What do you think about health care?

MiaOrange

Change starts with one future doc...that's me (and my classmates)!

• Please help me with a homework assignment. I'm a med school student and we're taking a survey. I think it would be interesting to hear some answers in my city and other places in the world. You can give your answers to my mail box if you want and it's anonymous: Can answer N/A. 1) What frustrates you about your profession 2) What frustrates you about the health care industry? Below: If you go to a naturopath or know about naturopathic medicine : 3) What frustrates you about Naturopathic medicine/industry? 4) What were the top 5 benefits of visiting a Naturopathic doctor? Thanks! Mia

calliope_music

1) What frustrates you about your profession: it's very stressful. i'm social worker. i am underpaid and overworked, and often unappreciated!

2) What frustrates you about the health care industry? the fact that a lot of people can't afford healthcare, and that even with insurance that it sucks that i have ridiculous medical bills for things like ultrasounds and echocardiograms!

MiaOrange

Thanks so much for your response! Good job on the weight-loss, also!

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

I can only speak to the second question, I don't work in the field but I am a patient.

What frustrates me the most is not being able to get the care I need because of endless bureaucracies. Insurance companies constantly deny the prescriptions my doctors write (Celebrex was the only NSAID that worked for my lupus and now I can't get it because "any other (cheaper) NSAID should be just as good" according to a non-medically trained insurance bureaucrat. I'm in the Tricare system (military) and I have a really hard time finding providers that are covered. I get incredibly frustrated by being treated like an addict because I require pain medicine for a very painful chronic illness. Doctors on my first visit always refuse to treat pain (some of them refuse to do it ever) and it's because they say the DEA is always looking over their shoulders. I get that some people are addicts and that we need regulations, but the insurance companies drive me insane and some of the doctors are just as bad.

Hope that helps, and I got to vent a little so thanks for that

MiaOrange

1st question: Your profession...can be anything, not just health care.

Thanks!

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

Oh my profession is Navy Spouse, but I used to be a public school employee and it was about the same.

Lyadeia

Change starts with one future doc...that's me (and my classmates)!

• Please help me with a homework assignment. I'm a med school student and we're taking a survey. I think it would be interesting to hear some answers in my city and other places in the world. You can give your answers to my mail box if you want and it's anonymous: Can answer N/A. 1) What frustrates you about your profession 2) What frustrates you about the health care industry? Below: If you go to a naturopath or know about naturopathic medicine : 3) What frustrates you about Naturopathic medicine/industry? 4) What were the top 5 benefits of visiting a Naturopathic doctor? Thanks! Mia

1.) I don't work in health care, but I will answer this one anyway, lol. My profession is police officer. I am frustrated because the general population doesn't understand what we do, how we do it, or why we do it, yet they protest those very things everyday. This causes us to work even MORE. I haven't gotten a pay raise in 3 years because the "good citizens" don't seem think that police are important to have around...until their house gets robbed but then they whine and complain that it took too long to get there, that we didn't somehow have Superman powers to prevent it from happening...etc, etc, etc.

2.) Doctors who don't freakin' LISTEN TO ME or the other patients bug the crap out of me. I tell you what's wrong, I tell you what's NOT wrong...then you tell me how I should be feeling according to my symptoms as if you know more about me than I know about me. It's really annoying. I remember going to the doctor one time and I specifically said "I have the flu. Please give me medicine for the flu." After 3 HOURS OF TESTS the doctor came in and said "You have the flu." Really? No S*** Sherlock! And then another hour later I got my prescription. And then there's the case of my Dad. He had Parkinson's Disease. My mom would tell that d*** doctor specifically what was going on with my Dad since she took care of him 24/7 and knew what was happening. OK, well, the doctor didn't seem to hear anything she was saying, just wanted to give pill after pill after pill. In fact, one pill gave my dad horrible side effects, so instead of taking him off that pill, the dumb doctor decided to give him another pill to fight the symptoms of the side effects of the first pill. My poor dad was drugged for NO REASON!!! When they changed doctors, the second doctor (a good one who my mom goes to now!) took him off both pills and then voila, the problem went away. (My dad has since passed after these drugs caused serious complications leading to severe diabetes among other things, and myself along with new doctor are trying to convince her into a civil suit, but that's beside the point). I could go on and on with more examples, but you get the idea. When patients go for help, it really is a plus when the doctor listens, pays attention, and tries to show concern. Then they (doctor and patient) and come to the best conclusion possible for treatment. When the doctor is rushed to move on to the next patient, they only hear certain things, like certain symptoms that stick out in their minds, and the patient isn't totally treated right, if you know what I mean.

And another thing that bothers me is this whole medicare fiasco. Who and what does it cover? Not all the sick older people! My dad had to wait and pay out of pocket for all his expensive Parkinson's meds for which there are no generics (talk about sucking your savings dry!) for a whole year after he got on medicare because of a "loophole" since he had Parkinson's before he had medicare. Also, who does medicare pay? Not the doctors, either. The bill is for $1k, for example, and they pay the doctor like $100 and call it a day. That hurts everyone all the way around. Anyway, my beef with medicare is similar to other insurance issues like mentioned above. Why do I pay sooooo much money for insurance when I still have to pay huge deductibles and co-pays AND for meds that for some reason aren't covered? I should just keep all my money that I would have paid every week to Blue Cross in a savings account and then pay the doctor myself when I do get sick. But if I don't get sick, sheesh, that's a lot of money that I saved this year. That's really annoying too.

leannmanderson

What frustrates me about my profession is a number of things. I'm a teacher. First is the parents. The parents annoy the heck out of me because if I give their perfect child anything less than a perfect score, they want to know why. God forbid I give their child an F. Then I tell them that it's because their child did not follow directions for the assignment, cheated, and/or was talking constantly in class, and the first thing the parent does is whip around to their child and say "Is this true?" Um, of COURSE it's true! I just told you about it! I could have video and audio evidence, and the parent would ask the child if it's true, and the child would say no, and despite all of the evidence to the contrary, the parent would believe the child.

Second is the administration, especially the school board. Most of them have other jobs and are professionals in other fields, with degrees completely unrelated to education, and they're getting paid 2-3 times what the highest paid teacher in the district is getting paid, as well as a 4-5 figure gas allowance. All of this in addition to their other jobs. Third is the students. They're such BRATS! And their parents don't discipline them.

Finally, there's No Child Left Behind. It's the WORST piece of legislation EVER where education is concerned. Determining academic progress purely through standardized tests that are geared towards the upper-middle-class white male student of average to above average intelligence who fits the WASP (white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant) profile, is like determining how good a dentist is based entirely on average cavity count, which is going to be skewed when you're looking at patients in a wealthy area versus patients in a rural farming area with no flouride in the water. The two dentists could be just as good, but the dentist in the rural area is going to have the higher average cavity count. It's the same with teachers.

What frustrates me about health care? Well, a big part of it is the cost. I'm working on my Masters, and because there isn't a need for high school English teachers in my state, I'm stuck subbing, which pays very little. My husband is disabled. We are on food stamps. Because he's disabled, my husband qualifies for medicare/medicaid. I do not qualify. I cannot afford to go to a doctor, and I DESPERATELY need to be able to go to a doctor, especially an OB/GYN, but because I am in college and have a job, I don't qualify for the sliding scale program at the community health center.

Another part of it is when doctors don't listen. On the rare occasion that I'm able to see a doctor because I've been able to scrimp and save enough cash, I tell the doctor what my symptoms are. The only response I hear is "Well, you are overweight. Try dropping the weight to normal, and it should clear up." I've heard this for everything from my abnormal bleeding (I've been on my period continuously since Aug. 31st, and I've had such lengthy periods several times over the past year) to my bursitis, from my falling arches to the flu. That's right. I had a doctor tell me that losing weight would cure the flu.

And then there's the fact that doctors are woefully undereducated regarding the female reproductive system. Every doctor I have ever gone to has wanted to put me on birth control of some sort despite my religious objections (I'm Catholic) and has tried to tell me that I ovulate on day 14. I DON'T OVULATE ON DAY 14!!!! When my cycle is normal, it's a 36 day cycle with ovulation on day 28, resulting in a short luteal phase. Please, I beg of you, if you're going to be a doctor, educate yourself on natural family planning outside of the rhythm method, how cervical fluid works, how the luteal phase works, etc, before writing prescriptions for birth control and fertility drugs left and right. Your patients will be MUCH healthier, and your patients struggling to get pregnant might have a better chance at getting pregnant without needing the expensive drugs and other treatments!

MiaOrange

Thanks for your answer & MANY thanks for your work as a police officer!

MiaOrange

Err...What frustrates you about YOUR profession is the 1st question

MiaOrange

Also, thanks for the rest of your jobs: social work & teacher and Navy spouse. My mom was a teacher and Air Force spouse, she had similar issues.

scarletleavy

1. I work in the design, development and production of medical devices. The main thing that frustrates me is how business had become 24/7. I can never really get a break, because somewhere in the world someone is always working and there are always emails, calls, etc coming in. I can't just turn my phone/computer off and be dead to the world for a few days. It's all a bit hectic. Also, working with China can be very frustrating, the attitude towards business is entirely different to what we are used to in the West, so it takes a lot of getting used to and a lot of patience.

2. Can I be honest? I'm not really frustrated with my health care at all. For the record, I don't live in the US. I've got great health care and have had no complaints.

3. My local doctor is actually big into homeopathic/naturopathic medicine. I actually prefer his approach on this one, because when I was in the US I found that many US doctors overmedicate. I actually almost died from a penicillin allergic reaction so I'm pretty careful about what drugs I use, so I much prefer a naturopathic approach. I'm rarely sick, but when I am I've found a lot of homeopathic remedies to be quite helpful. The main complaint that I've heard about naturopathic medicine (and one I understand pretty well) is the reluctance to move toward traditional medicine when natural things aren't working. My mother has an autoimmune disease and she really requires more traditional medicine to control her symptoms and to make sure she gets this she really has to be proactive in demanding the type of treatment she wants. So I think it's important that naturopaths remain open to all options, especially if natural/homeopathic medicine isn't working.

4. I love homeopathic/naturopathic medicine. For me, I'm allergic to ibuprofen and penicillin (and some other antibiotics) so I'm very appreciative of alternate medicine options. I prefer to not take drugs or medication of any kind. Since cutting out prescription or over the counter drugs almost 3 years ago, I'm healthier than I've ever been in my life. Even my allergies went away. Since I do a lot of business in China, I also bring back lots of traditional chinese type medicine.
So top 5 reasons:
1. Being healthier
2. Not having serious allergic reactions/side effects
3. I feel like my doctor is more interested in my life as a whole and I think I get better overall treatment
4. Cheaper
5. Easier, less chance to mess up medication, dosage, interactions, etc.

Hope that answers your questions!

MiaOrange

Yes, this helps a lot! Thank you very much!

Mia