tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052097781213973653.post4836779538934021069..comments2023-10-25T02:52:26.716-07:00Comments on Tzimiskes: Bad Labor Habits and Medical ErrorsTzimiskeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13002441291627298737noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052097781213973653.post-88986793302138582882010-11-28T12:32:49.480-08:002010-11-28T12:32:49.480-08:00I also agree with the under-staffing. Something n...I also agree with the under-staffing. Something needs to be done about medical school debt and letting more foreign doctors in would help a lot as well. Though there can be problems in that some countries actually do have much lower requirements than ours meaning that it is hard to know if a doctor coming in could perform at our needed level, this seems surmountable if someone actually decided to tackle the problem however.Tzimiskeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13002441291627298737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052097781213973653.post-65010632072744280452010-11-28T12:30:38.071-08:002010-11-28T12:30:38.071-08:00Doug,
It depends on the specialty. All I know is...Doug,<br /><br />It depends on the specialty. All I know is hearsay but my girlfriend, who's an opthamologist and has it relatively easy, says that many residents don't really get more than a 15 minute nap or so, and that's only if they're lucky. She mentioned general surgery and neurosurgery in particular. From what I've read elsewhere, there is a general cultural consensus that keeping someone on duty creates less problems than handing off cases. This has led to a number of studies, the ones I'm aware of all say that reducing staff hours leads to less mistakes on the whole but this has yet to shift the culture which seems to value long hours despite the evidence against it.Tzimiskeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13002441291627298737noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052097781213973653.post-84211485908999548992010-11-27T13:10:16.621-08:002010-11-27T13:10:16.621-08:00That's a pretty amazing result. The money that...That's a pretty amazing result. The money that pays residences comes from the federal government. I think they are paid from Medicare and Medicaid.<br />Of course, culture is part of it, but mostly its under-staffing. Paying hospitals to hire more residences would help (foreign ones, for example if the AMA would loosen standards or American ones that would have otherwise become researchers).<br />To fix the problem you'd have to start with better high school math and science education and give more scholarships to medical schools. There aren't enough students qualified to become doctors and medical school debts can keep doctors out of the most needed fields, like basic surgery and obstetrics.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6052097781213973653.post-36162568279773496692010-11-27T13:06:20.717-08:002010-11-27T13:06:20.717-08:00You know, I didn't get any further in medical ...You know, I didn't get any further in medical school than laughing when someone suggested I should apply but my impression is that "working" includes a lot of sleeping. Doing five hours work in a sixteen hour period of being available doesn't seem too trying, if that's the story.Doug The Unahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04753071669562594194noreply@blogger.com