>>Well, we could legislate things like a living wage, worktime limits, a limit or ban on swingshifts, appropriate staffing levels, etc.<<
Good ideas. One of many reasons I didn't want to be in medicine, social work or teaching is that I don't want to be treated like crap.
(Retail has it's own problems, but at least when I worked there I got to solve many different problems -nature of the store- and was unlikely to accidentally ruin someone's life - or watch people being horribly hurt.)
>>An even more unpopular option: I bet all-black hospitals would kill fewer black people than the mixed ones we have now.<<
Wouldn't get government funding. Although, if religiously-funded hospitals are a thing it might be possible to squeak a clinic or something by, if it is affiliated with a black church.
Related, I wonder if one could get a nunnery-afflliliated women's clinic or a doctor/clinic affiliated with Native American spirituality.
I don't exactly like the idea of 'you must belong to X group to work/be treated here,' (especially as a whites-only or mens' only hospital sets of neon glaring alarm bells). _However_, I can see good arguments for it, and if the situation is dire enough,... Besides, people don't think it's odd to prefer a same-gender doctor for some things.
Alternate or additional suggestion: Offer a variety of doctors and let the patient choose. The doctors can encode as much or as little information as they want in their bio and profile pics. (Flag pin, goes to such-and-such synagogue, went into X specialty after surviving it as a child, etc etc). It still might not work, or work as well as the other idea but it might be better than what we have.
>>It would be a good idea, but the trend is toward hyperspecialists. You can't repay medical school loans as a family doctor.<<
If things get bad enough economy-wide or society-wise, we will likely go back to having a designated 'town Doc' who gets paid in eggs or firewood.
And for the healthcare worker idea - if we pick up the Elizabethian 'when sick 1) consult household 2) consult neighborhood 3) call doctor or priest' model, from my understanding Third World community healthcare workers are essentially the 'call community' stage.
They may have some official medical training, may have been taught by experience, or may be working out of a book.
And they might very well be involved in everything from teaching condom use to advising on pipelines, or advocating for the purchase of a vehicle to be a homeboy ambulance.
In America, I would expect the role not neccesarily to be filled by a medically-trained person (well, unless they're retired.)
I'd suggest looking for community leaders, preferably ones with caretaking experience, and I'm guessing most of them might be a little older. Then offer training, as much as you can and as much as they can learn.
If you have a lot of volunteers, you might end up with a group where you can have the older folks dealing with networking and low-energy stuff (administration, organization, meals, interpreting...), while interested younger folk take some of the high-energy jobs (like hauling somebody's ass to the ER at 3am, or keeping the grouchy drunk away from dangerous stuff).
This was written entirely from my brain at so-late-its-early, but I think its halfway decent. If you've got critiques, I'm listening.
>>I would make the training free to anyone who wants it, but not require it. Not everyone is good at it, and emergencies have plenty of other things to do.<<
Point taken.
What about adding Basic How to Deal With Emergencies to Health class (while including things like don't haul around people with possible broken spines) and then offer the First Aid (and possibly Advanced How To Deal With Emergencies) as add-ins, extra credit, whatever?
I remember learning fire safety in kindergarten; - but some things (Check-Call-Care), were from 1st Aid in college - some (how to use a fire extinguisher) were things I taught myself - some (call 911/the tow company, then say "[location], [type of help needed]" in case the line cuts out) I only learned incidentally in adulthood.
I think it might be useful to have some of the basic stuff availible without needing to take a specialist course.
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dancing_serpent
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-04-20 05:45 am (UTC)Good ideas. One of many reasons I didn't want to be in medicine, social work or teaching is that I don't want to be treated like crap.
(Retail has it's own problems, but at least when I worked there I got to solve many different problems -nature of the store- and was unlikely to accidentally ruin someone's life - or watch people being horribly hurt.)
>>An even more unpopular option: I bet all-black hospitals would kill fewer black people than the mixed ones we have now.<<
Wouldn't get government funding. Although, if religiously-funded hospitals are a thing it might be possible to squeak a clinic or something by, if it is affiliated with a black church.
Related, I wonder if one could get a nunnery-afflliliated women's clinic or a doctor/clinic affiliated with Native American spirituality.
I don't exactly like the idea of 'you must belong to X group to work/be treated here,' (especially as a whites-only or mens' only hospital sets of neon glaring alarm bells). _However_, I can see good arguments for it, and if the situation is dire enough,... Besides, people don't think it's odd to prefer a same-gender doctor for some things.
Alternate or additional suggestion: Offer a variety of doctors and let the patient choose. The doctors can encode as much or as little information as they want in their bio and profile pics. (Flag pin, goes to such-and-such synagogue, went into X specialty after surviving it as a child, etc etc). It still might not work, or work as well as the other idea but it might be better than what we have.
>>It would be a good idea, but the trend is toward hyperspecialists. You can't repay medical school loans as a family doctor.<<
If things get bad enough economy-wide or society-wise, we will likely go back to having a designated 'town Doc' who gets paid in eggs or firewood.
And for the healthcare worker idea - if we pick up the Elizabethian 'when sick 1) consult household 2) consult neighborhood 3) call doctor or priest' model, from my understanding Third World community healthcare workers are essentially the 'call community' stage.
They may have some official medical training, may have been taught by experience, or may be working out of a book.
And they might very well be involved in everything from teaching condom use to advising on pipelines, or advocating for the purchase of a vehicle to be a homeboy ambulance.
In America, I would expect the role not neccesarily to be filled by a medically-trained person (well, unless they're retired.)
I'd suggest looking for community leaders, preferably ones with caretaking experience, and I'm guessing most of them might be a little older. Then offer training, as much as you can and as much as they can learn.
If you have a lot of volunteers, you might end up with a group where you can have the older folks dealing with networking and low-energy stuff (administration, organization, meals, interpreting...), while interested younger folk take some of the high-energy jobs (like hauling somebody's ass to the ER at 3am, or keeping the grouchy drunk away from dangerous stuff).
This was written entirely from my brain at so-late-its-early, but I think its halfway decent. If you've got critiques, I'm listening.
>>I would make the training free to anyone who wants it, but not require it. Not everyone is good at it, and emergencies have plenty of other things to do.<<
Point taken.
What about adding Basic How to Deal With Emergencies to Health class (while including things like don't haul around people with possible broken spines) and then offer the First Aid (and possibly Advanced How To Deal With Emergencies) as add-ins, extra credit, whatever?
I remember learning fire safety in kindergarten;
- but some things (Check-Call-Care), were from 1st Aid in college
- some (how to use a fire extinguisher) were things I taught myself
- some (call 911/the tow company, then say "[location], [type of help needed]" in case the line cuts out) I only learned incidentally in adulthood.
I think it might be useful to have some of the basic stuff availible without needing to take a specialist course.