On Healthcare

I read several medical blogs, the world of medicine has always fascinated me, and I'm getting ready to go back to school to get a PharmD, so that I can become a pharmacist. (Unless drugmonkey scares me off!)

Anyway, a hot topic these days is misuse of the ER. Personally, I've been to the ER a few times in my 29 years of life, once for my very first migraine, two or three times for respiratory distress (I have asthma), and once for what I thought was appendicitis and turned out to be a burst ovarian cyst. I've also taken my roommate at the time for kidney stones.

My husband has taken his daughter at least twice, once for some stomach thing that needed surgery (not a hernia), and once for high fever/ear ache/uncontrollable crying.

What do all these visits have in common? First, they all took several hours. Second, there are always a ton of not very sick looking people in there. Even though there are confidentiality rules and such, the ER's not that big of a place, so you overhear a lot. I don't understand why these people come to the ER for minor aches and pains! Sore throat with a cough but no fever? What's the emergency there? You fell 4 days ago and hurt your ankle and it hurts but there's no swelling and your x-rays are normal? Again, why are you here?

The crazy thing is, we have an urgent care facility literally across the driveway from the ER! And the wait there is usually half that of the ER. In fact when I had my abdominal pain, and what I thought was appendicitis, I actually went to urgent care, and they freaked out and put me in a wheelchair and rolled me over to the ER.

But the urgent care makes you pay for services. They're part of the same group as the ER, and do take medi-caid, medi-care and medi-cal, as well as disability, but most people have a small co-pay of $20-$75. The ER will treat you for 'free'.

I wonder if the ER had the same co-pay system, especially for non-emergency issues, would it be as crowded? Or if they could make people go to urgent care or the free clinic a few minutes away...

Until then, if we have to use the ER, we'll use our card when we sign in. If you have insurance, present your card at every opportunity. I know part of the reason I don't have to wait as long as some is because I don't go to the ER for a sore throat. But that insurance card is like a golden ticket sometimes.

In the end, it's much easier and less time consuming to go to a PCP. That whole "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" thing.

In Case You Were Wondering...

Flaky answering machine chick never called back. I sent her a "thanks-but-no-thanks" letter. Too bad for her, she had a pretty decent resume. However, if you're so flaky you can't even return a call for an interview, that does not bode well for your ability to do the job.

We are on second interviews, and I've been writing questions. I'm giving in to the craze and asking an "off the wall" question: If you could be any kind of plant or animal, what would you be and why?


The point is to see how the person thinks on their feet and handles the unexpected. I'm not expecting poetry, I'm expecting something with a fairly logical explanation. Plus, it tells about their personality a bit too. We'll see how it goes on Monday.

Here are my other questions:

1. Describe a typical day at your current job.
2. Name the 3 most helpful tools in your current job.
3. Situational Question: One afternoon, when the entire water staff is out either at training or sick, including the boss, you get a call from his boss saying that there’s a water break at the main office, and to get someone over immediately to fix it. You can’t reach your boss, but leave him a message. The only water worker you can reach says he’s 30 minutes away. What do you do?
4. If you could be any kind of plant or animal, what would you be and why?
5. Why are you the best candidate for this job?

I'm hoping this helps, I have one candidate I'm not sure if she's shy or not competent. Hopefully some more open ended questions will help me decide!