Complacent and Passive No More

March 29, 2009

I remember in history class, learning about how working Americans rose up to their oppressive managers and created unions to establish fair and equitable treatment at the workplace. There have been movies made and songs written about our fight for wages and benefits, our fight for rights. So what happened to us that we didn’t do that over the past decade? Why didn’t we start protesting when our health insurance companies began cutting us off for pre-existing illness? Why didn’t we start protesting when we noticed our bosses doing unethical things? Oh, thanks for the reminder…we instituted the “whistle blower laws.” But guess what…it didn’t work. A civilized placement of a law encouraging workers to “speak up” when they notice bad behavior is not how we obtained the rights we have now. Have you ever tried to approach the wrong-doing in this civilized manner? I have, and people I know have, and it didn’t work. It didn’t work because the people you report the evil to are just as evil and probably getting kick-backs to hush you up. The whistle blower law doesn’t work like a good strike works. It is true what they say…there is power in numbers. Enron, AIG, Madoff… as the list of evil bosses grew we continued to be passive, allowed bad things to happen to ourselves. And now we want the government to bail us out? What happened to the spunky Americans who forged ahead and picketed and went on strike, organizing us to stand up for our rights, giving their lives for us? We need a leader of the people. We need a leader within us, like Martin Luther King, like Norma Rae. Where are these modern organizers? Are we all really that afraid of losing our jobs, or being arrested for protesting? I’m disappointed in myself and I’m disappointed in all of us who saw what has been happening to America for all these years and did nothing. And now we pay the price for not voicing our collective thoughts that we silently agreed on for all these years. We need to get together. We need to tell the bosses and the government how things are going to be. We need to right the wrong. No longer should we continue to be complacent and passive. No longer should we allow the government to do things to us, not for us. Maybe it’s too late yet again as we passively watch our fate be dictated to us on the TV.

Dear Mr. President...

March 21, 2009

As a Nurse Practitioner, if I think I should order a lab test on a client, then I should be able to order it. I went to school, I’m a seasoned clinician. But sometimes I can’t order or provide diagnostics, even if my clinical judgment and training provides solid rational for why. Huh? Well here it is, I have worked at several hospitals, and guess what, they all put the heat on you if you are ordering too many things for patients, or if you are ordering “non-essential” tests. Are you surprised? So all of us trying to help you, all the doctors, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, we are being reprimanded on a daily basis for driving the cost of health care up because of things we order for you. And as for “universal health care,” it’s been here for years already! Medicare, Medicaid, and private insurance companies have always been dictating to the health care providers what we can and can’t do for you. Sometimes I need to admit a patient, but the insurance company says no. You all need to know we fight on the phone for hours to get you what you need and deserve. You wonder why you are sitting in the ER waiting so long to be admitted for psychiatric services…it’s because we are in the back office arguing with the insurance company to approve the admission. So Dear Mr. President, here is the answer to the health care crisis…give the clinical control back to the health care providers. Let me order what I know my patient needs. Let me take care of my patient the way I feel is right, and compensate me for that service in a fair, equitable manner. Sure we will need “watchdogs” and some distant level of oversight, but don’t tell me I can’t order a B12 level on my depressed patient……..just don’t.

March, 2009

I Need A What…!?!
So I had my annual gyn exam, all you ladies know what I’m talking about! And I am so happy it’s over and I’m thinking I did ok. But a few days later I get a call from the gyn’s office and it’s the nurse saying, “I’m calling to schedule you for a trans-vaginal ultrasound. I’m silently freaking out wondering what the heck is wrong with me that I need that! For those who don’t know…it’s a probe and…well, it needs to go in the Netherlands and take pictures of your insides! Ladies…you know what I’m talking about here. So I’m sweaty and losing my grip on the phone and I finally ask the nurse, “What do I need that for?” And she has no clue…she said, “The doctor ordered it.” So I tell her I want to know what I need that for and back and forth we go on the phone and I get no answer from this nurse! But as you all know…I too am a nurse and I think back to my appointment with the doctor and how he told me I really should get my ventral hernia fixed (I’ve been putting it off due to my “know too much about what goes on in the hospital and I don’t want to die yet” attitude.). So it clicks in my nurse brain…this lady on the phone means a hernia ultrasound (above my bellybutton) not a trans-vaginal ultrasound. So I tell her this information. And do you know what she says!?! She says, “Well, I saw that the doctor wrote ventral hernia ultrasound, but I only know how to order a trans-vaginal ultrasound so I just figured that’s what the doctor meant.” So the lesson for the day…don’t go get a medical test unless you know exactly what it is and what it is for!

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