Welcome to my World as an NHS GP. The flip side of socialised medicine is that folk come with a lot of crap and expect it to be treated free of charge. There is a constant education to the public at large as to when it is appropriate to go to A&E but it usually falls on deaf ears.
Stateside reports of a deteriorating health care system in your nation abound. Are the forces of propaganda unleashed to keep the folks here from buying into what would be a US version of socialized medicine. Are we so easily manipulated that we believe all these reports, just as we believe all those April reports that the IRS has heightened scrutiny and all those Janitor Wins Big at Casino just before all the 3 day weekends. Guess what don't believe anything you don't read on Grumpys Blog. And oh yeah the IRS is collapsing under the weight of 70K pages of code, so don't worry and the only one who wins big at casinos on a 3 day weekend is the casino.
I once finished a 15K road race (yes, I'm a runner) and at some point during the race I injured my big toe to the point where my big toe nail turned black and fell off about a week later. Bet that woman would have died had that happened to her! :o
I used to work in a pedes office and got a call from a mom who said she had an emergency and need to speak to the doctor immediately. Her kid had gum in her hair.
This woman was clearly not the child of medical practitioners. The few times I've been to ER in my life, I've been scolded for not getting there sooner. Not that I have a chip on my shoulder, or anything like that.
I have ezcema in my ear canals, so they get bunged up with bits of flaked dried skin and gloop (nice!). They need proper medical cleaning about every 3 years or so.
I was almost 9 months pregnant when my ears became blocked and I couldn't hear very well at all. The pressure in my ears was also making me feel a bit dizzy, as these things do.
I personally visited the GP surgery as I couldn't hear properly on the phone, and asked for a fairly urgent appointment to see the practice nurse to have my ears syringed. The receptionist told me that "our practice nurse doesn't do ears". I asked to see the doctor instead, but syringing ears was way beneath him apparently. I enquired whether there was a walk-in clinic or something similar I could attend but was told that I had to go to the Emergency Department.
So, feeling like a total numpty I headed off there and explained that the nature of my emergency was that my ears needed syringing... So I was triaged and was asked how far pregnant I was, so I confirmed that I was almost at term. The triage nurse asked if I felt dizzy, which I did. Pressure on your ear drum tends to do that. Before I knew it, I was whisked in and put on a foetal monitor, had an ECG, urine dipstick test and bloods. No matter how loudly I protested that my pregnancy wasn't the issue, it was my damn ears, this circus continued. Finally I persuaded a doctor to take a peek in my ears and he immediately diagnosed the cause of my dizziness - blocked ears! Jeez.
Then I was sent up to ENT for them to be vacuumed out but they wouldn't let me walk there. They insisted on putting me in a wheelchair and sending me with a porter.
AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH!!!
So all because my practice nurse "doesn't do ears" (they were the exact words), I lost almost a day of my life and the NHS spent a fortune on completely pointless tests.
Wow, I guess idiots seek frivolous non-emergent care in the ED across the pond as well as stateside. That's actually somewhat reassuring. As an ED doc I'd rather be unconscious than go in but my husband did drag me there last week after a dog attacked me on my bike and I had to get the wounds cleaned, repaired and dressed. I agreed mainly so they could fill out the animal control form to make sure the dog had its rabies shots so I didn't have to get them!
Welcome to my World as an NHS GP. The flip side of socialised medicine is that folk come with a lot of crap and expect it to be treated free of charge. There is a constant education to the public at large as to when it is appropriate to go to A&E but it usually falls on deaf ears.
ReplyDeleteStateside reports of a deteriorating health care system in your nation abound. Are the forces of propaganda unleashed to keep the folks here from buying into what would be a US version of socialized medicine. Are we so easily manipulated that we believe all these reports, just as we believe all those April reports that the IRS has heightened scrutiny and all those Janitor Wins Big at Casino just before all the 3 day weekends. Guess what don't believe anything you don't read on Grumpys Blog. And oh yeah the IRS is collapsing under the weight of 70K pages of code, so don't worry and the only one who wins big at casinos on a 3 day weekend is the casino.
ReplyDeleteI once finished a 15K road race (yes, I'm a runner) and at some point during the race I injured my big toe to the point where my big toe nail turned black and fell off about a week later. Bet that woman would have died had that happened to her! :o
ReplyDeleteI used to work in a pedes office and got a call from a mom who said she had an emergency and need to speak to the doctor immediately. Her kid had gum in her hair.
ReplyDeleteThis woman was clearly not the child of medical practitioners. The few times I've been to ER in my life, I've been scolded for not getting there sooner. Not that I have a chip on my shoulder, or anything like that.
ReplyDeleteIncredible.
ReplyDeleteIt takes pain so severe the ER doc comes up to my room the next day and comments on it and even then I will get my own ride, thanks.
The only time I go to the ER is in an ambulance. I try to keep this sort of thing a rare occurrence.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-11908583
ReplyDeleteI think that is also worthy of a mention....
It's not always the patient's fault though...
ReplyDeleteI have ezcema in my ear canals, so they get bunged up with bits of flaked dried skin and gloop (nice!). They need proper medical cleaning about every 3 years or so.
I was almost 9 months pregnant when my ears became blocked and I couldn't hear very well at all. The pressure in my ears was also making me feel a bit dizzy, as these things do.
I personally visited the GP surgery as I couldn't hear properly on the phone, and asked for a fairly urgent appointment to see the practice nurse to have my ears syringed. The receptionist told me that "our practice nurse doesn't do ears". I asked to see the doctor instead, but syringing ears was way beneath him apparently. I enquired whether there was a walk-in clinic or something similar I could attend but was told that I had to go to the Emergency Department.
So, feeling like a total numpty I headed off there and explained that the nature of my emergency was that my ears needed syringing... So I was triaged and was asked how far pregnant I was, so I confirmed that I was almost at term. The triage nurse asked if I felt dizzy, which I did. Pressure on your ear drum tends to do that. Before I knew it, I was whisked in and put on a foetal monitor, had an ECG, urine dipstick test and bloods. No matter how loudly I protested that my pregnancy wasn't the issue, it was my damn ears, this circus continued. Finally I persuaded a doctor to take a peek in my ears and he immediately diagnosed the cause of my dizziness - blocked ears! Jeez.
Then I was sent up to ENT for them to be vacuumed out but they wouldn't let me walk there. They insisted on putting me in a wheelchair and sending me with a porter.
AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH!!!
So all because my practice nurse "doesn't do ears" (they were the exact words), I lost almost a day of my life and the NHS spent a fortune on completely pointless tests.
Wow, I guess idiots seek frivolous non-emergent care in the ED across the pond as well as stateside. That's actually somewhat reassuring. As an ED doc I'd rather be unconscious than go in but my husband did drag me there last week after a dog attacked me on my bike and I had to get the wounds cleaned, repaired and dressed. I agreed mainly so they could fill out the animal control form to make sure the dog had its rabies shots so I didn't have to get them!
ReplyDelete