of the Day - 10/20/07

[Refugee]

Vote!

[Mary Jane 49]

My local hospital is The Royal Albert Edward Infirmary , It is excellent and they have saved my life 3 times

[Echosoftom]

Well we have several local hospitals. I guess it depends what you're going in for but I would have to say that the standard of care has consistently declined over the years at the hospitals here. The bottom line for these corporations is money. That's it!
Don't even get me started on the emergency rooms. It's very sad, and I don't see it getting any better. I think perhaps the smaller the town you live in the better chance that you have a hospital with a somewhat decent standard of care. But sometimes even that's a crap shoot.

[WildflowerNJ]

I think the standards are pretty high...

[Marion]

It seems average to me. My hospital took good care of me but when a hospital leaves a patient in the emergency room for more than twelve hours, they lose points.

[Aimee Wilbury]

Mine is awful. I've waited 6 hours in the waiting room after I collapsed. Finally my mom got fed up and left.

We went to the walk in clinic later that day. It took us 45 minutes to an hour to be admitted, waiting, checked over, and diagnosed. (It was a buildup of ear wax and the flu)/

[jawallac]

I don't know because I haven't been inside. It is only a few blocks from here, but (saying a prayer of thanks) so far haven't needed their services.

[KansasPettyFan]

I don't really know first hand. It seems okay.

[Wingspan91089]

I don't really know about their medical standards. I just know that the nurses there are assholes. lol

[conmae]

Theda Clark, Neenah, WI and Children's Hospital Fox Valley...wonderful, they have saved both of my son's lives more than once. There have been a few incidences that were upsetting but overall I feel very fortunate to have this hospital so close to home--I just don't care to spend the amount of time there this year as we did last year with Grif.

[agirl]

Sharon said it all. I have nothing to add.

[surfnburn]

Well we have several local hospitals. I guess it depends what you're going in for but I would have to say that the standard of care has consistently declined over the years at the hospitals here. The bottom line for these corporations is money. That's it!
Don't even get me started on the emergency rooms. It's very sad, and I don't see it getting any better. I think perhaps the smaller the town you live in the better chance that you have a hospital with a somewhat decent standard of care. But sometimes even that's a crap shoot.

I live in a very small town, and it's as good as the doctor treating the patient. You're right; it's a crap shoot. I don't know what they're doing at our local hospital's ER. Apparently, they don't have enough people skilled at finding a vein for an IV or blood draw. Almost all of our critical care patients are phobic of needles after a stay there. The patients might be getting treatment, but the leave with phobias...WTF? This just started happening in the last year or so.

[Aimee Wilbury]

In my town, they were going to close the ICU for 2 weeks, but they found more doctors. It's still going to close, but not as long.

http://www.trurodaily.com/index.cfm?sid=72869&sc=68

TRURO – An unexpected increase in internal medicine staffing means the Intensive care and Coronary Care units will not have to be closed for as long as initially anticipated.
“We regret that any closures are necessary but are pleased to be reducing the length of time that the units will be closed,” says Colchester East Hants Health Authority CEO Peter MacKinnon.
Last week, the authority announced the two units would be closed from Oct. 19 until Oct. 31.
As a result of additional coverage that has been arranged, however, the units will not have to be closed for the full two weeks (see fact box below) as expected.
“We regret any anxiety or concerns this situation has created for our patients, their families and members of our health care team,” MacKinnon added.
In preparation for the closures, the authority began scaling back the units last Monday, a move which involved assessing patients admitted to the units for discharge to other facilities, or where appropriate, for placement in other units at the hospital.
Officials also say discussions are continuing with other facilities to determine their capacity to accept transfers.
With the discharge of patients, the units have been reduced from eight beds to five. And, while some beds will be reopened next Wednesday, the units may remain at a reduced capacity in preparation for further closures beginning on Oct. 28, said authority spokeswoman Krista Wood.
The health authority has been operating the ICU and the CCU with only two internal medicine specialists since last spring, a factor, which she added, “makes it extremely difficult to sustain 24-hour coverage.”
Although the district is pursuing leads regarding potential short- and longer-term recruits, Wood said further closures might be necessary later this year if more specialists cannot be located to provide coverage.
‰ Temporary schedule for the ICU and
‰ CCU at Colchester Regional Hospital:
‰ Closed: 9 a.m. Oct. 21 until 9 a.m. Oct. 24.
‰ Open: 9 a.m. Oct. 24 until 6 p.m. Oct. 28.
‰ Closed: 6 p.m. Oct. 28 until 9 a.m. Oct. 31.

[surfnburn]

^I know Canada has its problems. People like money....lol I've heard that it doesn't pay as well there, so people don't choose it as a profession... Thus you have a shortage of medical care providers. This is a concern for people considering national health insurance for our country. People aren't going to go through years of school and not get paid well...

[Refugee]

I live in a smaller town, our local hospital is awesome as far as I am concerned. Been a patient a few times and each time they have treated me or my family, very well.

[Aimee Wilbury]

^I know Canada has its problems. People like money....lol I've heard that it doesn't pay as well there, so people don't choose it as a profession... Thus you have a shortage of medical care providers.

It's really bad in the rural areas. In a town not far from here, its a very small town, they had to close the emergency department for months. Finally, they found a full time doctor.

[Barnburner]

Thankfully, I live really close to Baylor Garland; the whole Baylor system is top-notch.

[TheWildOne]

Houston is home to the Texas Medical Center. All of the hospitals and facilities in TMC where I or other family members have been a patient have been top notch. Some of the other smaller hospitals throughout the Houston metro area I can not speak of as highly.