Well, as is the case over much of the country, free or inexpensive clinics are overrun with patients. Many of the users of the systems are poor Americans, not just undocumented immigrants. This is the case with the clinic in our hospital. Since our clinic is “nicer” than the others in the area (and I mean it is cleaner with nicer staff), we get people coming from relatively far away to utilise our services. As a result, the place is a zoo. People wait months for their first appointment and sometimes longer to see a specialist. This is made worse by the fact the state government has cut the funding to it starting in 2009. Who absorbs all the run off? The ER. It has gotten so busy that our clinic is not accepting new patients PERIOD - unless you are referred by the ER or are admitted to the hospital. As a result, people are going there to sign up for routine medical care or to have chronic complaints evaluated and are told to go to the ER for a referral. What a night mare! Yesterday I had three patients who came in simply for that - and I don’t blame them now that I know what is happening. I am being forced to waste my time and resources on providing referrals for ROUTINE care - not fore even remotely emergent conditions! Stuff like ” I need a physical” or “High blood pressure runs in my family - I want to be checked for it”. Of course these are all charity cases too. I don’t mind helping but this is a bad policy. Fortunately, I heard the other day that a truly free clinic is opening a town over being funded entirely by volunteers and donations - and they want referrals. I am going to start sending them.
Canadian Pharmacy
Happenin down here in the south too-
Emergency medicine seems to be on its way to extinction at the hands of bureaucrats. The proposed JCAHO Screening and Brief Intervention of all patients for alcohol problems looks as if it is going to have a huge impact on the ED.
Is it true that ERs can’t financially stay open without the sniffles and colds? Just curious - something I’d heard.
This is a problem for any state that has more than a few “big cities” as cities need workers & workers need healthcare. I live in NJ & it’s a frightful situation for the uninsured because they have to go into clinics which are filled to the brim with patients & sorely understaffed & underfunded. Southern NJ residents are getting the worst of it though, as we are treated as a sort of “third world country” & the doctors who are at these clinics suffer from burnout or are just passing through to get training before shuffling on out to greener pastures of their own practices or better clinics. I have seen exactly what you talk about with folks coming in for “stupid stuff” & backing up the time needed for the care of seriously ill or trauma patients. Sadly, a lot of private doctors also sort of “outsource” to the ER for various reasons, be they good or bad, which leads to more problems. I feel for you doc. I really do…