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Wow, that first paragraph is as cynical as it gets: " The ICU is filled with old people." It ends with people now knowing why it tales so long to get doctors ap
by hef19898 4y ago
Wow, that first paragraph is as cynical as it gets: " The ICU is filled with old people." It ends with people now knowing why it tales so long to get doctors appointments, and saying the author is not sure whether ir nit this is a good thing, that we (the articlee is about the US but is pretty much the same everywhere) spend so much of our health care resources on the old. While his dad, also not in his twenties, was cared for in the same ICU. Maybe he should visit an ICU for infants and babies next time...
Staffing. Well, what can I say. Patients are there 24/7, staff is obviously not. That staff works in shifts, great realization. I am almost surprised that the author wasn't surprised ICU staff has vacation and sick days.
And finally "The ICU is a good place to not die, but a bad place to recover.". No shit, Sherlock, tgat is basically what an ICU does, stabilizing patients enough to transfer them to a "normal" station for recovery, or, worst case, to a paliative unit if death is the only possible outcome.
Oh, not to forget: "It really makes me think about how the hospital might be organized differently. If the hospital focused less on pure survival, might their patients recover faster?" What makes a emotionally involved amateur think that the people running ICUs, after sometimes years if nit decades of training in that exact field, don't think about this question constantly? And tgat the current state of ICU care represents the current optimal solution?
I am so fed up with articles from people judging things by looking at them from the outside. Mind you, the articke in question here is one of the better ones.
- fedeb95 4y agoExactly my thoughts. I don't know anything about medicine, so my ultimate opinion is "I don't know". If I were to guess, the article just describes a well functioning medical structure and the author has some problem with people paying taxes.
- hef19898 4y agoI really wished "I don't know" would be the default position of otherwise smart, educated and exeperienced people once they step out of their fileds of expertiece. There is only so much that easily transfers from one domain to another, or from one industry to another.
- throwaway2037 4y agoRelated, interesting anecdote: I was recently talking to a co-worker. We are both "third-country", so we can compare and contrast our current healthcare system versus "home". My co-worker made an interesting point: In their home country, patients are much more involved in their care, and doctors are willing to engage with well-prepared, intelligent patients. As a point of comparison: Our current country, not at all. My point of this anecdote vis-a-vis high-agency healthcare systems: I like when I can ask questions to a doctor about their diagnosis and proposed treatment. Yes, I understand they are busy and there is a reasonable limit. I am equally annoyed when this is viewed (in the extreme) as an assault on their authority!
- dtgriscom 4y agoWhat's cynical about stating the truth? Are you disagreeing with his observations, or just hoping he'd have the good taste to keep them to himself?
- hef19898 4y agoSaying ICU are overproportionally occupied by the lederly, abd very young also if this a different ICU, is a fact. Continuing to say that is reason "you" have to wait for getting a slot and asking whether or not the observed sotuation is actually hood is cynical.
- ozzythecat 4y agoI’m a layman with no knowledge of how ICUs work, because (thank God), I’ve never had to visit one. I found this article informative, and not cynical at all. No system is perfect, and so with all of the significant benefits they provide, ICUs have some things they aren’t best for. > Continuing to say that is reason "you" have to wait for getting a slot and asking whether or not the observed sotuation is actually hood is cynical. I see you bashing the author, but you haven’t made a coherent argument at all. In fact, I’m not sure if this is even English. If there’s something op got wrong, help us understand and make it a teaching moment. Just bashing them isn’t productive.
- newsclues 4y agoThe observations of the comment about old people does however match the demographic data, and it shouldn't be simply dismissed this context is important and was not made clear during the COVID-19 pandemic.