Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 1022
It's a public service... Not a business...
12/30/2016 at 5:33 PM
People need to stop relating civil & social services as a business, especially with regards to health care. It's not a trip to the spa, so stop acting like it needs to be ran like one. I get it, no one wants to wait at a place fill with uncomfortable and unhappy strangers. But, with the influx of staffing and workload throughout any given time of day, using any of the public social services that's available is kinda like playing a lottery. ...It's all the luck of the draw. Sometimes the odds are to your advantage, sometimes they're not. This "time expectancy" is nothing but political fluff to amuse the public and to produce a false sense of political control by rating certain sections of the health care system. Getting medical advise and treatment for a patient cannot and should not be placed in the same classification processes as getting your car serviced. I'm not getting an oil change and my tires rotated. So, don't slot me in for an half an hour job and tell the next patient that the wait is thirty minutes. Because I may not want to be rushed through with my treatment just to meet unrealistic time expectations set by the outside influences of the public and political mindset. Once we start putting pressure and rushing these professionals, mistakes will start to happen. These are people requiring medical treatment, not customers wanting product and service.
I'm not in any way work in or with the health care system, but I know many who do. And the public attitude towards healthcare employees and professionals has been changing dramatically over the last few years. Pharmacies are being treated by the public like fast food stands, walk-in clinics & emergency rooms have been expected to have an atmosphere & conditions more like restaurants and spas, nurses & homecare workers/aids are treated like servants, hospitals like hotels and doctors like robots. All of which they are expected to bend over backwards and give "just you" all of that attention (and service). ...all for nothing, but in return given rudeness, complaints, criticism and unrealistic selfishness.
...Geeez people, when did we become so entitled that we stop seeing everything else beyond our personal needs and space? Have we become Americanized? Are we now adding ourselves to those "self-centered douchebags" that plague the developed countries?
The stories I've heard during the recent years, would make any Canadian feel ashamed of what we're becoming. It's such a pi$$-poor attitude towards the vital care of public services & health industry brought on from those in all directions. From the behavior of the demanding general public, to unrealistic planned goals set by career-advancing supervisors, to the clueless and spineless appointed politicians... They all do their part to put strains on a flawed system. This "time expectancy" is just one more new strain. What better way to rate a health care system, ...by timing them. Yeah, that works fine in the food services. But, I'm not a burger on the grill ready to be slapped together, wrapped-up, bagged and be thrown out an drive-through window! Pushing dozens of people through the motions and out the door every hour shouldn't qualify or quantify as good health care in Emergency Rooms.
We are so privileged to have the system that we got (flaws and all), but we act so spoiled and get fixated on the stupidest problems that we as a society created in the first place. That we being impatient/intolerant and another is having high expectations for something we know nothing about or don't want to be directly be involved in making better. Walk-in clinics were originally designed to relieve the workload of general practitioner offices and ERs. But instead, it only encourages us to become a society filled with hypochondriacs. Plus, we get those who won't take time off to go to the clinic, so instead, plug-up the ER after they close. And to top it off, with all the different levels media (news, social, ect...) filling our heads with "everyone is special" and the self entitlements that if someone else had been given some extraordinary attention ...they too should receive the same. Even though if the circumstances to that event are not accurate or even remotely similar to what is happening to that person who wishes to be treated better. "I don't care about you... It's all about me". "I'm right... you're wrong" is often heard because we've been conditioned for far too long with "The customer is always right" mentality. The fact is... You're not a customer! Stop acting like you're soooo entitled. It's a social program with limitations. Ran by educated people who have little control over policy, procedures and the standards of care. That's done by those who never have been in contact or training of the very thing that they are in charge of. The ones in charge see nothing but numbers and polls. That's it, nothing else. And they're set to pitch against one another. Budget vs needs. We all want the best, but there's never enough money. So the "higher-ups" put the screws the ones "working in the trenches" with new policies that are unrealistic or unpractical. ... like a time expectancy display for those who are waiting. Hey, just like at a restaurant or oil & lube joint! The public can relate to that! Right? We'll give them an app for their phones too! No pressure for the staff... It's going to help all of us in the long run! **sarcasm** And what's best about this system is now ER's wait times can be made to judge performance evaluations without all those other distracting facts like working conditions, case by case patient care, equipment and staff coverage, triage ...you know, silly stuff like that. It's just so much easier to release to the public that one ER has a four hour average wait, while another is doing six and yet another is only two hour waits. Wow that two hour one must be doing something right, what's wrong with the others? It's just stupid, to make the public think one place is better or faster than the other with a simple rating with no circumstances backing it up. It does nothing, but appease the short sighted public opinion.
If you want an accurate time on something you want?... Then GO ORDER A PIZZA! Not a healthcare professional!
Just my opinion, I could be wrong.