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WHYWHYWHY
My grandmother is 82 years old. She has lived in the same house for fifty years. She has had 2 doctors both belonging to the same hospital in those years. Everything she has ever had done has been through those Drs. and that one hospital. Never ever has she gone to another hospital. Last September she found blood in her stool. We took her to that same hospital. After many many many upper and lower scopys looking for the source of the blood, they told us that she needed an aortic valve replacement and a single bipass. She could not have the surgery until they found the source of the blood. My grandmother had so many colonoscopys that our whole family still teases her about her camera in a tube fetish. Finally they could wait no more. They did the heart surgery. She came through fine. The bleeding stopped. Must have been a leaky heart they said. Grandma recovered. Started getting her energy back. Normal grandma! Until today. I stopped by after watching people sleep all night to find that she was pale and week. She has had blood in her stool for three days and did not want to inconvenience me. So I gather her stuff and take her back to the same hospital she has gone to for fifty years. They gave some blood and admitted her. As of now she is fine.
My question is this.... Why did I have to give my grandmothers medical history and list of medicines to 8 nurses and 5 doctors. Why did they not already have the list as this hospital and these drs. are the only ones she ever is seen by. Why did not one of them make a list for one of the other drs. 50 years of medical history 20 of which have been in the computer ages. Never once did anyone bring a file in with them. I AM PISSED. Thank you fro letting me vent. I am going to try to get some sleep.
My question is this.... Why did I have to give my grandmothers medical history and list of medicines to 8 nurses and 5 doctors. Why did they not already have the list as this hospital and these drs. are the only ones she ever is seen by. Why did not one of them make a list for one of the other drs. 50 years of medical history 20 of which have been in the computer ages. Never once did anyone bring a file in with them. I AM PISSED. Thank you fro letting me vent. I am going to try to get some sleep.
Views: 90
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by RockRpsgt on
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Me too. I am starting to respect Dr. Park a great deal. His web site is very informative, and I am looking forward to the up coming webinars. I think the sleep industry needs more Doctors like him. As for my passion. You can ask anyone that knows me. It does not go away, only grows and blooms. I know right from wrong. And right now there is something terribly wrong with the way pts are treated. I am blessed at my lab, but in becoming more entwined in what is going on with my grandmother I am finding out the truth. I know that it is not this way everywhere, but it should not be this way anywhere.
Mike said:Rock, i hope you don't lose your passion once you get your RPSGT and become more engrained in how the way things have worked and are working. We patients desperately need health care providers like yourself who care enough to think out of the box... I would also like to know more about what Dr. Park meant when he said "In the name of competition, doctors are not allowed to share any information."
Rock Hinkle said:Grandma is well. They are going to to do an endoscopy on her stomach and upper GI tomorrow. Maybe this time thay will find the cause. I personally thank that it is from all the medicines she is on.
On a foot note. I would like to talk about the competition in the medical industry. Dr. Park I mean you no disrespect. This is something I have been thinking about for a minute.
As the oldest of 5 boys I understand competition. I played a wide variety of sports. I have competed for money,,jobs, and yes even women. There were a few bad times in my life that I was down on my luck, or not in a very good place, that I competed for things that we will not mention today. As medical professionals we have competed through college for grades, certificates, achievements, and even for acknowlegement. I feel that by finally recieveing these things. the varius degrees, and jobs that we have been striving to get, WE HAVE WON! When I get my RPSGT. I will have won one of my many personal competitions. As Doctors you have basically won the medical version of the olympics. at this point our competitive nature should be to provide a better quality of life to those we serve. The sick, the elderly, the dying. We should be pursuing and helping people live better lives. I compete every time I go to work. Not with my peers, Drs., or even the lab down the Street. I compete for my pts. When I put on the royal blues they are the only ones that matter. They all become my brothers, sisters, or even my grandmother. I treat all of my pts like they were my family, not because I have to but because it is the right way to treat a person. I would be lying to say that I can read minds or know anyone elses motives, but I TOOK THIS JOB BECAUSE I CARE! I TOOK THIS JOB BECAUSE IT WAS TIME FOR ME TO STOP TAKING AND START GIVING BACK TO MY VILLAGE. I do it because i love it. the perk is it also pays the bills.
We live in a day and age where info is bought, sold, and stolen like Florida oranges. A government that can tap are phones or intercept our mail just because they think we might have some knowledge.Corporate espionage, bad medias. No ones information is all that private anymore. I think that a few Doctors and medical professionals should be able to come together and design a better way to communicate with one another and take better care of our pts.THE PATIENT are 2 words that we should all remember as medical professional, because at the end of the he/she is what we are competing for.
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Permalink Reply by sleepycarol on
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I know in my field (education) there is the mantra "on a need to know basis". I agree with that up to a point ---- but so many factors into things that it can become a huge stumbling block in getting appropriate treatment, etc.
I have experienced that at times one does not have the full picture of certain situations to make informed choices as "the need to know basis" was applied and information that could affect the outcomes of certain situations hang in the balance.
This applies to the medical field, education, and I am sure other fields. I don't mean that all of our information should be posted on the web or announced to the world -- but somethings need to be shared among those that have a vested stake in the outcomes.
This is an example and doesn't reflect an actual experience of mine but to illustrate what I mean ----
You have a student move in that has certain behaviors that should be monitored. Those behaviors are known by the administration and a very select group of staff. You monitor this student's lunch shift and as such it is not shared with you about his particular behaviors as it is not seen as a high priority since you only deal with him during lunch. He ends up injuring another student while in the restroom. When questioned about why you let both students go to the restroom at the same time, your defense is that you didn't know that student 1 could be a threat to student 2. Student 2 could have been spared if you had only been told about student 1's possible behavior.
My point is that when deciding who should receive sensitive material about another, someone may not get the "on a need to know" information that would benefit from it. In the above case. I feel that all staff members should be made aware of the potential problems that may arise and not just the "select" few.
Mike you are a lawyer -- is this a viable assumption?
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Permalink Reply by Mike on
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as a lawyer, the analysis is how to weigh the student's privacy against the well being of the general student body. you try to strike a balance between those competing interests. in your example, they may have put too much emphasis on the student's right to privacy, and another student was injured.
but in medicine, and with respect to patients not being given adequate information upon which to make decisions about their well being, or other doctors not being given the information needed for them to properly treat the patient, i don't understand what the competing interests are. so much is made of patient's privacy, but i think it's really a front for doctors covering their butts, because do they ever give us the right to waive our privacy as applied to a given situation? hardly ever. if it's really our best interests they're looking out for, and a right they're trying to protect on our behalf, we should be able to waive that right. after all, it's ours.
sleepycarol said:I know in my field (education) there is the mantra "on a need to know basis". I agree with that up to a point ---- but so many factors into things that it can become a huge stumbling block in getting appropriate treatment, etc.
I have experienced that at times one does not have the full picture of certain situations to make informed choices as "the need to know basis" was applied and information that could affect the outcomes of certain situations hang in the balance.
This applies to the medical field, education, and I am sure other fields. I don't mean that all of our information should be posted on the web or announced to the world -- but somethings need to be shared among those that have a vested stake in the outcomes.
This is an example and doesn't reflect an actual experience of mine but to illustrate what I mean ----
You have a student move in that has certain behaviors that should be monitored. Those behaviors are known by the administration and a very select group of staff. You monitor this student's lunch shift and as such it is not shared with you about his particular behaviors as it is not seen as a high priority since you only deal with him during lunch. He ends up injuring another student while in the restroom. When questioned about why you let both students go to the restroom at the same time, your defense is that you didn't know that student 1 could be a threat to student 2. Student 2 could have been spared if you had only been told about student 1's possible behavior.
My point is that when deciding who should receive sensitive material about another, someone may not get the "on a need to know" information that would benefit from it. In the above case. I feel that all staff members should be made aware of the potential problems that may arise and not just the "select" few.
Mike you are a lawyer -- is this a viable assumption?
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Permalink Reply by Judy on
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Judy said:
Ha! They are afraid they'll end up spending all their time answering e-mails and not getting those patients into the office and paying that office call.
Mike said:
if the concern is getting paid, why don't they charge for responding to emails?
Okay. I admit, "not getting those patients into the office and paying the office call" was a cheap shot. But the time constraint is totally pertinent. Many neither have nor want to take the TIME to be bothered w/e-mails from patients. Some just don't HAVE the time.
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Why - Because the medical profession has become specialized and a patient is bounced from provider to provider more than a volleyball in a tournament and no single doctor knows the complete medical history or treatment plan.
Why - Because when a patient goes into the hospital many hospitals are using specialist known as hospitalists so the primary care physician and the specialists that treated the patient before can see more patients in their offices and clinics and not have to make rounds in the hospital so the providers in the hospital have to rely on cryptic notes in the chart on the computer which deprives the patient of the primary care and specialist provider's general knowledge and intuitive diagnostic and treatment skills.
Why- Because insurance companies and hosptital corporations and profit motive determine the treatment plan and interfere with physician's medical decisions in their quest to make medical care they provide cost effective to the company and not the patient. Studies have shown that patients in the U.S. get lesser quality medical care per dollar than in many other countries.
Why- Because they follow the Golden Rule - They have the gold and they make the rules.
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This is June, writing for her husband, Ron! I understand your pain and frustration. MANY of us have had to deal with the same STUFF involved with my parents! It is truly AMAZING to me that in this 'computer age' they have to continually repeat themselves. I really think it is for the convenience of the doctor. Each time they ask it goes on the front page when the doctor opens the chart - thus he doesn't have to fish through page after pager of data to get what he is going to get from US, which is based on our recollection of events! Doctors today, due to the wonderful insurance regulations, do not actually have the time to really TREAT patients, - they are put thru the office or hospital like cattle and each one gets 'branded' with a ' diagnosis' or 'treatment theory'. Years ago my mom made a copy of every med that she and dad took on her computer. She updated and deleted as necessary and took a copy with her to EACH AND EVERY visit - even though she had seen the same doctor and hospital for YEARS!!! WE are the ones who have to keep up with the stuff - WE are the ones to have to speak up and ask questions and WE are the ones that have to sometimes DEMAND a test, etc. that we feel is necessary because WE are the ones who have researched it - NOT THE DOCTORS! As you can tell, I am PISSED OFF too! My parents passed away in 2005, within 4 months of each other. The hospital where my mother was NEVER came up with anything definitive and her death certificate listed 'pneumonia' as the cause of death. Pneumonia was the end result, but the cause that started it all - we will never know.
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There has to be better way for the medical industry to communicate. Microsoft, IBM( who by the way both offer buiseness solutions), BMV/DMV. Fedex, UPS, Wallstreet, and the U.S. post office just to name a few, all have and protect their own internal network systems. Congress even supports their own system. All of these organizations do a pretty ok job at protecting those systems. I do understand that no system is hack proof, and all of these organizations have had internal leaks. The medical industry should at the very least be as proficient as the BMV/DMV in the way it handles/passes information. I bet if I had wanted to know waht insurance company my grandmother had 20 years ago they would have had that on file somewhere LOL.
I do want to say that it is not the doctors or nurses that I am upset with. As a medical proffessional I understand that we can only work with the system we are given. I am upset with the system. I see it every week after week. Pt A comes in wondering why they can't sleep. I check the files and the pt will be on 30 different medications prescribed by 5 different doctors. It just makes you wonder if one knows about the other. This current system has also made it easier for the abusers to take advantage of the system. If one doctor won't prescribe you the medicine you want, just move on down the road until one of them does. This practice not only is bad but it ties up our doctors with people that need rehab more than they need a medical physician. A little communication goes a very long way.
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Rock, do be sure to let us know how your grandmother does after her endosopy today. And how she is feeling. We are all wishing her and you well and hoping they find the root of the problem and a simple treatment that will end the problem. Know we are thinking of both of you.
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to that point, we have a family member who is certifiably insane -- totally delusional/psychotic and potentially a danger to herself and others. we know that certain steroid medication she takes for her sinuses aggravate her psychosis, and have finally, after years of busting through HIPAA/privacy BS have communicated that to her primary care physician AND had him listen. What does she do last week? she goes to another PCP, and gets the steroids she wants. Watch out world!
Rock Hinkle said:There has to be better way for the medical industry to communicate. Microsoft, IBM( who by the way both offer buiseness solutions), BMV/DMV. Fedex, UPS, Wallstreet, and the U.S. post office just to name a few, all have and protect their own internal network systems. Congress even supports their own system. All of these organizations do a pretty ok job at protecting those systems. I do understand that no system is hack proof, and all of these organizations have had internal leaks. The medical industry should at the very least be as proficient as the BMV/DMV in the way it handles/passes information. I bet if I had wanted to know waht insurance company my grandmother had 20 years ago they would have had that on file somewhere LOL.
I do want to say that it is not the doctors or nurses that I am upset with. As a medical proffessional I understand that we can only work with the system we are given. I am upset with the system. I see it every week after week. Pt A comes in wondering why they can't sleep. I check the files and the pt will be on 30 different medications prescribed by 5 different doctors. It just makes you wonder if one knows about the other. This current system has also made it easier for the abusers to take advantage of the system. If one doctor won't prescribe you the medicine you want, just move on down the road until one of them does. This practice not only is bad but it ties up our doctors with people that need rehab more than they need a medical physician. A little communication goes a very long way.
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It is crazy that our system is set up to protect the people that abuse it rather than the ones who actually need it. I have an aunt in the same situation MIke. She constantly has the meds she wants rather than the ones she needs. Thus she is usually sedated or a little off of her rocker. She goes from dr to dr and seems to have no problem at all in getting what she wants.
Mike said:to that point, we have a family member who is certifiably insane -- totally delusional/psychotic and potentially a danger to herself and others. we know that certain steroid medication she takes for her sinuses aggravate her psychosis, and have finally, after years of busting through HIPAA/privacy BS have communicated that to her primary care physician AND had him listen. What does she do last week? she goes to another PCP, and gets the steroids she wants. Watch out world!
Rock Hinkle said:There has to be better way for the medical industry to communicate. Microsoft, IBM( who by the way both offer buiseness solutions), BMV/DMV. Fedex, UPS, Wallstreet, and the U.S. post office just to name a few, all have and protect their own internal network systems. Congress even supports their own system. All of these organizations do a pretty ok job at protecting those systems. I do understand that no system is hack proof, and all of these organizations have had internal leaks. The medical industry should at the very least be as proficient as the BMV/DMV in the way it handles/passes information. I bet if I had wanted to know waht insurance company my grandmother had 20 years ago they would have had that on file somewhere LOL.
I do want to say that it is not the doctors or nurses that I am upset with. As a medical proffessional I understand that we can only work with the system we are given. I am upset with the system. I see it every week after week. Pt A comes in wondering why they can't sleep. I check the files and the pt will be on 30 different medications prescribed by 5 different doctors. It just makes you wonder if one knows about the other. This current system has also made it easier for the abusers to take advantage of the system. If one doctor won't prescribe you the medicine you want, just move on down the road until one of them does. This practice not only is bad but it ties up our doctors with people that need rehab more than they need a medical physician. A little communication goes a very long way.
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The endoscopy of my grandmother came back negative once again. Yet her blood count reached 5 once agian today. As a recent bipass and artery replacement pt they want to keep it around 10 to avoid more heart damage. Sooooooooooo she is setting through yet another transfusion. The drs seem to be as perplexed as the rest of us. This has been going on for almost 8 months now. I guess if she can roll with the punches at 82 I should be able to roll with her at 35. I will take my turn sitting with her this evening. Hopefully I will find out more then. I will wear scrubs to my advantage. It works, takes them an hour or 2 usually to figure out that I am not one of them!
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Permalink Reply by Banyon on
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Rock, All the best to your grandmother for a speedy resolution and quick healing.
The email that came across alerting me to this post said, "A message to all members of SleepGuide
excellent thread emerging on what's wrong with health care in the U.S'
I can't resist replying to that and my comments have nothing to do with your grandmother's case.
What's wrong with health care in the U.S. ?
The damn patients are the biggest problem.
Their doctors tell them over and over to eat a proper diet, lose weight, exercise regularly, practice good sleep hygiene, quit smoking, don't drink so much, and always sleep with your CPAP.
Then what do the patients do?
-Eat huge meals including plenty of sugars, saturated fats, empty carbs and salts!
-Eat very few vegetables!
-Sit around watching tv, playing video games, texting, Twittering, and posting in forums!
-Have very poor sleep hygiene!
-Smoke!
-Drink heavily!
-And then the abysmally poor record with CPAP compliance!
-And then whine because the drugs to fix their problems are expensive and not so effective!
Take control of your own health.
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