Oww
My arm hurts...I forgot to mention yesterday that I got a tetanus shot too for the hell of it. You should get one every 10 years and most people were required to get it at the age of 15 during HS. I wasn't sure when I received the shot last, so I got it anyways. If any of you remember what the shot feels like afterwords...you'll probably remember that it is like a charliehorse that never goes away. I am annoyed...my L shoulder is throbbing.
So...aside from that, I started my first day of OB/GYN today. It wasn't too bad, today was mostly an introduction day, and things were really slow in Labor and Delivery. I will be in Labor and Delivery again tommorrow and then after that, me and the other student will alternate between that and GYN surgeries in the operating room. We had one whole delivery today, and it happened really quickly. During our orientation, we heard someone yelling about a delivery. I ran into the delivery suite looked at the woman on the table, and saw her pushing and screaming. Not much of the baby could be seen at this point, and the nurse told me to glove and gown up. It probably was less than another minute for me to gown up and then glove up, but when I looked up, the baby was already in the doctors hand's. Normally for first pregnancies, moms will push for at least 1 to 2 hours, somehow, this woman did it in less than a few minutes. Aside from being suprisingly quick, it was also suprisingly clean. I have heard so many horror stories about deliveries with amniotic fluid, blood and feces flowing everywhere...luckily my first experience was not that. It's amazing to see the process of bringing the baby into this world, and I can see how people would enjoy this as a profession. Unfortunately...I could never see myself doing this.
The hospital and rooms themselves are very impressive. The suites are basically modeled after hotel rooms, and creates a very relaxing atmosphere for the patients.
Besides the delivery for the day, the rest of the day was spent studying. We are required to be at the hospital every day (minus weekends...thank god) from 6am to 7pm. If there is nothing going on, we have to be studying, or at least appear to be, because the doctor comes by to make sure we are doing something and not skipping out early. Hopefully the rotation will pick up, because busy rotations go by much quicker.
Now I have a whole two hours to finish my paper on Germany's healthcare system. But before then...I have to get on a little soapbox about the paper. Many of you already known how our healthcare system is composed and how we pay for our care; we basically purchase insurance to cover the majority of costs, and for those that can't afford it, the elderly and/or the disabled, are covered by medicaid and medicare. In Germany, the government requires every employed individual under a certain threshold ($40,000) to enroll in their health insurance program. Over 90% of the country is enrolled in these programs. The pool of funds that runs this program is attained through 50% contributions from employee paychecks and the other 50% from their employers. In the past it has been touted to be one of the better healthcare systems in the world. The United States has always been ranked lower and is consistently being compared to Germany as well as other countries' health care systems. The problem is, these other systems don't work either. Countries like Canada and the UK have a lack of access due to socialized medicine; sure everyone receives care, but can the provider system really handle it off of what they get reimbursed for? In Germany, they're system is actually heading towards one similar to ours. Years of neglecting cost containment have led them to have the same problems we face.
What is the underlying problem leading to these costs? Is there a solution? I think that the problem of increasing health costs is a product of our own doing. Major factors of rising healthcare costs are increased utilization of services and the advent of new technologies and pharmaceuticals. Here is the problem: these new technologies and pharmaceuticals have worked to prolong our lives; prolonged lives leads to more people with inevitable chronic conditions, thus they need to use more services. It is a vicous circle...we work to increase quality...but the increased quality leads to increased costs...where does it end?
Any ideas for heathcare improvement in the US?
Holy hell...hope that rambling made any sense.
*3 in a row....get some
So...aside from that, I started my first day of OB/GYN today. It wasn't too bad, today was mostly an introduction day, and things were really slow in Labor and Delivery. I will be in Labor and Delivery again tommorrow and then after that, me and the other student will alternate between that and GYN surgeries in the operating room. We had one whole delivery today, and it happened really quickly. During our orientation, we heard someone yelling about a delivery. I ran into the delivery suite looked at the woman on the table, and saw her pushing and screaming. Not much of the baby could be seen at this point, and the nurse told me to glove and gown up. It probably was less than another minute for me to gown up and then glove up, but when I looked up, the baby was already in the doctors hand's. Normally for first pregnancies, moms will push for at least 1 to 2 hours, somehow, this woman did it in less than a few minutes. Aside from being suprisingly quick, it was also suprisingly clean. I have heard so many horror stories about deliveries with amniotic fluid, blood and feces flowing everywhere...luckily my first experience was not that. It's amazing to see the process of bringing the baby into this world, and I can see how people would enjoy this as a profession. Unfortunately...I could never see myself doing this.
The hospital and rooms themselves are very impressive. The suites are basically modeled after hotel rooms, and creates a very relaxing atmosphere for the patients.
Besides the delivery for the day, the rest of the day was spent studying. We are required to be at the hospital every day (minus weekends...thank god) from 6am to 7pm. If there is nothing going on, we have to be studying, or at least appear to be, because the doctor comes by to make sure we are doing something and not skipping out early. Hopefully the rotation will pick up, because busy rotations go by much quicker.
Now I have a whole two hours to finish my paper on Germany's healthcare system. But before then...I have to get on a little soapbox about the paper. Many of you already known how our healthcare system is composed and how we pay for our care; we basically purchase insurance to cover the majority of costs, and for those that can't afford it, the elderly and/or the disabled, are covered by medicaid and medicare. In Germany, the government requires every employed individual under a certain threshold ($40,000) to enroll in their health insurance program. Over 90% of the country is enrolled in these programs. The pool of funds that runs this program is attained through 50% contributions from employee paychecks and the other 50% from their employers. In the past it has been touted to be one of the better healthcare systems in the world. The United States has always been ranked lower and is consistently being compared to Germany as well as other countries' health care systems. The problem is, these other systems don't work either. Countries like Canada and the UK have a lack of access due to socialized medicine; sure everyone receives care, but can the provider system really handle it off of what they get reimbursed for? In Germany, they're system is actually heading towards one similar to ours. Years of neglecting cost containment have led them to have the same problems we face.
What is the underlying problem leading to these costs? Is there a solution? I think that the problem of increasing health costs is a product of our own doing. Major factors of rising healthcare costs are increased utilization of services and the advent of new technologies and pharmaceuticals. Here is the problem: these new technologies and pharmaceuticals have worked to prolong our lives; prolonged lives leads to more people with inevitable chronic conditions, thus they need to use more services. It is a vicous circle...we work to increase quality...but the increased quality leads to increased costs...where does it end?
Any ideas for heathcare improvement in the US?
Holy hell...hope that rambling made any sense.
*3 in a row....get some
posted by Jimmy at
9:48 PM
2 Comments:
Ok that sounds painful. But I do like your newfound dedication to posting. If it makes you feel better, your life rivals mine for excitement.
-Harlow
By
Anonymous, at 4:08 PM
You guys should step into a Slim Jim. Anywho yeah the posts have been good lately, maybe a side effect of your hypochondrianism.
And self medicating sounds like something that doctors usually warn against. One thing you could look into is this new angio-plasty thing they do for nasal septum deviations. They thread a cath up your nose and expand the septum with a balloon. Almost no bleeding and very short recovery compared to traditional nasal surgeries.
Dr. "I'm not one of those fancy medical school types" Safavi
By
Anonymous, at 4:39 PM
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