Health care

This is also true for Canada.
Two patients limp into two different American Medical clinics with the same complaint. Both have trouble walking and appear to require a hip replacement.
The first patient sees the family doctor after waiting a week for an appointment, then waits eighteen weeks to see a specialist, then gets an x-ray, which isn't reviewed for another month and finally has his surgery scheduled for 6 months from then.

The second patient is examined within the hour, is x-rayed the same day and has a time booked for surgery the following week.

Why the different treatment for the two patients?

The first is a Senior Citizen.

The second is a Golden Retriever.

Oh antic I thought that was so funny…and ain't that the truth!!!!

Good one Antic. BUT, in Canada, the Senior is covered under medi-care, the dog isn't. Saskatoon is the only place that does surgeries for dogs and usually costs thousands of dollars, not to mention the travel and accomodation costs. Aside from that, it is very true. Animals are treated faster than people. I work in Health Care, I should know.

The dog goes to show that private care can be much faster than the Canadian public health care system.
Personally I think that the public health care system hopes that these problems go away on their own.. then they don't have to pay for surgeries.
Even though the population is always growing.. Hospitals keep closing beds.. More people with more problems, but less beds.
Q: How do you help more people with less beds?
A: You DON'T!! You ignore people & don't help them. Older people may die by the time the wait list gets to them. Younger people will put up with the suffering.

Another Personal Opinion.. I think we have more doctors now than we did 10 years ago. Every Year there are hundreds of Kids graduating from University as Doctors. They can't find Jobs, cause all the beds are closing.

LC there are many doctors out there but not having the beds available for the patiient is not a problem for them. The doctors who are leaving univerwsity today are welcomed into the United States and also our most trained nurses. The reasons behind that is better pay and having the ability to open their own practices. On the other hand Canada is accepting many doctors from South Africa and the Pacistan country. Most of these doctors do not have hospital privelges and so then you are referred to a professional in the necessary field to see the patient. These foriengn doctors get 42 bucks for your 3 minutes of fame. As a patient seeing these doctors, he does not have to give you anymore then 15 minutes a visit. Walk in clinics are growing because a GP can see tons of people at 3 to 4 minute visit. This system sucks because I and many other people want to get treated right now. But on the other hand I can not afford to pay for private practice care since just to walk into the door to see the doctor is sky rocketing. I hope we never go there here in Canada.

Why the different treatment for the two patients? The first is a Senior Citizen. The second is a Golden Retriever.

There is a third category,

After an injury, a professional athlete can have an MRI within hours and surgery right after that.

Doctors we have. Beds are closing because there aren't enough nurses and other professionals such as technicians. With the low pay and overwork and stress, many are leaving the profession. I know a couple of nurses who wanted to retired, but were offered huge bonuses to keep working. Would make more sense to use the money to hire more. Unfortunately, training is expensive as well.

I would take the training if I could continue working full time. That would mean classes part time of course. And availability here in the area. I just found out that I could have taken them through one of the reserves here but it was almost over before I found out about it. They were not sure if they were going to do a repeat or not.

Pooga is partially on track, but who wants to go to school to be a nurse?? If you are going to school in the medical field.. You want to be a doctor or pharmacist.
They should change nursing to a trade like electrician or welder, etc.. then you learn on the job & get paid. As opposed to paying money out of pocket before you even start working.

Yet they keep closing the beds & we have the doctors coming out of university. Where the problem lies is the training of nurses. … Pay nurses more.. simple solution, esp if you change it to a job like trades.
Maybe a 1 semester pre-nursing class that is manditory.

you learn on the job

Not sure I would want to be a patient in that kind of system. :-)

(Still have to go to school to be an electrician or welder)

Yes as an electrician or welder you still go to school.. Mainly for tests. You start working imediately.. then go to school about a month out of a year.

As for nurses.. how much do you think they really learn in school. As far as I know they don't do much other than give meds.. & take blood.

It is certainly a sad state of affairs when people can't get treatment as fast as animals. My experience with the health care system in respect of hospitals in emergency situations has been pretty good except that it appears you need to push to get what you need. With respect to doctors, though, I think they are mainly just pill pushers rather than being able to suggest alternatives, at least my doctor seems to be that way. Like a lot of other things, the more you know yourself the better off you will be.

As for nurses, I don't know why anyone would want to be a nurse because they are overworked since there aren't enough of them. There is a long waiting list to get into the nursing program because there aren't enough spaces so people still are interested in being nurses. The government needs to expand the program so more can get in. They need to do it soon because the nurses my age represent 25% of the nurses currently working (that number comes from a nurse) and as we babyboomers get older, we will need more nurses and doctors as well as all the other people working in health care.

As far as I know they don't do much other than give meds.. & take blood.

Better not get sick in Regina LC! If cmwolf is your nurse, you might be in a bit of discomfort, especially if you need a sponge bath, a shaving before surgery, or heaven forbid, an enema!

LOL!

(And Mrs. LC will definitely want a nurse in a few months!)

would you really seriously want an untrained nurse giving you medication? a lot of totally different medications sound alike. plus there are some that cannot be given together. Doctors write out prescriptions but do not bother to look up to see what other doctors have prescribed. ok, lets use LC for needle practice or inserting IVs. they use a dummy in schools for this.

I stand by what I say
Yet they keep closing the beds & we have the doctors coming out of university. Where the problem lies is the training of nurses. … Pay nurses more.. simple solution, esp if you change it to a job like trades. Maybe a 1 semester pre-nursing class that is manditory.
I still this this is agreat idea. Nurses learn alot more working than they do in school.
Plus you would have alot more basic nurses. A LOT quicker.
RN's would follow.

ok, lets use LC for needle practice or inserting IVs. they use a dummy in schools for this.

SO ANTICS WHAT IS YOUR POINT ?

Many years ago I was a volunteer for soon to be nurses to practice inserting needles into - I wasn't scared of needles back then - Now I cringe every single time I need one after that experience - they need 3 years at least!!!

I was talking to an LPN who has been working for 6 years.
The course she took was a 1 year course. This isn't as elabotate as a RN, which is a 4 year course.
But at the same time LPN's do needles, they just don't do the drugs administered. So.. 1 year course ( now a 2 year course, which if they took my idea could be 1 year again.) & you have more nurses which they need.
Then you keep nurses gaining more pay & becoming the RN's that the LPN's would like to be, if it wasn't a completely different course.
The LPN said she would have to do a full 4 year course to become an RN. ( I think that is stupid, considering she has experience as a nurse, given she would ave to learn the drugs & administration. )

I don't think we have health care in Saskatchewan??? I don't want to get started, so that's all I'm going to say!!!

Better to be in Saskatchewan where you don't have to pay $$$ every month just for your paper health card like here in Alberta. I know several people here in Red Deer who can't afford the monthly premium so they don't go to the Dr (it costs $30 a visit, minimum) and instead make everyone around them sick!

What does it cost per month there? You don't hear bout that when everyone is moving to Alberta.

Atleast in alberta you got in faster for kidney treatments… most I was ever off was 2 1/2 months… here I am 5 plus yrs and still waiting on docs in sask… almost makes one wanna move back to alberta.

There don't seem to be any easy answers to the question of whether universal health care is better or health care that a person has to pay for, even if it is only user fees they have to pay. I think the main problem with Saskatchewan health care is simply the fact that all the health professionals are moving to Alberta so it makes sense that waiting times would be less there and has nothing to do with user fees. If people don't go to the doctor when they need to because they don't have the money, I think everyone loses because people will use more sick days from work and those costs will be passed on to consumers, not to mention that they could eventually use up more medical resources in the end if they get really sick than if they had gone to the doctor and got treated earlier.

Also, I have gotten another viewpoint on the nurse shortage problem. Recently, I was talking to the wife of a SIAST teacher, and she says what is happening is not a case of people not being able to take the nursing course but that the nurses who graduate are quitting a few months after they start working because they decide they don't like the job. If that is the case, then Lord Comedy is right about that much, that people don't want to be nurses–it's just that they don't figure it out until they are actually working.

any person who has lots of medical problems alberta is the place to be for good health care.

$88/month/person paid quarterly.

Dentist fees are out of this world. A co-worker of mine called around to see what it would cost to get one x-ray and a filling. She was quoted between $250 - $350.

Ouch!