RedScrubs
The Resource for Medical Professionals

“In India, many doctors are forced to practice low-cost or poverty medicine, because the vast majority of patients are poor and have very limited budgets. Most doctors are quite good at this, and hone their clinical skills, so that they don’t have to rely too much on lab tests or imaging studies to make a diagnosis or formulate a treatment plan.

The key is to develop clinical protocols which can be documented and justified, so we can practice cost effective medicine without hurting our patients, just because they are poor.”

I can see how this idea could translate into more efficient care for our nation’s uninsured.

Medical Student Debt is the first thing we need to rectify as we try to address the primary care issue. One quarter of students are graduating with loan obligations totaling over $200,000. Consider that most med school grads are in their late twenties/early thirties and often have families to support. The pressure is on to make some money fast. Why pursue a career in a field that pays pennies?

Hospitals aren’t the first businesses hurt when the economy sours, but they get hurt nonetheless, as an article in last week’s NY Times points out. But hospitalists have never lived through a massive downturn. What happens to them when the economy tanks?

Many hospitals have begun to be based on striving for quality assurance outcomes. Indicators like how fast you take care of an M.I., the antibiotics used and sepsis are all areas under intense scrutiny these days. It is easy to take care of an easy diagnosis, but what about the chronically old, elderly adult ridden with strokes, cancer and immunocompromised. They are not so easy and fast to diagnose. A lot of grief can result from a septic patient.