My recent brush with our health care system, thanks to the Divine Mrs. M, has been an eye opener. Two of my children are Registered Nurses, so I have heard horror stories about patient care for years. But the poor outcome of the Divine one's first visit to our local hospital is a cautionary tale. Despite seemingly endless blood drawing and testing which showed elevated white cell counts, the attending physician blithely recommended discharge after a 2 day course off IV antibiotics.
The doctor prescribed a course of oral antibiotics at home, but after a couple of days it was apparent this treatment was not working and after a visit to her primary care office it was recommended we again repair to the ER. 7 days later the patient is finally being discharged now that the condition is reasonably under control. Fingers crossed.
My wife's infection is fairly common and well understood. Why the botched treatment? Our local hospital is a point of community pride. It is not owned by a private equity firm looking for maximum profit. Yet, the staffing is sparse and many of the nurses are recent graduates who are being mentored by women and men who are barely out of school themselves. My daughters correctly diagnosed the condition and probably could have recommended the correct treatment, but both of them have years of experience to back up their diagnosis. It would seem we have a shortage of well trained and experienced hospital staff. I don't know what the solution to this problem entails, but certainly more and better trained nurses and doctors would be a start.
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