The public has no idea what is happening in medicine. It is becoming more and more sophisticated (increasing complex technology and procedures) and therefore, more costly. People are living a lot longer. There has been an explosion of people living well into their 80's and 90's. I see them every day. Old people have more medical problems, increasing health care costs. Add that to the aging boomers, and you have a recipe for disaster. The system WILL go bankrupt, its just a matter of when. The cost of insurance will be out of reach for the average consumer.
We will end up with a national health care system. Its inevitable. Its the only way that all the people will be able to get the health care they need. The fact of the matter is, more of our national budget and taxes are going to have to go to paying for health care for all of us.
Health care will change tremendously. It will be rationed. Not every old person is going to be able to have the very costly care to keep themselves alive. You won't be able to run to the doctor at the drop of a hat. The health care of the future will look very different from the health care of today.
Along with all these changes, interest groups in medicine, who up until now have had a lot of power, will no longer have it. Insurance companies will probably cease to exist, replaced by companies that coordinate care in a cost efficient manner and work for the government. Doctors will become specialists, general medicine will be in the hands of nurse practicioners and PAs who are less costly. If the nursing profession is smart, it will change too, taking on a role as care coordinators, a task we are well suited for.
In order to survive, those with vested interests (nurses, doctors, insurance companies, etc.) are going to have to change and be open to
new ideas and roles. This is going to be very hard for some groups such as doctors, who have had a lot of power in medicine up until now. They will now become part of a health care team which cares for the patient in the most efficient and cost effective manner. Either you are open to the change coming, or you will be left by the wayside.
Starting to happen in Canada already.
ReplyDeleteLots to think about particulary as the nursing work force is aging as well. That MSN in Health Law is looking pretty good
ReplyDeleteLess money, more palliative care, more hospice.
ReplyDeleteIn the not too distant future nurses and pharmacists will provide most of the primary care. Especially if the FDA creates the "behind the counter" class of meds they keep talking about. MDs will a be specialists. It will be different but I think it will work.
ReplyDeletei am AS patient i spend a lot of time in the Aand E to think some one feels we are a burden sickens me i jope you never have to go through anything like we do have you thought of another proffesion
ReplyDeleteI don't think national healthcare is inevitable. We can't rule out the possiblity that the status will remain quo, and people who can't afford care will just keep dying. I think that the current system is really good for the quack remedy business. There are people getting rich giving advice such as, "You need to start taking these herbs and vitamins and get off those unnatural blood pressure and diabetes pills." Come to think of it, maybe I should open a spiritual sweat lodge that cures cancer and gout. Want to buy some healing crystals, brought up by robot submersible from the lost ruins of Atlantis? Guaranteed to relieve arthritis and keep your color fabrics from fading.
ReplyDeleteMy point is, don't rule out the possibility that things will just keep getting more crazy, and the value of human life will continue to depreciate from the point of view of those who control access to evidence-based medicine.
This story is like a nightmare.Technology advancement affecting world in positive manner but the health care system haven't updated this is the worse aspect on which we need to talk
ReplyDeleteIs there any news on any new developments in preventative medicine for the many people that have diabetes and heart failure. I have an understanding that medicine is mostly for healthy people. For the many people that become critically ill there is not much hope. Someone say that has several chronic illnesses such as kidney failure, heart disease, hypertension, and maybe amputations. Do you have any feedback on treatment for a person such as this in terms of preventative medicine. Would you say a person with those illnesses at one time has any life left.
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