An article says that physicians have a “quota” of seeing 5 hospitalized patients per day – which is very little. No wonder there’s an access shortage up there.
Related posts:
- Why hospitalized Medicare patients get re-admitted so frequently
- Doctors are now interviewing patients in Canada
- Should hospitalized patients be routinely screened for MRSA?
- How Obama’s health reform will hurt Canada
- Hospitalized teen unplugs neighbor’s life support
- Should you pray with patients?
- Charging patients: A new disposition tactic
KevinMD.com on Facebook
{ 4 comments }
Socialized medicine. Catch it!
Listen , I am an FP in Canada – I work in the high acuity ER , do OB ,see hospital patients and do nursing home visits. Anon 10:41 , unlike my US counterparts I am not a glorified represcription issuer or Viagra pedller who does nothing more tha sit in my patient mill all day and bitch that I don’t earn the same as a neurosurgeon .
Do they only see 5 hospitalized patients per day in Canada?
Uh, yeah, if by “they” you mean family practioners who do hospitalist work in addition to running a full practice. So, what’s a full practice like in Canada? I round on my hospital patients from 8-9 AM, and then see anywhere 45-60 patients in the clinic from 9 AM-5 PM. Once a week we run a walk-in clinic from 5 PM -9 PM. On Fridays, we see patients at the nursing home in the afternoon. Every 3 days or so, I follow a woman through labour & delivery. So, I guess if all I were doing is twiddling my thumbs with 5 hospital patients, then yes, I would be doing “very little”.
It sounds like the woman’s death was due to someone dropping the ball rather than an inherent flaw in our system or family docs not pulling their weight. If the patient was seen in the emerg and another doctor (ie family doc, internist, general surgeon, whatever’s most appropriate) did not accept care, the patient was still the responsibility of the ER doc.
Word to the last two commenters. Here’s my response:
http://drcouz.blogspot.com/2007/02/not-quite-news-i-have-love-hate.html
Seriously, Kevin. I understand you’re against socialized health care, but try to have some idea what the hell you’re talking about before you go posting about the Canadian health care system.
Comments on this entry are closed.