FEATURED JOBS
Comments (0)Story By Joseph Velisek.
My mother made an emergency trip to the hospital last week—she’s fine, thanks for asking—and I thought a quick recap of the excursion might be in order.
The following is not a knock against the doctors, nurses and other very helpful health care professionals we dealt with, but it does raise a few questions concerning the efficiency of the system they work under and under which my mother was treated. Two things to keep in mind as you read this. First, the hospital in which she stayed is state of the art and second, the Part B of dealing with the insurance coverage has yet to occur.
Several weeks ago, after nursing a tennis injury that wasn’t improving, my mother, a senior citizen of the 21st century, visited her doctor and was prescribed an anti-inflammatory to fix her up. Simple enough except that unbeknownst to both doctor and patient, the medicine exacerbated a “pre-existing” condition. Weak and physically drained, my mother returned to the doctor’s office and sure enough, the pre-existing condition was now in full-blown current existence. Without getting too Marcus Welby here, her hemoglobin count was way down, meaning the oxygen transport mechanism in her blood was not functioning, hence her weakened condition.
The remedy—blood transfusions—is fairly straightforward, although time consuming. The doctor immediately informed my parents that the transfusions needed to be done at the hospital. As my parents made their way towards the door—and the hospital—the doctor informed them they could either drive themselves there and then wait in the emergency room for hours, or my mother could make the less than five mile trip in an ambulance and be treated immediately.
My mother is not good with two things, theatrics and waiting, so this posed a dilemma. After some consideration and the memories of raising four boys, which included multiple trips to the emergency room (and the waiting), she opted for the ambulance.
If you’re keeping score at home, two red flags—the pre-existing condition and the need for the ambulance—have already popped up. We’ll deal with these along with the others coming up at the end of this narrative.
Fast forward to the hospital where a doctor’s signature was needed for admittance. For whatever reason, the signature of the doctor whose office my mother just left wasn’t adequate so a doctor who didn’t know my mother and vice-versa was found and completed the paperwork (Red flag #3).
Once my mom was situated for the transfusion the call went out for blood. Unfortunately, the conveyor tube system that delivered the red stuff was broken (Red flag #4), so the blood needed to be hand delivered. Four and a half hours later—unclear if the blood was from out of state—the blood arrived and the transfusion procedure began and ran into the night.
The following day with my mother’s condition much improved it was decided that a GI procedure needed to be done to isolate the cause of the hemoglobin issue. Although a time was not set, my mother was told that it wouldn’t occur before noon the following day (Red flag #5). A little after 8:30 a.m. the next morning the phone rang next to my mother’s bed telling her the procedure was imminent and before she hung up someone was at her door to whisk her away.
Not only was the procedure completed, but also the cause of her condition was isolated before noon with 30 minutes to spare. Both the hematologist and internist were satisfied with the results, which was good news, and my mother was told she could leave …… once she got the sign-off from the doctor who admitted her (the one she didn’t know and who didn’t know her) which was the not-so-good news. (Red flag #6)
After waiting two-and-a-half hours, my mother left the hospital with no signature. Multiple pages and phone calls couldn’t locate the pen-wielding doctor, whom I’m guessing had much more urgent issues to attend to than paperwork.
I’ve written all this not to slam, belittle, knock or in any way chastise the more than competent medical professionals who dealt with and helped my mother. They were all wonderful. It’s the inefficiency of the system that boggles the mind. From the need for an ambulance to raise my mother’s priority in the treatment queue—as if a note or a phone call wouldn’t do—to the broken blood delivery system; the paperwork and signatures to get her treated and the scheduling of diagnostic procedures, it’s a wonder these folks are able to function as effectively as they do.
It must be immensely frustrating to work day in and day out dealing with the processing of patients rather than simply and more importantly, caring for them. Add to this the incredible pressure these folks work under and their success rate borders on miraculous.
As for my mother’s pre-existing condition, it was diagnosed before her original doctor had automated and become part of the network—documentation of her condition was sitting hand-written in a file cabinet. This diagnosis was less than 10 years ago.
So when I hear that reform is not necessary or that it’s evil, it only takes an experience like my mother’s to elucidate that yes we do need reform—for the patients and the doctors and everyone in-between. When one realizes that many of our businesses, stores and fast-food restaurants run more efficiently—and effectively—than our health care system, it’s time to grow up, face the facts and fix things. It gets no more serious than this.
