my friend did this. needed an MRI and was told 6 month wait.
he booked an appointment at a buffalo clinic 2 days later and asked me to drive him. $800 and they asked for his credit card before even saying hello.
but it got done..
|
|
|
ER closures and limited staffing
- Thread starter mimico_polak
- Start date
he booked an appointment at a buffalo clinic 2 days later and asked me to drive him. $800 and they asked for his credit card before even saying hello.
but it got done..
When I went to the walk in clinic for the injured ligament I asked about imaging. An X-ray would be a couple of days, a MRI would be a couple of months. In some cases the wait could push the injury beyond a reasonable recovery period.
Dental work is cheap in Panama as well. SIL lives there.
DownUnder
Well-known member
A friend got injured a few years back and went to the emergency... they did an xray, couldn't find anything so decided he needed a muscular skeletal ultrasound... issue was they only did those on 1 day per week... he was in a fair amount of pain but lucky for him it was the next day, (if hed been injured 5 days earlier or 2 days later hed have had to wait nearly a week to get it done...).
Went back to emergency the next day, through triage and wait times etc again to get the ultrasound done... OK tore a tendon... need to go to the fracture clinic... oh no, it's only open 1 day a week too, he has to come back again... (This is in Sunnybrook the hospital that most people get sent to for car accidents and severe trauma... the hospital the orng helicopter sends patients to) they only do muscular skeletal ultrasounds 1 day per week.
All in he waited 4 days in considerable pain just to find out what was wrong with him, it could have been 8 days if his luck was worse. I've heard of even worse horror stories here too.
Met a lady that had constant headaches for a week and went to emergency... they couldn't find anything wrong so booked her for an mri.... in 6 months time. Her husband wasn't having any of it and drove her down to Buffalo the next day and paid the $800 or so for the mri... they wheeled her out of the mri machine straight into an operating room for a brain aneurysm. Apparently she would 100% be dead if she waited the 6 months.
The wait times for simple diagnostic procedures are literally killing people in Canada.
Went back to emergency the next day, through triage and wait times etc again to get the ultrasound done... OK tore a tendon... need to go to the fracture clinic... oh no, it's only open 1 day a week too, he has to come back again... (This is in Sunnybrook the hospital that most people get sent to for car accidents and severe trauma... the hospital the orng helicopter sends patients to) they only do muscular skeletal ultrasounds 1 day per week.
All in he waited 4 days in considerable pain just to find out what was wrong with him, it could have been 8 days if his luck was worse. I've heard of even worse horror stories here too.
Met a lady that had constant headaches for a week and went to emergency... they couldn't find anything wrong so booked her for an mri.... in 6 months time. Her husband wasn't having any of it and drove her down to Buffalo the next day and paid the $800 or so for the mri... they wheeled her out of the mri machine straight into an operating room for a brain aneurysm. Apparently she would 100% be dead if she waited the 6 months.
The wait times for simple diagnostic procedures are literally killing people in Canada.
The US system is the opposite of Canada where two aspirin is the first treatment. The US logic is "If we give you a battery of tests we make a lot of money and there is less chance of getting sued for neglect. Win Win."
Too much is going this way, mega everything. Years ago they shut down a lot of small town hospitals for the benefits of regional health centres.
That's great is you live in a major centre but as people get older the ones in small towns have trouble making appointments. They don't like to drive after dark so winter is especially bad.
Convenience comes at a price that must be weighed and there is a place for the smaller treatment centres. Moving oldsters to large cities has problems, LTC beds, family connections etc.
Mad Mike
Well-known member
I've heard this, but I haven't seen that type of delay. Daughter had triad surgery 5 years ago, then another muniscus scoping last fall. Her wait time for surgery was less than a month, neighbour had knee replacement, his wait was 4 mos, both at Markham Stouffville. MRI wait was a couple of days, both were able to take advantage of short notice cancelations - lots of people cancel or cannot tolerate the procedure.
Daughter is in the biz so she gets no special treatment but knows how to navigate.
Not just Ontario that treats their nurses like ****.
www.axios.com
Why 15,000 Minnesota nurses are on strike Monday morning
Nurses want a 30% pay raise over three years to address burnout and staffing issues.
www.axios.com
10% raise / year is the ask, and the hospital is offering about 3.5% or so. Big difference.Not just Ontario that treats their nurses like ****.
Why 15,000 Minnesota nurses are on strike Monday morning
Nurses want a 30% pay raise over three years to address burnout and staffing issues.
I got a total of 1.75% this year. Yay working for the gov't!
Mad Mike
Well-known member
That's a big hike. I think their average wage is $45.50/hr + benefits. They are looking for a $5 annual bump to $60/year. In Canadian dollars that would be $78/hr.
Hope they get it, IMHO nurses should be paid more than firefighters, paramedics, and teachers.
Did they tell you which MRI clinic had an operating room on site and an available neurosurgeon ? ProScan , run by a CDN doctor and one of the largest is a stand alone clinic , as are the others in Buffalo as far as I know. You could show up at John Hopkins ., Mercy ( friend is an attending there ) ECMC or Buf General , but then they are not pay for play.
Our Ortho friend lives in Buffalo but works in a Canadian hospital in Niagara, ( we ski with hikm in Ellicottville , which is good for business) , he loves the Canadian pay schedule .
I had a minor surgery a few weeks locally ago and then back to have stitches removed. The place was fantastic with skills and attitude. I asked one nurse how she liked working there and she said she loved it. No tension or snit fests.Not just Ontario that treats their nurses like ****.
Why 15,000 Minnesota nurses are on strike Monday morning
Nurses want a 30% pay raise over three years to address burnout and staffing issues.
Money is important to a degree. If you want responsible people you have to pay them enough to be responsible to their families as well, education and living standards etc.
If the occupation pays to much you can get the money grubbers that don't really care about the job, just the pay cheque, hours, benefits and early retirement.
Regardless of how much you pay a person they also need respect or they won't be happy. If they can't get respect then they will demand more money.
Mad Mike
Well-known member
I got to spend the better part of last week at Oakville Trafalgar Hospital, mostly hanging out in Emergency with my old dad. Here are a few observations:
There were lots of nurses at work, they seem to be making their rounds in a timely manner, and of the dozen or so I interacted with, all were cheerful and helpful except one -- she was grumpy.
Very few doctors. I think there was only one doctor in an emergency most nights. There were 50 or so lined up by 9 PM, they were told it would be a 12-hour wait, most left many stayed. I spoke to a few to kill some time... none were emergency material IMHO, a bee sting on a 12 year old's tricep, a lady who banged her knee and was worried the 1" bruise would morph into a blood clot, a programmer who cut (more like scraped) his hand opening a box. There didn't appear to be any visible Emergencies at all in that 50-person lineup.
Very few staff. Info booths, libraries, and administrative offices looked like ghost towns... they must all still be WFH. I asked, all I got was yeah, they haven't returned yet. Palladian Security guards were babysitting Alzheimer's patients for the nurses in Emergency. Nurses were doing the info desk work as that part of the hospital seemed closed.
They had no rooms at the inn. Dad spent 4 days on a cot in an Emerg overflow exam room, day 5 he got his private room upstairs (which was a lot nicer).
---- A few observations
Nurses are busy but don't appear to do much more than manage patients. Most of the people in emergency lineups had things so minor that a good mom could have fixed them up and discharged them. Triage nurses seemed to be checking folks in and then lining them up to see a doctor, even for the most minor things like insect bites, minor cuts (the kind that don't need stitching) and bruises. If it were me, I'd be more like "hey buddy, that's a paper cut. Lick it, put on this bandaid and go home".
Doctors don't seem to pay much attention to schedules. Twice we arranged for him to be transported to his specialist's office for his regularly scheduled appointments. Both times the doctor were AWOL. Some days they didn't do rounds.
My fam rotated a round-the-clock with dad as he has some dementia challenges and would be shaken if he didn't recognize anyone. Others in the ward weren't so lucky, the old girl next to us was tied to the bed with restraints as she kept trying to get up when her visitors left. Initially, we were quite worried, after day 4 and a battery of tests and him sleeping 23 hours a day, I told the nurse he perks up a lot when we force him to drink. They tested him for hydration -- that's it! -- turned out he was just dehydrated. 2 litres of water and he's back on his feet after sleeping for 5 days straight.
While I'm not an expert on health care delivery by any means, if my business ran like that hospital appeared to be running -- we would be out of business. Empower nurses to treat minor ailments. Make doctors show up and do their rounds. Send non-emergencies home or back to their family doctors. Have the hospital support staff at work.
I would guess that dad would be out in 24 hours if he was assessed on day one rather than being 'stored' 4 days. I also scratch my head wondering why all the tests and nobody thought about dehydration for an old fella on heavy diuretic medication.
I've spent time in hospitals before. I took a tumble last year and was in and out of Markham Stouffville with 20+ stitches and a CT scan inside 3 hours. My wife was there a month back for a broken wrist -- in and out with a case under 3 hours. They look way more organized than the Oakville place.
There were lots of nurses at work, they seem to be making their rounds in a timely manner, and of the dozen or so I interacted with, all were cheerful and helpful except one -- she was grumpy.
Very few doctors. I think there was only one doctor in an emergency most nights. There were 50 or so lined up by 9 PM, they were told it would be a 12-hour wait, most left many stayed. I spoke to a few to kill some time... none were emergency material IMHO, a bee sting on a 12 year old's tricep, a lady who banged her knee and was worried the 1" bruise would morph into a blood clot, a programmer who cut (more like scraped) his hand opening a box. There didn't appear to be any visible Emergencies at all in that 50-person lineup.
Very few staff. Info booths, libraries, and administrative offices looked like ghost towns... they must all still be WFH. I asked, all I got was yeah, they haven't returned yet. Palladian Security guards were babysitting Alzheimer's patients for the nurses in Emergency. Nurses were doing the info desk work as that part of the hospital seemed closed.
They had no rooms at the inn. Dad spent 4 days on a cot in an Emerg overflow exam room, day 5 he got his private room upstairs (which was a lot nicer).
---- A few observations
Nurses are busy but don't appear to do much more than manage patients. Most of the people in emergency lineups had things so minor that a good mom could have fixed them up and discharged them. Triage nurses seemed to be checking folks in and then lining them up to see a doctor, even for the most minor things like insect bites, minor cuts (the kind that don't need stitching) and bruises. If it were me, I'd be more like "hey buddy, that's a paper cut. Lick it, put on this bandaid and go home".
Doctors don't seem to pay much attention to schedules. Twice we arranged for him to be transported to his specialist's office for his regularly scheduled appointments. Both times the doctor were AWOL. Some days they didn't do rounds.
My fam rotated a round-the-clock with dad as he has some dementia challenges and would be shaken if he didn't recognize anyone. Others in the ward weren't so lucky, the old girl next to us was tied to the bed with restraints as she kept trying to get up when her visitors left. Initially, we were quite worried, after day 4 and a battery of tests and him sleeping 23 hours a day, I told the nurse he perks up a lot when we force him to drink. They tested him for hydration -- that's it! -- turned out he was just dehydrated. 2 litres of water and he's back on his feet after sleeping for 5 days straight.
While I'm not an expert on health care delivery by any means, if my business ran like that hospital appeared to be running -- we would be out of business. Empower nurses to treat minor ailments. Make doctors show up and do their rounds. Send non-emergencies home or back to their family doctors. Have the hospital support staff at work.
I would guess that dad would be out in 24 hours if he was assessed on day one rather than being 'stored' 4 days. I also scratch my head wondering why all the tests and nobody thought about dehydration for an old fella on heavy diuretic medication.
I've spent time in hospitals before. I took a tumble last year and was in and out of Markham Stouffville with 20+ stitches and a CT scan inside 3 hours. My wife was there a month back for a broken wrist -- in and out with a case under 3 hours. They look way more organized than the Oakville place.
Mad Mike
Well-known member
I'm getting to know a lot of new nurses these days, I'm interested in their views on money.
Pretty much all the ones I know chose nursing over other health care technical jobs because of the work options and stable pay. The ones in if for max-money are working in private care, the ones that got into premier schools also got into premier hospitals where they seem to be happy and don't work with lazy-ass militants. The last few are in some of the smaller hospitals, they seem to see the most complaining, job action (sick days etc), and the money grubbers you speak of.
I’m pretty familiar with Oakville Trafalgar, wife has been on staff there for years . The entire to floor of that building is empty , for future expansion, yet they have no empty beds .
The catch basin it was designed for it about one third the size of the area customers are actually coming in from. The theme is let’s just go to the fancy new place with all the good doctors . Could not be further from the truth.
You’ll get good service , eventually.
The maternity tourism is a huge problem, they get off a plane at Pearson and pretty much limo to the hospital, and they pay the 10k charges upfront with no issue, but they jam up beds .
Without sparking yet another ‘union ‘ debate , when OTMH RNs went union about a decade ago , everything changed in that building and not in a good way .
Sent from my iPhone using GTAMotorcycle.com
The catch basin it was designed for it about one third the size of the area customers are actually coming in from. The theme is let’s just go to the fancy new place with all the good doctors . Could not be further from the truth.
You’ll get good service , eventually.
The maternity tourism is a huge problem, they get off a plane at Pearson and pretty much limo to the hospital, and they pay the 10k charges upfront with no issue, but they jam up beds .
Without sparking yet another ‘union ‘ debate , when OTMH RNs went union about a decade ago , everything changed in that building and not in a good way .
Sent from my iPhone using GTAMotorcycle.com
bigpoppa
Well-known member
curious how much it ended up costing, Im assuming the 800 didnt cover surgery?
At one time, ages ago, OHIP covered you everywhere on the planet. Then some people started taking medi-vacations.
Why recover in cold Canada when OHIP would pay for rehab at a luxury spa in Palm Springs?
A few (Or more) six figure rehabs lit the fuse and now we need travel insurance. I haven't checked the rates for a couple of years but inflation, Covid and getting older won't have me seeing the old numbers.
Common sense would have the foreign rehab reimbursed at the Ontario rate with the patient paying the difference. The decision to throw the baby out with the bath water works for the OHIP budget. They prefer you to get sick / injured somewhere else and pay it out of your own pocket.
Mad Mike
Well-known member
I'd had a months-long rehab a few winters ago, I would have preferred doing it at my place in the sunny south, instead I went to RVH in Scarb. OHIP paid for all but the parking.
I'm OK with those who want to foot the bill for care outside the country, I don't think our OHIP tax dollars should fund another jurisdiction's doctors.
|
|
|
|
|