Shahadat Rahman
English 21003
2 November, 2017
Research Paper Draft
Does Medicine Really Focus on the Patient?
This paper will provide an understanding of the current crisis regarding American healthcare and how it affects patients, slowly transitioning into how these problems can be remedied to help doctors. The paper will begin by providing statistics on how doctors view their profession — what percentage of doctors are dissatisfied with treating patients — and investigating why there is dissatisfaction within the medical field. The research will then delve deeper into how hospital administrations and insurance companies control patient care, ranging from investigations into hospital budgets and insurance policies to interviews with healthcare professionals. Even further, the new healthcare system proposed by Donald Trump will be dissected and the implications will be detailed. An amalgamation of all previous research will then lead to potential solutions, including reallocating funds within the federal budget and other methods of improving healthcare.
When most medical students are asked why they chose to pursue medicine, most of them would give the same response: they want to save lives. Why else would one dedicate nearly 13 years of their life to higher education? Yet the American healthcare system poses a host of problems for doctors when treating patients. The idyllic perception posed by the idea of helping others is shattered when doctors face the bureaucracy established by hospital administrations and insurance companies: patients no longer receive the care they deserve, instead transforming a selfless profession into a game of money; and doctors are unable to fulfill the Hippocratic oath that defines them, as they are restricted to treating patients based on insurance policies that are heavily dependent on one’s wealth. It is crucial for those considering a career in medicine to realize the problems doctors face with the American healthcare system, as well as the responsibility of the American people to offer a solution to the disorganized system. The plight doctors face when treating patients accumulates into a burden that systematically diminishes patient care; in order to aid doctors who treat patients, these challenges must be rectified
Every year, nearly 20,000 students are accepted into a medical school; yet when they become doctors, studies state that approximately 63% of doctors are unhappy with the medical field (Adams 1). In fact, doctors have the lowest job satisfaction rate in America and only 54% of doctors would choose medicine again as a career (Adams 3). After committing nearly 13 years to higher education, why is it doctors do not realize their dissatisfaction with medicine sooner? The answer lies not within medicine itself, but in the way medicine is distributed. Doctors possess little control over how they can treat patients, with insurance companies playing the biggest role in dictating treatment plans. Given recent potential legislation regarding American healthcare, the way doctors help patients could deteriorate rapidly.
The healthcare system has gotten to a point where the insurance determines patient care. Doctors are no longer able to treat patients the way they want or the way they were taught; instead treatment plans are dictated by insurance companies, and I have a personal story which exemplifies this. In August of 2017, I remember coming home one night and my mother noticing a huge bump on my face— I had not seen it. Being facetious I ignored until the next morning, when it had continued to swell until it covered my right eye. When I rushed to the emergency room I was stuck waiting for three hours in a hallway, as all the rooms were full. After the wait in the disease-ridden hallway, a doctor finally arrived to say I had something called cellulitis— a serious bacterial infection of the skin and tissues beneath the skin. They said that if I had waited even a few hours longer, I could have lost my eye. After giving me a dose, the doctors proceeded to prescribe me doxocycline hyclate, an antibiotic common in treating cellulitis as well as other bacterial infections; little did I know this would be a futile effort. When I had gone to the pharmacy I was told that this common medication was not covered by my insurance, a feat that had confused the pharmacist as well as all the doctors I proceeded to speak with. One doctor even claimed, “it’s stupid that they (the insurance companies) would keep such a crucial medicine from you, it’s so common.” After hours of struggling I was finally given an answer by my insurance company, I was allowed to have a slightly modified version of the antibiotic called doxocyline mono. I then travelled back to the hospital to retrieve my new prescription, but had to wait until the next morning to get it fulfilled. If I had not received the initial dose of the antibiotic at the hospital, I would have lost my eye. What if there was someone with a more serious illness having this issue? The disconnect between hospitals and insurance companies has become so severe, that this miscommunication wastes hours and lives. If the patient were wealthier and had a more accommodating insrance plan, this problem would not exist. But somehow, this problem plagues those who need the insurance the most: the poor. This, medicine has shifted from being a noble profession that serves everyone to a selective idea which only works for the wealthy.
Furthermore, doctor’s jobs are impeded by the mountains of paperwork they must complete every day. As mentioned earlier, there was a 3 hour wait time to see a doctor— and that was in the emergency room, the most vital part in a hospital. And this trend is common in other departments as well. “Every day I spend between 3 to 4 hours on paperwork” states Dr. Lucy Chang, a pediatrician at Bellevue Hospital, “my day is split between medicine and clerical work to the point where sometimes I feel like an accountant rather than a doctor. But it needs to be filled out every day to keep medical records as accurate as possible” This causes doctors unnecessary stress and as a result impacts patient care. Doctors waste time on paperwork rather than treating patients, leading to long wait times. Furthermore, doctors become more stressed, affecting their mood and how they act around patients. Even something so simple as a doctor’s mood can have lasting effects on how patients heal.
English 21003
2 November, 2017
Research Paper Draft
Does Medicine Really Focus on the Patient?
This paper will provide an understanding of the current crisis regarding American healthcare and how it affects patients, slowly transitioning into how these problems can be remedied to help doctors. The paper will begin by providing statistics on how doctors view their profession — what percentage of doctors are dissatisfied with treating patients — and investigating why there is dissatisfaction within the medical field. The research will then delve deeper into how hospital administrations and insurance companies control patient care, ranging from investigations into hospital budgets and insurance policies to interviews with healthcare professionals. Even further, the new healthcare system proposed by Donald Trump will be dissected and the implications will be detailed. An amalgamation of all previous research will then lead to potential solutions, including reallocating funds within the federal budget and other methods of improving healthcare.
When most medical students are asked why they chose to pursue medicine, most of them would give the same response: they want to save lives. Why else would one dedicate nearly 13 years of their life to higher education? Yet the American healthcare system poses a host of problems for doctors when treating patients. The idyllic perception posed by the idea of helping others is shattered when doctors face the bureaucracy established by hospital administrations and insurance companies: patients no longer receive the care they deserve, instead transforming a selfless profession into a game of money; and doctors are unable to fulfill the Hippocratic oath that defines them, as they are restricted to treating patients based on insurance policies that are heavily dependent on one’s wealth. It is crucial for those considering a career in medicine to realize the problems doctors face with the American healthcare system, as well as the responsibility of the American people to offer a solution to the disorganized system. The plight doctors face when treating patients accumulates into a burden that systematically diminishes patient care; in order to aid doctors who treat patients, these challenges must be rectified
Every year, nearly 20,000 students are accepted into a medical school; yet when they become doctors, studies state that approximately 63% of doctors are unhappy with the medical field (Adams 1). In fact, doctors have the lowest job satisfaction rate in America and only 54% of doctors would choose medicine again as a career (Adams 3). After committing nearly 13 years to higher education, why is it doctors do not realize their dissatisfaction with medicine sooner? The answer lies not within medicine itself, but in the way medicine is distributed. Doctors possess little control over how they can treat patients, with insurance companies playing the biggest role in dictating treatment plans. Given recent potential legislation regarding American healthcare, the way doctors help patients could deteriorate rapidly.
The healthcare system has gotten to a point where the insurance determines patient care. Doctors are no longer able to treat patients the way they want or the way they were taught; instead treatment plans are dictated by insurance companies, and I have a personal story which exemplifies this. In August of 2017, I remember coming home one night and my mother noticing a huge bump on my face— I had not seen it. Being facetious I ignored until the next morning, when it had continued to swell until it covered my right eye. When I rushed to the emergency room I was stuck waiting for three hours in a hallway, as all the rooms were full. After the wait in the disease-ridden hallway, a doctor finally arrived to say I had something called cellulitis— a serious bacterial infection of the skin and tissues beneath the skin. They said that if I had waited even a few hours longer, I could have lost my eye. After giving me a dose, the doctors proceeded to prescribe me doxocycline hyclate, an antibiotic common in treating cellulitis as well as other bacterial infections; little did I know this would be a futile effort. When I had gone to the pharmacy I was told that this common medication was not covered by my insurance, a feat that had confused the pharmacist as well as all the doctors I proceeded to speak with. One doctor even claimed, “it’s stupid that they (the insurance companies) would keep such a crucial medicine from you, it’s so common.” After hours of struggling I was finally given an answer by my insurance company, I was allowed to have a slightly modified version of the antibiotic called doxocyline mono. I then travelled back to the hospital to retrieve my new prescription, but had to wait until the next morning to get it fulfilled. If I had not received the initial dose of the antibiotic at the hospital, I would have lost my eye. What if there was someone with a more serious illness having this issue? The disconnect between hospitals and insurance companies has become so severe, that this miscommunication wastes hours and lives. If the patient were wealthier and had a more accommodating insrance plan, this problem would not exist. But somehow, this problem plagues those who need the insurance the most: the poor. This, medicine has shifted from being a noble profession that serves everyone to a selective idea which only works for the wealthy.
Furthermore, doctor’s jobs are impeded by the mountains of paperwork they must complete every day. As mentioned earlier, there was a 3 hour wait time to see a doctor— and that was in the emergency room, the most vital part in a hospital. And this trend is common in other departments as well. “Every day I spend between 3 to 4 hours on paperwork” states Dr. Lucy Chang, a pediatrician at Bellevue Hospital, “my day is split between medicine and clerical work to the point where sometimes I feel like an accountant rather than a doctor. But it needs to be filled out every day to keep medical records as accurate as possible” This causes doctors unnecessary stress and as a result impacts patient care. Doctors waste time on paperwork rather than treating patients, leading to long wait times. Furthermore, doctors become more stressed, affecting their mood and how they act around patients. Even something so simple as a doctor’s mood can have lasting effects on how patients heal.
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