I am a primary care physician - in the crosshairs of the mess we call healthcare in the US. I see about 30 patients per day. I answer a ton of phone calls, look at labs, x-rays, consults, and fill out forms every day. If I take time off from work, I am not paid. I am the source of most of my income.
I bear the weight of the current healthcare crisis, but am to caught up in the mess to have any time or means to do anything about it. I can't take time away to advocate for myself, nor can most of my colleagues. Instead, we are represented by academics and other physicians who are conspicuously "out of the trenches." It is the classic catch-22 - those with the most to lose have the least voice.
But I can blog.
I can say what I think and have others read it. The voice of the rank-and-file of healthcare is now out there. Doctors are starting to understand that this new medium gives us access to much larger audiences. We have a soap box. We no longer have to get others to advocate for us - we can do it ourselves.
So those who can listen: pay attention to the bloggers. They are the real voice of healthcare. The lobbyists and big organizations may think they understand, but most of them don't have to pay rent, support a payroll, and negotiate contracts with insurance companies. They make their points, advocate for their bosses, and go home without living with the consequences.
We live with the consequences.
Listen to us.
Rob, you sum it all up so well. I have been in the trenches for over 30 years and I agree with what you say about academcians, organized medicine, and those who don't pay rent. Not paying membership dues will not get you evicted from your offices. If you don't pay rent or malpractice you cannot practice. I think paying rent trumps paying dues to societies.
Blogs allow us to have direct access to those who make decisions in our field, and more important we all begin to see the commonality of our frustrations. And it doesn't cost a dime to do this. It works in real time, doesn't require committees.
Those of us in the blogging community have seen this in action. I have seen the Sec'y of Health and Human Services alter his opinion based on several comments from blogger on his own weblog. It allows physicians in the trenches to give him direct instantaneous feedback as to how some of the programs CMS proposes are inane, insane, and counterproductive.
Keep on blogging (and paying the rent, too)
The voice of administration and policy is FAR different from the reality I am seeing daily as I train as a physician. I think there are two good aspects to blogging, one is the voice of those that have come before and remember medicine as it was and the voice as those that are walking into this mess. All perspectives help paint a picture and they are not all pleasant, but they are not all negative either. There is still beauty and awe in medicine but it is a little harder to find it perhaps.... We hope to change that.
Am just a nurse but brother is doc and I work with docs. Even those groups of docs who make a difference, quality and caring, are oft not heard by those who pontificate about health care needs. Thanks for this posting and thanks this blog. May I say Amen.
Bravo! Excellent post. Please, keep on blogging!
MJ
The demands placed on all providers both MD and RN are in my opinion unacceptable. While the MD slice has to endure the complexities of reimbursement to name just one of several, RNs have an increasing workload thrust upon them with a never ending list of organizational requirements regarding administrative functions. Recently when confronted with a nursing issue I heard a COO respond by saying "they (nursing) have to just suck it up".
Healthcare is truly in a mess. Between the demands of the public, healthcare facilities, payers, and regulating organizations it is a wonder that anyone is looking to either stay in or enter the healthcare field.
Most of us are doing our best on any given day at it seems to be inadequate.
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