Healthcare

   Over the past few weeks I've been an observer and occasional participant in the local healthcare system. From the things I've seen, heard, and been told it's truly scary. You really have to be your own advocate for your own care.
- nurses wondering where to find patients charts and orders because they don't know where they are.
- an ER that takes several hours just to give pain medication
- doctors who really don't tell you anything, especially if you catch them in a bad mood.
- doctors that tell you someone's probably about to die when they're really not
- a hospital that repeatedly gives narcotic pain medication without conducting a pain assessment
- nurses that start treatments without consulting a chart or patient's condition...
- doctors unable to see a patient for 3 months to diagnose a debilitating condition

Lessons from all this:
- Know a doctor or two personally
- You have to be unafraid to challenge assumptions (or have someone around to do it for you)
- Research everything that the doctor tells you - get clinical terms for things and go online
- Understand that truly, you alone are responsible for your treatment