Naval Hospital Ships

[SemperJeff]

I was just curious if any of the Navy docs on here have ever served on the Mercy or any other hospital ship.

I am curious to learn about that experience.

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[militarymd]

I spent time on the Comfort.

 

[thenavysurgeon]

I was a surgeon on an aircraft carrier for a year.

sucked.

xTNS

 

[SemperJeff]

I was a surgeon on an aircraft carrier for a year.

sucked.

xTNS

a year straight through? How often did you get get off the ship?

 

[SemperJeff]

I spent time on the Comfort.

How was it? Were there staffing problems as been mentioned often here in the military forum? Or does the Navy keep its hospital ships pretty well staffed for their deployments?

Other than not being able to get out and walk around on land, I'm assuming that while inside, you'd feel like you were in any other hospital?

 

[militarymd]

How was it? Were there staffing problems as been mentioned often here in the military forum? Or does the Navy keep its hospital ships pretty well staffed for their deployments?

Other than not being able to get out and walk around on land, I'm assuming that while inside, you'd feel like you were in any other hospital?

for the 2003 conflict...it was well staffed...but supplies are dependent of underway replenishments....and sometimes can be iffy...but overall, the essentials were there.

You're on a ship ....with a bunch of senior officers pretending to be soldiers getting in the way of you (the doctor) doing your job.....so it feels like any other military hospital, but not any REAL hospital that I have worked in.

 

[navysurgeon]

I was a ship-board surgeon on an aircraft carrier for one year. The boat did not deploy the year i was on it, so we spent months tied up to the pier. I took Q3 day sick call, and did very little surgically. It ****ing sucked.

I got smart about 2 months into the year, got a local medical license, and started moonlighting my ass off at a local hospital taking gen surg call at night and make some serious $$. I did more surgical cases moonlighting than I did in my full-time Navy job that first year.

What a ****ing joke. My SMO (0-5) was a ****ing tool, he refused to take sick call, even though he was a FP. Toward the end of the year, I complained to the local Navy sugeons (all were 0-6's) working at the local Navy MTF, and got my SMO busted. It was sweet.

xTNS

 

[orbitsurgMD]

I was a ship-board surgeon on an aircraft carrier for one year. The boat did not deploy the year i was on it, so we spent months tied up to the pier. I took Q3 day sick call, and did very little surgically. It ****ing sucked.

I got smart about 2 months into the year, got a local medical license, and started moonlighting my ass off at a local hospital taking gen surg call at night and make some serious $$. I did more surgical cases moonlighting than I did in my full-time Navy job that first year.

What a ****ing joke. My SMO (0-5) was a ****ing tool, he refused to take sick call, even though he was a FP. Toward the end of the year, I complained to the local Navy sugeons (all were 0-6's) working at the local Navy MTF, and got my SMO busted. It was sweet.



xTNS

Sad truth. There are a lot of lazy-assed field-grade MC types who pull rank to gaff off on the call schedules (while drawing full bonuses and incentives--fraud IMO) and refuse to do other usually shared duties required of medical officers. Some never saw any patients for anything but hid out in offices shuffling paper and signing off on other wasteful paper-generating duties. They didn't escape the observation of their juniors, though. Those with a more genuine interest in medicine got the message that the way to a more fairly compensated and fulfilling professional life required another certificate, the DD-214.

 

[NavyFP]

I was just curious if any of the Navy docs on here have ever served on the Mercy or any other hospital ship.

I am curious to learn about that experience.

Did time on the Comfort after Katrina. It was certainly well staffed. Probably needed more primary care and fewer specialists, but our precise mission was unclear from the get go. In a week in Mississippi, we saw about 2000 patients (I think I saw 400 of them). Had the basic resources we needed.

 

[navysurgeon]

Yo Orbit

"Those with a more genuine interest in medicine got the message that the way to a more fairly compensated and fulfilling professional life required another certificate, the DD-214."

That statement should be cast in bronze and placed on a plaza somewhere on the USUHS campus.

Nice!

xTNS