Article: The real crisis in the ER

[CleverThought]

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This article (<-- click) stumbled upon my newsfeed this afternoon, any opinions?

It's an interesting point, but I must say the comments make me sad for how uneducated most people are and how eager many are to take advantage of the system.

 

[Naphen]

This article (<-- click) stumbled upon my newsfeed this afternoon, any opinions?

It's an interesting point, but I must say the comments make me sad for how uneducated most people are and how eager many are to take advantage of the system.

I don't see anybody in the article "taking advantage of the system" - care to explain?
But, yes, patient ignorance is and always has been a major problem... Which is why preventative care and general education about dental hygiene is so important.

 

[CleverThought]

I don't see anybody in the article "taking advantage of the system" - care to explain?
But, yes, patient ignorance is and always has been a major problem... Which is why preventative care and general education about dental hygiene is so important.

Perhaps I misunderstood (wine does that 😀 ), but the guy with the painful testicles said he felt like he didn't have to pay for his ER visit because he didn't have health insurance, but also worked hard. So he purposefully went without an ID so he wouldn't pay. Mind you, I don't have testicles, but I would suppose you could infer pain brought on by sleeping on them wrong and wouldn't need an ER visit for it.

"i was at the ER a week ago for testicle pain. i have no medical insurance but i sure wasn't going to pay a dime out of my pocket because i DO work. do i deserve free/state/govt. insurance? no, but i won't just grin and bear the pain either. anyway, i walked in without ID and got a lot of blood testing done. turned out i slept in an awkward way and that was indeed the cause. who paid for that? someone sure did but i didn't (even though i did somewhat as i pay taxes but i doubt taxes cover that...). they say there is no medical care for free in america. i saw a LINE of illegal mexicans there who were getting free treatment for themselves and their 12 or so kids and elephant-sized wives."

 

[Naphen]

Perhaps I misunderstood (wine does that 😀 ), but the guy with the painful testicles said he felt like he didn't have to pay for his ER visit because he didn't have health insurance, but also worked hard. So he purposefully went without an ID so he wouldn't pay. Mind you, I don't have testicles, but I would suppose you could infer pain brought on by sleeping on them wrong and wouldn't need an ER visit for it.

"i was at the ER a week ago for testicle pain. i have no medical insurance but i sure wasn't going to pay a dime out of my pocket because i DO work. do i deserve free/state/govt. insurance? no, but i won't just grin and bear the pain either. anyway, i walked in without ID and got a lot of blood testing done. turned out i slept in an awkward way and that was indeed the cause. who paid for that? someone sure did but i didn't (even though i did somewhat as i pay taxes but i doubt taxes cover that...). they say there is no medical care for free in america. i saw a LINE of illegal mexicans there who were getting free treatment for themselves and their 12 or so kids and elephant-sized wives."

LOL. That made me roll on the floor laughing... anyways, I think he probably had testicular torsion.
But I didn't read the comments, I just stuck to the article. 😀

 

[gn4]

I have always wondered why dental care wasn't included in regular health insurance.

 

[CleverThought]

I have always wondered why dental care wasn't included in regular health insurance.

I must admit, I do not know enough about the ins and outs of insurance, but I would think if dental was covered under medical it could greatly help in getting more folks in for preventative care; hopefully having less people rely on the ER as their primary source of dental care.

I did see an interesting post on Dental Town where some dentists were able to bill medical insurance codes for some treatments; interesting concept.

 

[primadonna22274]

I've worked in 3 rural EDs in South Carolina as a PA. I barely knew any dentistry before working in the ED--certainly didn't learn it in PA school. Even so, all we can really do is dental blocks for pain, drain the occasional pointing abscess and start antibiotics. The frustration is knowing that most of these folks won't follow up with a dentist because they can't afford to, and so their dental problems get worse and the ED visits become a revolving door. My attitude on how to handle this problem has shifted over the past several years. Medical education is improving to include some oral health lectures (I got maybe 1-2 hr in med school 15 yr later) but we need dentists who will collaborate like this. Our local free clinic offers dentistry services and it is a godsend. Takes months for a patient to be accepted and get scheduled but they do good work and I'm grateful.

 

[CleverThought]

I've worked in 3 rural EDs in South Carolina as a PA. I barely knew any dentistry before working in the ED--certainly didn't learn it in PA school. Even so, all we can really do is dental blocks for pain, drain the occasional pointing abscess and start antibiotics. The frustration is knowing that most of these folks won't follow up with a dentist because they can't afford to, and so their dental problems get worse and the ED visits become a revolving door. My attitude on how to handle this problem has shifted over the past several years. Medical education is improving to include some oral health lectures (I got maybe 1-2 hr in med school 15 yr later) but we need dentists who will collaborate like this. Our local free clinic offers dentistry services and it is a godsend. Takes months for a patient to be accepted and get scheduled but they do good work and I'm grateful.

Thank you so much for your insight!

I would love to see a closer collaboration between physicians and dentists, I feel when both professions are on the same page, then patients will follow suit. A huge issue right now is the public regarding the oral cavity as something completely independent from the rest of the body. If the dentists and physicians can increase patient education in the matter I think both professions will see better health outcomes.

 

[primadonna22274]

You're absolutely right. We have compartmentalized health far too much. One of the things I appreciate most about our free clinic is that the dentists and physicians work together to take care of patients.