Tuesday, December 18, 2007
When is a Hospital not a Hospital?
Is this a trick question? Not really...but, anyway, here goes.
Though I am not sure of the procedure that must be followed to open a hospital, I'm assuming that you must meet with some type of a state commission. Making further assumptions, it would seem that you'd have to show a need; yes, prove to the commission that the community where you want to open this hospital, has a need for it.
We, speaking for the citizens, would hope that there would be at least a speck of good intentions... that is, that the folks opening this hospital would actually want to help the people in the area that they will be serving. You know....Hey, we're doctors and we're here to help and serve you. Yes, we went to medical school because we are concerned about the maladies, sicknesses, and illnesses that plague us and we want to help.
From the standpoint of the folks who own the hospital, they want to make money. Hey, nothing wrong with that. The question is, can the two find a synthesis of sorts? Can the two goals both be met, which at times would seem to be at odds with each other? Let's see.
Oh, yeah...back to the initial question...When is a hospital not a hospital?
Naively, I will ask this. If something can't do its job, so to speak, is it still what it's supposed to be.... OK, a car is something that provides transportation. If a car can no longer provide transportation, is it still a car? That is, if it has a dead battery, flat tires, anything to keep it from providing transportation, can we really say it's still a car?
OK. On to hospitals....
Now, what would seem to be the elements, so to speak of a psychiatric hospital? That is, if we were to say we wanted to open a hospital, what would we need to have before we could call it a hospital?
A way to provide room and board. Yes, we need a bed and food. We need folks to care for our patients; doctors, nurses, and other staff to provide treatment and maintain a safe environment. Yes, there are others to maintain the building, kitchen staff, and so on..but, for our purposes we'll break it down to three elements; doctors to accept and treat the patients, beds, and the staff for treatment and safety.
OK. A week or so ago I needed to find a bed for a twelve year old girl. This girl had no health problems and had insurance. This girl was not in need of special staffing (one-on-one) and didn't have behaviors that would put other children at risk. One of the few that I've seen lately that would seem to be the perfect patient. Sooooooo, would our local hospital accept her? Nope. Why you might ask? Were they full? Nope.
Out of the three elements mentioned above they only had two. They had a bed and staff, but................you guessed it......No doctors!!!!!!!!!!!
So folks, in my mind, this was no longer a hospital, though when they answered the phone, that's how they identified themselves.
The twelve year old girl. What happened to her?
Well, yes, we did find an actual hospital who admitted her. Unfortunately for her family, it was three hours away.
The folks at the local faux hospital should be ashamed of themselves.....
Though I am not sure of the procedure that must be followed to open a hospital, I'm assuming that you must meet with some type of a state commission. Making further assumptions, it would seem that you'd have to show a need; yes, prove to the commission that the community where you want to open this hospital, has a need for it.
We, speaking for the citizens, would hope that there would be at least a speck of good intentions... that is, that the folks opening this hospital would actually want to help the people in the area that they will be serving. You know....Hey, we're doctors and we're here to help and serve you. Yes, we went to medical school because we are concerned about the maladies, sicknesses, and illnesses that plague us and we want to help.
From the standpoint of the folks who own the hospital, they want to make money. Hey, nothing wrong with that. The question is, can the two find a synthesis of sorts? Can the two goals both be met, which at times would seem to be at odds with each other? Let's see.
Oh, yeah...back to the initial question...When is a hospital not a hospital?
Naively, I will ask this. If something can't do its job, so to speak, is it still what it's supposed to be.... OK, a car is something that provides transportation. If a car can no longer provide transportation, is it still a car? That is, if it has a dead battery, flat tires, anything to keep it from providing transportation, can we really say it's still a car?
OK. On to hospitals....
Now, what would seem to be the elements, so to speak of a psychiatric hospital? That is, if we were to say we wanted to open a hospital, what would we need to have before we could call it a hospital?
A way to provide room and board. Yes, we need a bed and food. We need folks to care for our patients; doctors, nurses, and other staff to provide treatment and maintain a safe environment. Yes, there are others to maintain the building, kitchen staff, and so on..but, for our purposes we'll break it down to three elements; doctors to accept and treat the patients, beds, and the staff for treatment and safety.
OK. A week or so ago I needed to find a bed for a twelve year old girl. This girl had no health problems and had insurance. This girl was not in need of special staffing (one-on-one) and didn't have behaviors that would put other children at risk. One of the few that I've seen lately that would seem to be the perfect patient. Sooooooo, would our local hospital accept her? Nope. Why you might ask? Were they full? Nope.
Out of the three elements mentioned above they only had two. They had a bed and staff, but................you guessed it......No doctors!!!!!!!!!!!
So folks, in my mind, this was no longer a hospital, though when they answered the phone, that's how they identified themselves.
The twelve year old girl. What happened to her?
Well, yes, we did find an actual hospital who admitted her. Unfortunately for her family, it was three hours away.
The folks at the local faux hospital should be ashamed of themselves.....
Monday, December 17, 2007
If our agency became a construction company, what would our ads for carpenters look like?
Just for a moment or so, I'm going to pretend that our agency became a construction company and emergency services became the carpentry unit. If we were honest and forthright, here's what our ad would look like when we were trying to hire additional carpenters.
Wanted Carpenters
Established company wants to hire carpenters. Other than one other smaller company our pay is the lowest. Our benefits are the worst in the carpentry business.
However, whether you have carpentry experience or not, if you have a masters' degree in biology, we will pay you more than our regular career carpenters.
Please note, that we at times hire part-time workers. And yes, we pay them more than our career workers, if they work holidays.
I guess we need to tell you that at times we don’t have nails for you. And, at times we don’t have hammers. And at times, we have neither. Yes, we know that for most carpentry work these are necessitates; however, we’re sure you’ll be able to…well, you know. Handle it.
Don’t be discouraged by the lack of hammers and nails; remember, we have new trucks for you so you can get to the job sites in comfort.
Please rest assured that we are having meetings about the lack of hammers and nails. We’ve formed several committees; however, until we have more meetings and form more committees…well, just do your best.
As we are sure we’re going be inundated with job applications, we’ve setup a phone bank. Please call 1-800-NoThisAin’tAJoke
And, remember our motto, Fairness to All……..
PS. In fairness (remember, we’re the fairness company), we also need to let you know, when you work overtime we aren’t going to pay you…and, there has to be at least one carpenter available 24 hours a day.
Wanted Carpenters
Established company wants to hire carpenters. Other than one other smaller company our pay is the lowest. Our benefits are the worst in the carpentry business.
However, whether you have carpentry experience or not, if you have a masters' degree in biology, we will pay you more than our regular career carpenters.
Please note, that we at times hire part-time workers. And yes, we pay them more than our career workers, if they work holidays.
I guess we need to tell you that at times we don’t have nails for you. And, at times we don’t have hammers. And at times, we have neither. Yes, we know that for most carpentry work these are necessitates; however, we’re sure you’ll be able to…well, you know. Handle it.
Don’t be discouraged by the lack of hammers and nails; remember, we have new trucks for you so you can get to the job sites in comfort.
Please rest assured that we are having meetings about the lack of hammers and nails. We’ve formed several committees; however, until we have more meetings and form more committees…well, just do your best.
As we are sure we’re going be inundated with job applications, we’ve setup a phone bank. Please call 1-800-NoThisAin’tAJoke
And, remember our motto, Fairness to All……..
PS. In fairness (remember, we’re the fairness company), we also need to let you know, when you work overtime we aren’t going to pay you…and, there has to be at least one carpenter available 24 hours a day.
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