Comments on: The joys of practicing rural emergency medicine

By: Freelance MD

Freelance MD — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:14:22 +0000

Physicians stand out in rural locations much more than in urban settings. Can’t help it. It’s just the numbers bring more attention with a lower patient population.

By: Another rural physician

Another rural physician — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:56:14 +0000

Very well written. Yes, occasionally there are poor physicians in rural settings. However, I would argue the same is true of city docs. However, the stigma remains. In our small town, if something goes wrong, it’s the fault of the doctor or the hospital. In the Big City — it was just a bad outcome.

I would encourage our city brethren to understand that when we request a transfer, it isn’t always an attempt at a “dump”. We do not have the full spectrum of services in the rural setting and CAN NOT treat all illnesses adequately. We do not have the luxury of a full complement of specialists to help us.

(PS: You are lucky to be living in an area where drug use is not an issue. Like the poster above, illicit drug use, esp methamphetamine use, is huge problem in our community).

By: Gia

Gia — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:16:04 +0000

If you call an ambulance were I live it will take you to a small local ER that is 10 minutes from my home..After being sent home twice from this small ER with complaints of headache, nausea and breathing difficulty.It should have been apparent that by the 4 ER visit what I had was a medical emergency..I had also been sent home on my first visit from a city hospital with complaints of pain in my legs,red spots in my groin,high BP, HR,fever and complaints of inflammation that has spread to my groin and kidney The red spots had turned purple and spread to my chest and left armpit..
Anyway, I presented to the small local ER now the 4 visit with a stiff neck,stiff legs, no reflexes, sensory loss, chest tightness, low grade temperature,etc…
The doctor working in this small local ER failed to recognized I had a medical emergency and did not call and ambulance to transport me to a city hospital for further assessment.. The city hospital is 40 minutes away.So she is sending me a stiff person with chest tightness in a car after she calls my neighbor to come and pick me up to bring me to the city hospital..
You may gather a stiff person cannot be put in a sitting position..What resulted was severe posturing in a car where my back was severely arching and my head was being yanked back. Also, it had been confirmed that I had chest tightness at that small hospital . So, also with the severe posturing my chest was also squeezing together.. I won’t get into the extensive cover-up that followed but I would have to question the qualifications and training that doctors working in ER have..
You may be very competent and qualified Dr. Edwin Leap but it does not mean everyone else is………..!

By: The joys of practicing rural emergency medicine « The ACUTE CARE Blog: Non-Urban Emergency Medicine

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:00:15 +0000

[...] Posted on November 26, 2009 by coptermedic From Edwin Leap, posting on the Kevin MD [...]

By: ninguem

ninguem — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 20:21:58 +0000

Minimal illicit drug use?

Good for him. The rural area where I practiced, the police would bust a meth lab about twice a week. Substance abuse of all types was rampant. Abuse of prescription opiates was so high, it was becoming a leading cause of death among the young.