Talk to anyone who has worked in the medical arena for a significant period of time and inevitably you will hear the same complaint: "Nobody Cares Anymore!" This is not endemic to only medicine, but in our dealings with each other as well as with patients, there is a new attitude that is best described as self-serving and unfeeling. This applies to the largest hospital systems and the smallest medical office, where physicians are trying to eek out their existence on a day to day basis.
We have become a rude society indulged in a say anything and feel justified attitude that leaves most patients feeling as if they have entered a twilight zone, far removed from the past, where they are no more than a name and number. I have been serving the needs of medicine for the past twenty years, and I am shocked at the lack of professionalism I find both as an administrator, and as a patient in the offices I work for and make use of as a patient.
Front office staffs are short and unmannerly and the patient is no longer the number one priority. Physicians and other health care practitioners who are now forced to see larger volumes of patients are prone to more mistakes than they were in the past and I fear that those patients unfortunate enough that they cannot act as they own advocate will fall victim to an increase in sub-standard care.
Nurses are overwhelmed with the number of patients they are expected to care for on their particular units and the paperwork has become an overwhelming catastrophe that does not insure the patient's well being but rather puts it into greater jeopardy. Nurse no longer appear at the bedside at the first bell ring and patient's without a family member to assist them during their stay often express serious complaints regarding their hospital stays. The days where nursing is a profession for the most caring and dedicated of individuals has gone the same direction as flight attendants and indeed we are forced to feel as if we are traveling in steerage when we are forced to seek hospital care.
What are we doing as a nation and as a society to deal with these issues? Perhaps payment for patient satisfaction scores is one answer, but right now all we are doing is giving our physicians and staffs greater obstacles to billing and coding. So we become more overwhelmed that we were in the past, and the likelihood that this is going to positively affect our patient care is quite slim.
Carelessness in dealing with our patients is now standard fare even as we listen to physicians and staff complain about cuts in reimbursements. Perhaps we are getting exactly the payments we deserve for the standards of courtesy and professional care that we are rendering today. Perhaps, we will go the way of the airlines - no meals, no pillows and blankets - smaller seats - and zero advocates. What can we expect when we have allowed ourselves to practice as a level that is strictly coach rather than first class!
It's time for us to wake up and promote the complete package of professionalism that existed in days gone by. We need to take the time and promote an arena of excellence before we price ourselves right out of the market and health care becomes little more than a series of walk in clinics that provide only the most basic of care. It's time to change our attitudes and realize that we are only as good as the patients think we are..... Nothing more !
We have become a rude society indulged in a say anything and feel justified attitude that leaves most patients feeling as if they have entered a twilight zone, far removed from the past, where they are no more than a name and number. I have been serving the needs of medicine for the past twenty years, and I am shocked at the lack of professionalism I find both as an administrator, and as a patient in the offices I work for and make use of as a patient.
Front office staffs are short and unmannerly and the patient is no longer the number one priority. Physicians and other health care practitioners who are now forced to see larger volumes of patients are prone to more mistakes than they were in the past and I fear that those patients unfortunate enough that they cannot act as they own advocate will fall victim to an increase in sub-standard care.
Nurses are overwhelmed with the number of patients they are expected to care for on their particular units and the paperwork has become an overwhelming catastrophe that does not insure the patient's well being but rather puts it into greater jeopardy. Nurse no longer appear at the bedside at the first bell ring and patient's without a family member to assist them during their stay often express serious complaints regarding their hospital stays. The days where nursing is a profession for the most caring and dedicated of individuals has gone the same direction as flight attendants and indeed we are forced to feel as if we are traveling in steerage when we are forced to seek hospital care.
What are we doing as a nation and as a society to deal with these issues? Perhaps payment for patient satisfaction scores is one answer, but right now all we are doing is giving our physicians and staffs greater obstacles to billing and coding. So we become more overwhelmed that we were in the past, and the likelihood that this is going to positively affect our patient care is quite slim.
Carelessness in dealing with our patients is now standard fare even as we listen to physicians and staff complain about cuts in reimbursements. Perhaps we are getting exactly the payments we deserve for the standards of courtesy and professional care that we are rendering today. Perhaps, we will go the way of the airlines - no meals, no pillows and blankets - smaller seats - and zero advocates. What can we expect when we have allowed ourselves to practice as a level that is strictly coach rather than first class!
It's time for us to wake up and promote the complete package of professionalism that existed in days gone by. We need to take the time and promote an arena of excellence before we price ourselves right out of the market and health care becomes little more than a series of walk in clinics that provide only the most basic of care. It's time to change our attitudes and realize that we are only as good as the patients think we are..... Nothing more !
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