Medications and what they can do to you

[sudsmaster]

hystrionic, paranoid or a whiner

Well, that too. It seems whenever I research any health related issue on the internet, I get a lot of hits for sites that seem mainly to cater to those who distrust doctors/modern medicine/technology/whatever and a lot of it is pure bunk. I realize that scientist and doctors can be wrong - and what was thought to be best 100 years ago is often now known to be bad - so I read some of it, but I get turned off by all the factual errors (usually junk chemistry).

It seems not too long ago that people were screaming at the FDA and the drug companies for not approving new drugs for AIDS therapy fast enough; now it's people upset that drugs are getting approved too fast without enough clinical trials (supposedly). But I do agree that a lot of health problems are really lifestyle issues - over-eating, eating bad food, not exercising enough, too much stress, etc. We Americans seem to be particularly perverse in having all the $$$ to do these things right but getting it so wrong most of the time. Meanwhile most europeans get three to five times as much vacation per year, work less, get paid more, and enjoy their lives much more than we seem to. It upsets me because I was taught at a very early age that we live in the greatest country on earth, ever... and somehow it doesn't seem that way.

OK my feet are tired and I need a shower. Back later!~

 

[panthera]

Chad,

I'm not posting much these days, but my thoughts are with you.
Get better soon.
Hugs
Keven

 

[exploder3211]

Nother Update

I am headed in at 9:30 am tommrow.. I may not come home for a while.. It got bumped up to due my headache today. Wish me luck... Gulp.. IF anything does happen, my partner will be in touch with bob. If not i will post back... Thanks again.. K move the damn spolight off me, its hot...

 

[appnut]

That intern that works on you-he may have worked most of the

Rex, now a violation of law in some states. But there are duty hour limitations enforced by the ACGME (Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education). Specifically states, any physician in training is limited to no more than an 80 work week and that's averaged over a priod of 4 weeks. Hours are closely tracked. Extreme exceptions are allowed for certain traininng program types, but those hours are only a few more. If violations occur, even once, the training program accreditation is threatened and training institution will also suffer major consequences. A trainee will be oncall or similar for 24 hours. At the end of that 24 hours, they are permitted no more than 6 hours at most to tie up loose ends and transition patient care to another physician. They aree then required to be physically away from training site for a minimum of 10 hours. Interns and residents frwequency of being oncall has been reduced from say 1 in every 3 nights or days to 1 in 5 or 6. And trainee is required to have on day off completely in 7. Duty hours are closely tracked and in many cases, logged per shift. And the fear of these violations is enough to ensure tracking adn enforcement is done. And now older physicians are beginning to belly-ache about when they will get this type of duty hour limitations. Rumblings are maybe 100 hours/week averaged. If we continue with the physician shortage in this country, and hours on duty are limited, there may come a time when you aren't gonna have a physician available for you if you're in the hospital. And trust me, proving a physician has been trained properly is becoming far-more documented and is becoming required for board certification as well as state licensure.

 

[goprog]

100 hrs/week? That is absolutely unacceptable (and hard to
believe.) That's only 9 hours a day for eating, sleeping,
rejuvenation.

 

[appnut]

Well, I spoze that's better than working 2, 3, or even 4 days straight.

 

[tolivac]

100 hrs per week would violate OSHA work safety standards for any other job.Why are healthcare employees still so heavily worked?Thats almost 2.5 times what a normal person would be expected to work.(40Hr workweek)

 

[toggleswitch]

*Normal* is only a washing-machine setting.

~2.5 times what a normal person.......

Did you mean "average?"
"Normal" changes over time and depends on place as well.
(ducks and runs)

 

[tolivac]

Most people do work an average 40Hr workweek.

 

[appnut]

Well, drs. aren't most people. The scenario painted above is the extreme. When not on call, they work 40 to 50 hour weeks, mostly 45 hours. But that also involves attending conferences & lectures once or twice during a day too. And once a trainee becomes a real doctors (as I call it), they can work as many hours as they want, it's all driven by just how much money they want to make.

 

[DADoES]

I never tracked the total "working" hrs away from home with the two jobs and the grandmother, but it wasn't unusual that I left the house at 11 AM and not get back until 2, 3 or 4 AM. Typically about 6 hrs sleep on weekdays. Made up for it a little on weekends, but still had one of the jobs to handle on weekends (occasionally both during a tech emergency).

 

[perc-o-prince]

for retail management and other management is more like 45-50 hpw. 50-60 from Thanksgiving to Christmas!

Chuck

 

[sudsmaster]

I worked with MD's for about five years as a research associate. I remember asking them about the brutally long hours that interns were forced to work - at that time 36 hour shifts straight were not at all unusual. The response I got from these very intelligent men was that if they had to do it, then the interns should do it too. Seriously. There was some muttering about preparing new doctors for emergency situations where they might have to tend to the sick and wounded at all hours. I suppose that has some validity. I think it's more a matter of testing the new doctor's mettle - if they can maintain composure and not go postal during a 36 hour shift, then perhaps they are sane enough to be trusted with countless persons' lives.

But I think there must be better ways to determine that.