Imagine a health-care system in which doctors and nurses are so exhausted and beaten down that many of them work like zombies - error-prone, apathetic toward patients and at times trying to blunt their own pain with alcohol or even suicide attempts.
That is what America's broken health care system is doing to its health workers, according to a 312-page report released Tuesday by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, one of the country's most prestigious science institutions.
The report found that as many as half of the country's doctors and nurses experience substantial symptoms of burnout, resulting in increased risks to patients, malpractice claims, worker absenteeism and turnover, as well as billions of dollars in losses to the medical industry each year.
Symptoms, they said, include emotional exhaustion, cynicism, loss of enthusiasm and joy in their work and increasing detachment from their patients and the patients' ailments. The problem has been linked to higher rates of depression, substance abuse and suicide. The suicide rate among physicians, for example, is twice that of the general population and one of the highest among all professions.
The problem often starts with a well-intentioned, perfectly reasonable law, explained co-author Vindell Washington, chief medical officer at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana. That is turned into a regulation, which is interpreted and made into a policy, often taking the most conservative path possible for legal protection.
"At every step, the original intent gets a little misinterpreted or picks up an unexpected effect," Washington said.
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[“We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it'. --Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi]
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This has been a huge problem for years and years.
ReplyDeleteAlot of patient burnout also
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ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest problems has been the mandate for electronic health records, which came directly from the Obama administration.
Medical providers now have to spend much of their time on the computer updating those records instead of focusing on the patient. At the VA, it is a prime offense if the record is not updated as the patient is seen, and most of a visit is spent responding to questions to get the answers needed to fill in the blanks.
The trolls will try to blow this off, but the medical people who visit this site will surely confirm it.
Obamacare with its hoops and cages has pretty much ruined healthcare in the US.
I am in total agreement with 10:15. We knew this before all that mess went into effect and it is truly sad for the health care providers and patients.
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ReplyDelete"..Obamacare with its hoops and cages has pretty much ruined healthcare in the US... "
By design. It was designed to fail, and it was assumed that the disaster it created would pave the way to move to socialized medicine (single-payer; National Health, etc). That was the original goal, but it wasn't politically possible at the time.
This was a pretty devious way to do it. It shows what the perpetrators think of America and its people.
As bad as it is. And it's broke for sure.
ReplyDeleteWhere did Mick Jagger have heart surgery? After he himself trashed this countries healthcare.
Yes, He had it done right here in the good ole U.S.A. Not in England of which he complimented the health care system.
mickey mouse and many many more celebrity anti-Trump noise makers are full of hot air. They know which side of their toast is buttered but won't admit it.
DeleteI Thirdly Agree 100% With 10:15 !
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