We spend up to twice as much on health care as any other country and still lose 100,000 people to premature death because of medical error. Does this mean our health care system is inefficient? You might think so, and health care managers have a solution. Many hospitals and doctors’ offices have adopted an assembly line technique known as the Toyota Lean Production System, an assembly line for patients. The focus is on moving patients through their tests and procedures faster, the items for which insurance companies pay, thereby increasing the charges per patient. Oops! Is this going to reduce medical costs?
If people were auto parts, this theory would work better. Auto parts generally come standard size and operation, and they rarely vomit as you are trying to fit them into a car.
The theory ignores the fact that caregivers do more than administer tests and procedures; they observe and hear from sick and harried patients what is wrong. Block from your mind that we could have a system to stamp the diagnosis on the forehead or insert a chip for computer readout.
Seriously, even doctors and nurses, dedicated as most are, make fewer mistakes, entertain better options, and are better communicators when they are not looking at their watches, wondering how they are going to meet their quota of patient volume for the day.
Now there’s the problem! Caregivers are paid by the number of bodies they pass through the system, not how healthy they help them become. The few institutions which have made the switch from volume to quality have seen a real change, in reduced emergency room visits and hospital readmissions. How about that! Treating caregivers and patients like people actually makes good business sense! Maybe the managers will notice.
i use a combo of shea butter and aloe vera moisturizer. Works great. I use shea butter on my lips, around my eyes and nose (dry areas), My father swears by vasoline.
p.s. I dropped your name on Gina's post, Barb. ;)
Sue, here’s another healthcare conversation you might want to participate in.
Thanks! I’ll take a look.
Sue