirty toilet seat, right?
Hey Bill Franco here from NEW PUrITY{ I mean "New majority"
I see your last post was deleted and I did bookmark your site haven't had much time to get into it but I will. I also have a site that I haven't posted much on but there is a lot of still relevant commentary there. Glad to have met you and enjoy your posts at NM.
Thanks, Franco, right back at ya!
BILL
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