NP - Nurse Practitioner. A nurse with additional training that allows him or her to perform many of the functions of a physician. Often lumped in with physician assistants as “physician extenders”, a term I really hate.
Resident - Doctor fresh out of med school, spending the first 3-5 years training in his specialty. Med school is where you become a doctor and get the MD after your name; residency is where you learn to be a surgeon, a pediatrician, an internist (like me), or whatever. Historically known for ridiculous hours, low pay, and spirit breaking.
You forgot to mention while wearing my father’s ratty old pajamas.
Good rant. I give it a 9.7
Now, please explain to me a PA. (Physician’s Assistant) and why they are oh so close to being a doctor, but not quite. I’ve never fully grasped this role.
Be careful. If the line gets too long, OSHA may require that you install handrails*.
*not an original line, stolen from some internet glurge somewhere.
This is not to denigrate fine medical professionals in any way - but if I had a heart attack in July and looked up to find myself on the doorstep of a teaching hospital, I would consider making every effort to crawl across town to a non-teaching hospital.
Just want to give a shout out to my homeboy and say great rant. Really well composed and beautifully written. I’m giving it a nine, and I mean a hard nine.
I think that HMOs are deserving of their own half dozen or so new threads. Each year, my husband has the option to choose a new medical insurance/HMO provider. Each year I am very careful that he does NOT choose an HMO. Heck, I could fill an entire thread with just MY HMO experiences.
I don’t know all the legal/business details of an HMO, but they’re basically a private hospital and all I ever hear is bad things about them.
No, we don’t have them here in Canada (what with our public health care and all).
HMO=Health Maintenance Organization. They’re not all self contained systems, but some are. All major health insurance companies have an HMO product. Basically, with the exception of a pre-determined copayment (usually $15 for a visit, $50 for an ER visit, and, I think the same for an inpatient stay) all services are covered at 100%. Unfortunately, everthing has to be preauthorized or it isn’t paid for. Every provider has to be in network. Or it isn’t paid for. Fewer and fewer providers are in network every year. Authorization is more difficult to obtain for certain procedures (“They need a shunt? Can’t you just…I don’t know, try blood thinners or something?”), and patients are sent home after one day of recovery as opposed to 3-5 for major surgery (“Mrs. X, you had a hysterectomy. You didn’t die. Chance of infection is low. Go home. We’re not paying for you to lay there.”) :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: Lynn’s right. I could go on all day about HMO’s.
Everyone has the perception that doctors make a bloody fortune. However, if you figure out how many hours they work, their hourly rate is not that great. And then when you factor in the quarter of a million dollars or so that they’ve gone into debt in order to get through med school…
Let’s then consider the world of business. Our lowest ranking manager makes ~$85k a year. If you have a master’s degree you get a bonus of $10-25k. Within 6 years most of our folks are making well in excess of $200k plus generous stock options that make them millionaires when they retire. And what is it that they do to earn this immense wealth? They make and market diapers. Shit catchers. And they get a nice little paycheck every month with no hassles. No filing volumes and volumes of paperwork in order to get paid. No dealing with some asshole second guessing your decisions and telling you that what you did was unnecessary and therefore they weren’t paying you.
I give doctors all the credit in the world. I dated a medical student when I was in college and those two years were enough to convince me that I didn’t have what it takes to be a doctor. Nor did I have what it takes to be the wife of a doctor. Give me a pen. I’ll gladly write a generous check for your services. You can have that job along with the infernal pager that comes with it.
Here’s why I went into medicine; for the personal satisfaction, and for the side benefits of continued spiritual growth and service to mankind. Yeah, that’s it. That’s the ticket. I do it for the satisfaction and spiritual growth. And mankind, too! How cool is that? Who the hell would want to be a millionaire from selling diapers anyway?
Aw, fuck it! Is it too late to retrain and go into business?
Well, I’m gonna go out and buy me some Lotto tickets at the very least.
In any of my lectures on health care systems (Im doing Nursing in Australia for those late to the thread) the US health care system is shown as an example of what not to do. From the stories I get from, everywhere really, I can see where my lecturers are coming from. All of the nurses that have worked in America here seem to have at least one story about someone that died because the hospital concentrated on billing details first and healthcare second.
>crosses fingers this doesn’t open up a Michael Moore hijack-from-hell<
You may get your wish for at least a half a dozen new threads because HMOs will be the focus of the next Michael Moore movie. More threads than you can shake an army of sticks at.
Well, if nothing else, it’ll get the subject discussed. I’ve always wondered why there’s been no huge outcry about them, even though everyone is dissatisfied.
silentgoldfish I’d bet you will be earning significantly more than your brother reasonably soon if he remains a forklift driver… My sister’s an RN at RBCH and she makes good money by anyone’s standards but her own ;).
Just a matter of time, not lazy.