If We are So Good as Practitioners, Why Are We So Bad at Delivering?
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Philip_Christie] Philip Christie Dental practice in Ireland is of the highest standards in the world. That is also true of our medical practice. Our teachers at our hospitals are, in many ways, quite extraordinary. They have strong academic backgrounds and training, and are committed genuine and passionate people. These people are given the job of training undergraduate and graduate students to the highest possible standards of knowledge and practice and that is what they give their all to accomplish. When students qualify they are committed first class graduates for the most part. This is all great news. So where is the problem? The ideal versus the real world Many medical and dental graduates will tell you about the culture shock that they experience when they come out into what is called the real world. We have been trained to provide the Gold Standard in treatment but suddenly we are expected to do our work under pressure. The cruel task-master going by the name economics but better known simply as money comes in to take control all of our activities and this is where our problems really begin. The exacting and exhaustive precision with which we were trained to provide excellence of service comes into clear and sharp conflict with the constraints of money and the other well known lord of economics time. These omnipotent dictators are of course related to each other. How often is the dictum proclaimed, sometimes with a sigh, sometimes triumphantly, sometimes almost reverently, but always with faith and conviction. Time Is Money we are assured. Is this the same job I learned in the hospital? To give you all some idea of the size of this culture shock that I refer to, consider this. A job which would take up to two hours as a student under supervision is now afforded maybe 15 - 20 minutes. This is a speed up factor of 4-6 times the taught rate in the Teaching Clinic. This jump in speed is expected to be accomplished immediately and is experienced as real pressure by the new graduate. Yet in this real world it is Time and Money which must have pride of place. We must now speed up so that we can be acceptable in the market place in terms of how long the job takes and how much the job costs. We are still expected to produce the Gold Standard which we were trained to provide in the hospital situation, yet the conditions in which these standards were obtained are now drastically different. The pressure has begun. Government and politicians will safeguard the sanctity of the healing arts? As if all that was not bad enough, we now allow/decide that authority in healthcare is the business of politicians and government. They become the paymasters and who pays the piper calls the tune. Suddenly, what we do and how we do it is being evaluated by people who know nothing of the burden of duty and responsibility that comes with the allegiance to Hippocrates. Next comes our dealing with Government Departments. Remember that I am not talking about the people in these departments. They are merely trying to do the job that they were asked to do. I am talking about the systems. So the Department is going to provide Treatment for workers but it has limited resources. So it negotiates a deal to have work done by dentists/doctors at reduced cost. This is not a real negotiation because dentists are made to feel that unless they give in, they will lose their livelihood. So they agree to reduced fees. Now the pressure intensifies because the required standard remains the same but the time allowed to achieve it is reduced. All decisions have consequences? Needless to say the increasing strain puts pressure on all the components of the system. The practitioner is under pressure in many ways. The cost of being in practice, wages, insurances, rents, rates, materials, laboratory are high to begin with. These increase year on year but the pressure is always intense to keep fees down. The first pressure is self-induced. This stems from the perception that people will not come to the practice if the prices are too high and so fear of the loss of business rules. State funded schemes are always at very reduced fees and so are a burden to the practice anyway. The solution to the problem is to either increase fees (and the fear of loss that comes with this is very strong) or do more work. Doing more work will involve either longer hours or working faster to get more done. Maybe it will involve a bit of both. Look in honesty and without defensiveness.There are many consequences to the decision which many have to work longer and/or faster. The study of these consequences reveals the very origins of the hazards that have come to be associated with modern general practice. While I can appreciate that it may be difficult to look upon these truths, surely it must be good news to find the origin of the problem. For only in identifying the cause of a problem can a solution becomes possible. The alternative is to continue with the same methods which are bringing as much pain and suffering to the practitioners as they are to the people that they purport to serve. How ironic and indeed unbelievable that we have not noticed that our healthcare system as it is currently constructed is causing the sickness and pain that it was set up to eliminate? Is this really what we want? As we look honestly at our methods and the results they bring, how can we say that we are satisfied that we are going in the right direction. As we analyse the consequences of how we operate our systems and see how one things leads to another, it must become obvious that the most radical change is needed. When will we bring some light to the hell that we have created and continue mindlessly and blindly to support? We like to think of ourselves as scientists but since what we do and continue to do is totally illogical we cannot apply the term meaningfully. Science must be logical to be itself and a lack of logic is a lack of science. To continue to use something which brings the opposite of what it was designed for, speaks volumes about the blindness that operates in healthcare. What hope could there be in asking blindness for direction? What can we deliver from blindness but chaos and confusion. My name is Philip Christie. I qualified as a Dental Surgeon at Trinity College, Dublin (Ireland) in 1980 and completed a Masters Programme in Dental Science, again at Trinity College Dublin, by research in 1995. I have been working full time in dental care either in general practice or specialist practice since qualification. My main interest is and always has been prevention. My real qualification is 23 years experience in dealing with real people and their problems face to face, as a clinical practitioner. I am the author of Something To Chew On: A Mouth Map To Health. It is a Health Manual with a difference. Different because it is designed for the future and for success. It is different because it gives the power back where it belongs, to the persons own self. Different because it prevents problems at source and saves on treatment and cost! Philip.christie3@ntlworld.ie [http://www.peopleaspartnersinmedicine.com] http://www.peopleaspartnersinmedicine.com Article Source: [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Philip_Christie ] http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Philip_Christie [http://ezinearticles.com/?If-We-are-So-Good-as-Practitioners,-Why-Are-We-So-Bad-at-Delivering?&id=220166 ] http://EzineArticles.com/?If-We-are-So-Good-as-Practitioners,-Why-Are-We-So-Bad-at-Delivering?&id=220166 is it legal to charge someone interest in a personal loan in nj san diego hard money loan no fax payday loans construction to permanent loan payday loans in georgia
