AVOID MILITARY MEDICINE if possible

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This paper may not be about milmed but I kept thinking about my hospital when reading it. Unfortunately, my hospital admin epitomizes the negative aspects described it the piece. I am not sure how much the "organization" cares about retention. I finished my ADSC two weeks ago--not one person asked me why I was getting out nor did anyone ever ask me to stay or let me know how much I am valued.👎
 
not one person asked me why I was getting out nor did anyone ever ask me to stay or let me know how much I am valued
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Of course they didn't ask why you're leaving... they already know. They've heard it from countless physicians, all on their way out the door to civilian practice and freedom.

They also didn't tell you how much you are valued because they don't value you. The attitude from Randolph is that they don't expect to retain anybody, so they don't even make a pretense of doing so, and this includes throwing any sort of bones your way. They make no effort, not even a perfunctory one.

They're not fools... they're fully aware of the retention statistics, and they fully expect you to punch out.

You won't miss it... you'll love civilian practice.
 
below a news flash from the Defense Secretary stating that the local Commanders are given what the need to ensure success at the local hospitals ets......basically some lip service to deflect responsibility from Washington and place it elsewhere.

In my experience, this (the claim that local Commanders are given autonomy and tools for success) is TOTAL CRAP ! While I also place partial blame on local Commanders, my Commander DID let his superiors (the USAF Surgeon GENERAL) know about serious problems. He did request more physicians (especially when people are deployed). And what did he get? He was told to fire the civilian help we had and if he did not, then we would lose the military doc bilets. Heck, we even had Washington DC deciding that we did not even need printers in our offices (50% removed....that decision was made from Washington....talk about micromanaging !)

You may be fooling the public Mr. Gates, but you ain't fooling people who have been there. In reality, Mr GATES may believe exactly what he says, and thats part of the problem too; people with the power have no clue as to what is actually going on.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070224/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/army_walter_reed
 
Chicago-area Army HPSP Recruiters keep it real! They don't care because they don't have to...and they take pride in that. So, I thought the indifference, abrasiveness, obnoxious attitude towards HPSP-ers -- both pre- and post-contract -- was just that of a few grumpy old combat arms sargeants just riding there time out to retirement. It's mearly a reflection of the Army medical system as a whole -- the doctors tend to be decent, the ancillary staff sucks. The Chicago HPSP Recruiters don't know how to work. In a phone conversation, requesting tranportation office information, I was referred to call the Great Lakes Naval Base Pharmacy. Yes, a pharmacy. They don't return messages; then, they hound you for the contact information of med school class members. I wouldn't wish the wrath of an HPSP recruiters on my worst enemy. If you are into S&M or a glutton for pain, join the Army HPSP program through Chicago's recruiting station. They promise to waste your time doing their job, which they aren't even good at convincing you to do that. Thanks for your help, Sgt Ryan!
 
Gastrapathy said:
Anybody see that General Surgeon on 60 minutes sun night? Love to be a fly on the wall around him today.
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I assume you mean the navy commander who along with others were stating the Iraqi war was wrong.

I would also like to see what happens. I heard many attendings, nurses, ancillaries all discuss this multiple times (e.g. not enough support for the mission, we should focus on afganistan, etc). Makes for some interesting "water cooler" discussions.

But my biggest pet peeve (regardless of how one feels about the war) is that hardcore war supporters (mostly conservatives) will now state that he "knew" what he was getting into and he is hurting troop morale. I can't stand those arguments. One can be patriotic, still follow orders and disagree. And if those war supporters don't like it, GO ENLIST.
 
met19 said:
I assume you mean the navy commander who along with others were stating the Iraqi war was wrong.

I would also like to see what happens. I heard many attendings, nurses, ancillaries all discuss this multiple times (e.g. not enough support for the mission, we should focus on afganistan, etc). Makes for some interesting "water cooler" discussions.

But my biggest pet peeve (regardless of how one feels about the war) is that hardcore war supporters (mostly conservatives) will now state that he "knew" what he was getting into and he is hurting troop morale. I can't stand those arguments. One can be patriotic, still follow orders and disagree. And if those war supporters don't like it, GO ENLIST.
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well said. and on that note, my opinion is that we did not send enough troops over there initially. My feeling is that if you have the troops/ability to "dominate" an oponent, you do it. I think that if we would have filled that country with every possible UN TROOP, US TROOP, UK troop etc,.....gone house to house, door to door, imposed lights out/no movement of civilians after dark, lock down the country etc........we could have prevented alot of this.

The fact that I had troops tell me, and some retired colonels say that we needed more all along goes with my belief.

It was interesting to have a similar (although not as dire) situation in my USAF clinic. We were absolutely undermanned (80% gone) and yet admin was saying that we were fully manned (on paper anyways), all is well etc...........same song and dance.
 
Collin Powell said we needed 400,000 boots in the ground to win the war, Mr Runsfield said no!! 150,000 will do , now we know who was right !!Very similar to the type of management that will bring MILmed down the gutter.😡
 
USAFdoc said:
well said. and on that note, my opinion is that we did not send enough troops over there initially. My feeling is that if you have the troops/ability to "dominate" an oponent, you do it. I think that if we would have filled that country with every possible UN TROOP, US TROOP, UK troop etc,.....gone house to house, door to door, imposed lights out/no movement of civilians after dark, lock down the country etc........we could have prevented alot of this.

The fact that I had troops tell me, and some retired colonels say that we needed more all along goes with my belief.

It was interesting to have a similar (although not as dire) situation in my USAF clinic. We were absolutely undermanned (80% gone) and yet admin was saying that we were fully manned (on paper anyways), all is well etc...........same song and dance.
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I totally agree, unfortunately the numbers needed were not provided. We tried to do the war on the "cheap". Cool gadgets (e.g. smartbombs, UAVs, etc) assist in providing support and overwhelming force. But force is still defined by numbers. Now look at where we are- a stalemate to a degree. The numbers were needed years ago, now I am afraid that this minor surge will actually acomplish nothing. The insurgency will melt away into the background while troops are wounded, both mentally and physically. Then they go to substandard facilities and have trouble getting the right amount of disabilty.

Money for appropriate numbers of forces, milmed, VA, etc are all needed to clean up this mess. And it will be a mess long after the war is over in terms of replenishment of the forces (both people and equipment), milmed, recruitment, etc. I can't wait till my taxes go up to pay for this huge amt of national debt.
 
kzjonez said:
Collin Powell said we needed 400,000 boots in the ground to win the war, Mr Runsfield said no!! 150,000 will do , now we know who was right !!Very similar to the type of management that will bring MILmed down the gutter.😡
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Did you see all the info in the Wa Post this past week. First Walter reed is messed up. Then the Post magazine (outlook) has an article discussing how army personel struggle with the disabilty system. Not a good showing for milmed.
 
met19 said:
Did you see all the info in the Wa Post this past week. First Walter reed is messed up. Then the Post magazine (outlook) has an article discussing how army personel struggle with the disabilty system. Not a good showing for milmed.
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the only GOOD showing for milmed is when they have complete control over what is presented. Anything that resembles the TRUTH will many/most times be a BAD showing for milmed .🙁 🙁 👎 👎
 
So I just started reading this blog, and Wow. I thought I was a disgrunted milmed doc. I am getting out in less than a month, and I know I am doing the right thing. If I had it to do over, I wouldn't. Except for I met my husband in the military so maybe I would. I hope the civilian world is way better. I think it will be.

Aside from Milmed being a poor system, the amount of personal injustices I have indured is entirely TNTC!!!
 
MDWoochie said:
So I just started reading this blog, and Wow. I thought I was a disgrunted milmed doc. I am getting out in less than a month, and I know I am doing the right thing. If I had it to do over, I wouldn't. Except for I met my husband in the military so maybe I would. I hope the civilian world is way better. I think it will be.

Aside from Milmed being a poor system, the amount of personal injustices I have indured is entirely TNTC!!!
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Welcome to the forum. Unfortunately you are part of a mostly silent majority that has either no knowledge of this forum, or just do not care to post their horrible experiences. Its a good place to vent, educate, and hopefully make a difference, although I am less optimistic of that than of anything else. Let us know about yourself, and feel free to interject along the way and post your experiences.

Thank you
 
MDWoochie said:
So I just started reading this blog, and Wow. I thought I was a disgrunted milmed doc. I am getting out in less than a month, and I know I am doing the right thing. If I had it to do over, I wouldn't. Except for I met my husband in the military so maybe I would. I hope the civilian world is way better. I think it will be.

Aside from Milmed being a poor system, the amount of personal injustices I have indured is entirely TNTC!!!
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99% chance you will find the civilian world challenging, but light years better in terms of integrity, service, and excellence (yea, those are the long lost USAF Core Values.......apparently the USAF sold them to a civilian firm).

I still miss the troops, the uniform, and my dream of being a military physician, but the downside of being a USAF FP doc was just too much.....my standards are just higher than that.

MDMoochie is just another of the long list of docs exiting.....and not because we lack any patriotism, but because military medicine lacks professionalism.:idea:

and no; milmed isn't 100% bad. There are some good things going on out there....but a good manicure means squat if the limb is cancerous.
 
Ex-44E3A said:
Of course they didn't ask why you're leaving... they already know. They've heard it from countless physicians, all on their way out the door to civilian practice and freedom.

They also didn't tell you how much you are valued because they don't value you. The attitude from Randolph is that they don't expect to retain anybody, so they don't even make a pretense of doing so, and this includes throwing any sort of bones your way. They make no effort, not even a perfunctory one.

They're not fools... they're fully aware of the retention statistics, and they fully expect you to punch out.

You won't miss it... you'll love civilian practice.
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Not only do they not expect to retain anybody....The military DOES NOT want to retain you....The retiree's pensions is killing the military budget..

That's right...the pension that they hold over your head to keep you in line....is also something that they don't want to give out.....

Think about it....why would they want to keep you around for 20....than have to pay you for another 30 years when you do absolutely nothing but consume resources.

Much cheaper to keep you for 10 to 15 and then "let you get out"....

When this mentality exists.....do you think Military Medicine will EVER get better .......NO WAY IN HELL will it get better.

Be smart....stay out.....
 
militarymd said:
Not only do they not expect to retain anybody....The military DOES NOT want to retain you....The retiree's pensions is killing the military budget..

That's right...the pension that they hold over your head to keep you in line....is also something that they don't want to give out.....

Think about it....why would they want to keep you around for 20....than have to pay you for another 30 years when you do absolutely nothing but consume resources.

Much cheaper to keep you for 10 to 15 and then "let you get out"....

When this mentality exists.....do you think Military Medicine will EVER get better .......NO WAY IN HELL will it get better.

Be smart....stay out.....
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if this is true, and it could be (nobody will admit it I am sure), how would you ever fix that little problem?

well, you could make it so people can't retire at 40 yo ( they have to stay active, or go reserves, or see much less of a pension until a later age).

there just has to be some better answer than to trash a healthcare system for the most deserving people (the troops) to save a buck. 😡
 
On my last ADT a retired physician visited the department. He had retired from the military sometime in the 70's, went on to a very successful private practice, he is still practicing medicine and living in a very very exclusive area of the country. He mentioned that he has been drawing retirement benefits longer than he served in the military.

I'm certainly not one to begrudge someone their pension but it seems kind of wrong to be able to draw benefits for so long when you're likely going to keep working for another 20-30 years anyway.

militarymd said:
Not only do they not expect to retain anybody....The military DOES NOT want to retain you....The retiree's pensions is killing the military budget..

That's right...the pension that they hold over your head to keep you in line....is also something that they don't want to give out.....

Think about it....why would they want to keep you around for 20....than have to pay you for another 30 years when you do absolutely nothing but consume resources.

Much cheaper to keep you for 10 to 15 and then "let you get out"....

When this mentality exists.....do you think Military Medicine will EVER get better .......NO WAY IN HELL will it get better.

Be smart....stay out.....
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delicatefade said:
On my last ADT a retired physician visited the department. He had retired from the military sometime in the 70's, went on to a very successful private practice, he is still practicing medicine and living in a very very exclusive area of the country. He mentioned that he has been drawing retirement benefits longer than he served in the military.

I'm certainly not one to begrudge someone their pension but it seems kind of wrong to be able to draw benefits for so long when you're likely going to keep working for another 20-30 years anyway.
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I don't hold it against anyone getting a pension either..........but times have changed, people now live longer, are able to work longer, and perhaps MOST IMPORTANT, the healthcare costs of taking care of people/retirees has gone through the roof.

If I were "king for a day", I would have to make some changes on what we promise our veterans, especially physicians who want to retire at 40yo.

I know I never joined the military as a doc with the pension as the #1 reason I joined. I think that if the military could produce a professional medical atmosphere, a reasonable quality of life (when not deployed), I would stay, and many others would. With the current milmed system, there is virtually no price, and no pension that would get me or others to stay.
 
I was originally drawn to this website when I Googled "AHLTA sucks" and found about 10,000 websites. This was #2.

AFter reading most of this string, it really saddens me that I work for an organization that seems to really give a crap about its medical system. I've been an AF doc now for eight years...did FP residency, then 3 years as an FP doc, then 2 years as a flight doc. I absolutely love my co-workers....all of my fellow docs are pretty damn good. My patients are, for the most part, pretty compliant and without a lot of medical problems and issues (even when I was in FP full time).

HPSP did me good. I don't have any loans to pay back and it helped me through medical school when I was dirt poor. I knew I wanted to do primary care and realized that I wasn't going to be paying back loans any time soon making primary care money. Most of my colleagues in medical school who did FP as a career are pretty miserable....they're seeing 40+ patients a day working for a for profit health care organization that pockets profits instead of reinvesting it into the system, getting paid less every year due to reimbursements dropping, and working their a$$es off. I on the other hand put in about 40-50 hours a week doing strictly outpatient care (with the occasional in flight emergency that I have to be there for, which usually turns out to be nothing more than bad gas from lunch) and see on average about 15 patients a day. I get federal holidays off, and weekends. I also get 30 paid days of leave a year. And I just got financed to go learn acupuncture and bring it back to the clinic. That's the good.

There's so much bad that I can't cover it in one post. More later. Anyway, glad to be here for an exchange of ideas.
 
delicatefade said:
I'm certainly not one to begrudge someone their pension but it seems kind of wrong to be able to draw benefits for so long when you're likely going to keep working for another 20-30 years anyway.
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One would imagine that, without the carrot dangling of a lifetime pension and benefits, most young people would not willingly take a job that potentially involved death or dismemberment.
 
Tired said:
One would imagine that, without the carrot dangling of a lifetime pension and benefits, most young people would not willingly take a job that potentially involved death or dismemberment.
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I agree that there needs to be a "retirment package". The question is whether it should start at the age of 40.

I have seen numerous people retire, then start the same job the next day as a civilian hire; basically getting major bucks plus the pension. There has to be a better/more fair/fiscally responsible option.
 
USAFdoc said:
I agree that there needs to be a "retirment package". The question is whether it should start at the age of 40.

I have seen numerous people retire, then start the same job the next day as a civilian hire; basically getting major bucks plus the pension. There has to be a better/more fair/fiscally responsible option.
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From a fiscal standpoint you are, of course, absoutely correct. I just wonder if, absent that "retirement after 20 years", the inherrent risks in the profession (bullets, bombs, IEDs, and "training accidents") would still allow us to maintain an all-volunteer force.
 

As I suspected; the Commander DID let his superiors know about the problems months ago:

An internal memo from Weightman last fall requested funding and additional personnel, saying that if shortfalls and the loss of skilled staff were not addressed "patient care services are at risk of mission failure."

sound like the same type of message many of us have been saying, and the same kind of message ignored. What else could the General have said? Pretty please with sugar on it, please send us more help and funding...? :meanie:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070303/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/walter_reed


in 1997, some journalist published some article on milmed in the Dayton Daily News. Everything hit the fan; just like what is going on now. Washington promised changes. People/docs on this site have been saying for years that there are serious, unacceptable problems going on im milmed. Walter Reed has only served the purpose to give creedence to those claims.

I expect (but do not wish) a repeat performance here again ie......Washington will make some bold promises, and when things cool down, milmed will be to the same ole status quo. There needs to be a fundamental change on how the military does healthcare. I do not think it can happen internally.

I believe you need a civilian watchdog group that has the ear of congress, the ear of the media, and the voice of military practicing physicians.

http://www.pulitzer.org/year/1998/na...porting/works/
 
FlyDoc34 said:
AFter reading most of this string, it really saddens me that I work for an organization that seems to really give a crap about its medical system. I've been an AF doc now for eight years...did FP residency, then 3 years as an FP doc, then 2 years as a flight doc. I absolutely love my co-workers....all of my fellow docs are pretty damn good. My patients are, for the most part, pretty compliant and without a lot of medical problems and issues (even when I was in FP full time).

HPSP did me good. I don't have any loans to pay back and it helped me through medical school when I was dirt poor. I knew I wanted to do primary care and realized that I wasn't going to be paying back loans any time soon making primary care money. Most of my colleagues in medical school who did FP as a career are pretty miserable....they're seeing 40+ patients a day working for a for profit health care organization that pockets profits instead of reinvesting it into the system, getting paid less every year due to reimbursements dropping, and working their a$$es off.
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1) The national average for FP docs seeing pts is about 24-25..................I am a practicing civilian FP now and see about 25 per day and CANNOT imagine how your colleagues see 40 per day. Are they all working for the same "factory production line" HMO? They need to find a new FP job (except USAF active duty FP that is :laugh: ) I get 5-10 offers every month, I am sure they do too.
2) I get paid more every year....no-OB, no-Hospital....started at 120 K per year base with incentives and now 18 mo later at 156 K with incentives.
3) I still work my butt off, but the clinic is professional, the staff professional, the manning levels of support good and consistent. Admin/CEO types do what they can for my success (whereas USAF Admin does what they can to destroy your clinic as long as the metrics look better). Wow, I even have the chart when I see the patient (a change from USAF "policy") and we go EMR this summer; and wow, it didn't cost 6 BILLION (like AHLTA) and wow, the speed of this EMR is almost instantaneous, and "quirkless" unlike AHLTA. And they got the input of myself and other practicing FPs in setting up the system (how many practicing FPs did the military consult with before they placed AHLTA in our exam rooms?)

FlyDoc; Welcome to the site. You may have some contacts in the USAF to answer this question.........is there any USAF FP doc still seeing pts full time that thinks their clinic is "good"? I was stationed in the SE and spoke to FP docs around the country at seminars, PCO school, C4 school etc, and 100% desribed the USAF FP platform/clinic/PCO situation as "broken." All exited the USAF asap except 2 people I know went the admin route to get out of the clinic.
 
The so called care military dependents receive is a joke. Military "doctors" are all a bunch of losers who do not stand a chance of ever practicing in a civilian environment. I wish you *****s could all sit in on conversations the rest of us have about your complete lack of intelligence. You are all useless to us. I wish the government would stop wasting tax payers money on you *****s.
 
The worst Army "doctor" I have ever seen was a Lt. Colnel. She did not know her backside from her front. The reason none of us complain is because it is useless. The only good thing to come of this war is the fact that it took many of the military "doctors" overseas, allowing for the rest of us to recieve actual care from civilians. Talking to an Army "doctor" is like talking to air. There is just nothing of substance in their tiny brains.
 
So I've been browsing these forums for some time now, and have read
the many negatives of military medicine. With that said, I havent read
specifially an army physician coming on here and complaining.

So before I decide to attend USUHS this fall, it would be nice to hear
if people are unhappy in the army. Because I've been reading the milmed
forums religiously and I cant say it rings a bell in my mind.
 
Re3iRtH said:
So I've been browsing these forums for some time now, and have read
the many negatives of military medicine. With that said, I havent read
specifially an army physician coming on here and complaining.

So before I decide to attend USUHS this fall, it would be nice to hear
if people are unhappy in the army. Because I've been reading the milmed
forums religiously and I cant say it rings a bell in my mind.
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Not to be obvious, but you see the current problem in the news, think how it is army wide. To be most certain, take the initiative to call up as many bases as you can, for the specialty you think you want, and talk to current active duty docs. I'd advise you to exercise civilian options first, and then see what the military is like when you are trained.
 
Tired said:
One would imagine that, without the carrot dangling of a lifetime pension and benefits, most young people would not willingly take a job that potentially involved death or dismemberment.
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Actually, I don't buy this. How many junior sailors are thinking about that great pension. It really is a pretty good deal to retire at 39 as an E-8 and get a couple grand a month indexed to inflation for life, but when you talk to junior types, they just don't think that far ahead. I think it helps retention from years 8-20 but not initial recruiting.
 
Tired said:
One would imagine that, without the carrot dangling of a lifetime pension and benefits, most young people would not willingly take a job that potentially involved death or dismemberment.
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1) ACTUALLY, those kinds of risks attract some people :idea: :meanie:

2) and most people at 18 yrs of age, are not thinking 20 years down the line anyways. most people do not make a career of the military, so I do not think it will affect recruitment too much, but it may affect re-enlistment.

3) As for me; I would have stayed in the USAF forever (within reason). I love being a doc, I love(d) wearing the uniform etc.......I think the military could still recruit and keep docs with a change to the pension/retirement system.

but first they have to fix milmed in general😉
 
below is a link to the Uniformed Family Physician Spring 2005 edition. PLease read the "Letter from you President" section, paying especially close attention to the paragraph titled "the future of family medicine".

His quote "the day medicine in the Air Force gets FIXED will be the day we all realize that the doctor is the 'pilot' of the healthcare plane."

very well said.

http://www.usafp.org/Word_PDF_Files/2005-Spring-Newsletter.pdf
 
Re3iRtH said:
So I've been browsing these forums for some time now, and have read
the many negatives of military medicine. With that said, I havent read
specifially an army physician coming on here and complaining.

So before I decide to attend USUHS this fall, it would be nice to hear
if people are unhappy in the army. Because I've been reading the milmed
forums religiously and I cant say it rings a bell in my mind.
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Go back and search my previous posts.

X-RMD
 
And to echo R-Me-Doc's point (R-Me-Doc = Army Doc... get it?), Desperado is another Army doc on these forums... EM specifically.
 
Heh... so much for my memory... You are correct, Deuist; Desperado is Air Force.

The "who's who" thread you're referring to is here.
 
The Army until now has been reluctant to say that it needs more money. Commanders said at a House hearing Monday that Walter Reed and the Army Medical Command have been given all the resources needed -- an assertion that Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) called "dishonest."

the above assertion is exactly correct. Do I blame the Surgeon General for the the challenges of running milmed? No, it is difficult. What I do blame the SG for is that when he has presented himself before congress and described the "state of milmed"; 99% of his talk makes milmed sound like the best thing since microwave popcorn.

this is dishonest at best and a major reason why milmed is in the state it is in. Now, the SG could have told congress a better version of "the truth" and congress could have still said "tough luck" no more $$$ and no more manning levels, "suck it up." But since the SGs has basically "covered up" the blame falls on him. The results of that fall on the patients and staff, of which Walter Reed is just one of many examples.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/07/AR2007030702275.html
 
[
QUOTE=USAFdoc;4863183]The Army until now has been reluctant to say that it needs more money. Commanders said at a House hearing Monday that Walter Reed and the Army Medical Command have been given all the resources needed -- an assertion that Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) called "dishonest."QUOTE]
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"However, the political pressure from OMB left Army officials with no choice but to go forward, even if that resulted in unsatisfactory care to the nation's veterans."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/09/AR2007030902082.html

the above link describes further poor leadership, and leadership "design". Specifically it is in Walter Reed, and the outsourcing performed, and the terrible decision that was in the end. In my USAF FP clinic, we had are own problems with Humana and the outsourcing done to populate our clinic with civilian doctors and staff. As a military physician, I was given a "humana" nurse, who was actually pretty good. Several months later I come to work to find out she was "let go" and that they would be hiring somebody new in the future. The reason, her salary contract was too high. Now it gets better. So now I have no nurse (again), I was never informed/asked etc about the whole situation, and 2 weeks later Humana hires her but to do an admin job in the other area of the hospital for the same pay (like we needed another admin person vs another nurse). Then there is the aspect that Humana was being paid to supply our clinic with docs, of which 8/9 quit, and one year later, the milFP docs were still covering their patients. I would not doubt that the military was still paying the Humana contract for the docs that were not even there.

Milmed has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that it CANNOT do the job correctly. Hopefully this whole Walter Reed thing will continue to mushroom and shed light on the whole milmed system, of which walter Reed is just an example, not the exception.

All the "systemic" failures they print about Walter Reed are just that, "systemic" and you will find them just about everywhere thru-out the entire milmed "system".

Civilian Med has its challenges, but Milmed is in a league of its own...:meanie:
 
USAFdoc said:
Milmed has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that it CANNOT do the job correctly. Hopefully this whole Walter Reed thing will continue to mushroom and shed light on the whole milmed system, of which walter Reed is just an example, not the exception.
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I admire your tenacity and perserverance in attempting to stimulate total overhaul of the completely broken U.S. military healthcare system.

Hopefully this WRAMC scandal will indeed put the entire military healthcare system, including primary care in the USAF, under intense and completely open public scrutiny. It is past time for the American taxpayers to see just exactly the poor product they are receiving for their hard earned money when it comes to military healthcare.
 
island doc said:
I admire your tenacity and perserverance in attempting to stimulate total overhaul of the completely broken U.S. military healthcare system.

Hopefully this WRAMC scandal will indeed put the entire military healthcare system, including primary care in the USAF, under intense and completely open public scrutiny. It is past time for the American taxpayers to see just exactly the poor product they are receiving for their hard earned money when it comes to military healthcare.[/QUOTE]
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Alomost as important; it is past time that medical students get to see exactly the poor product that they are agreeing to "buddy-up" to after their own hard work in med school when they choose to go the HPSP route.😉
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unbelievable quote below taken from the USAF SG site:

SG Newswire Inside Quote:

"I'm just totally impressed with the medical care that's being given in our military. I think it's giving us a lot of ideas of how we need to change medical care on the civilian side in the States."

-- Dr. William Plested III, American Medical Association president. [FULL STORY]

http://airforcemedicine.afms.mil/sg_newswire/


just goes to show you the level of misinformation at the highest levels and how easy it is to dupe people. I doubt the AMA president wants his quote out there now that the Walter Reed situation has surfaced the true face of milmed.
 
USAFdoc said:
unbelievable quote below taken from the USAF SG site:

SG Newswire Inside Quote:

“I'm just totally impressed with the medical care that's being given in our military. I think it's giving us a lot of ideas of how we need to change medical care on the civilian side in the States.”

-- Dr. William Plested III, American Medical Association president. [FULL STORY]

http://airforcemedicine.afms.mil/sg_newswire/


just goes to show you the level of misinformation at the highest levels and how easy it is to dupe people. I doubt the AMA president wants his quote out there now that the Walter Reed situation has surfaced the true face of milmed.
Click to expand...


Nobody can put on a dog-and-pony show and pull the wool over the eyes of short-term visitors like the military . . .

Actually, if you read the article you will see that what they are referring to is the ability of the military to triage, evac and transport, not care for people long term. I doubt that anyone here, regardless of how negative they are about milmed in general, questions the ability of the military to use a lot of high tech bells and whistles to shuttle people around or move wounded out of theater. It's when they get to their final destination that the problems start . . .

X-RMD
 
R-Me-Doc said:
Actually, if you read the article you will see that what they are referring to is the ability of the military to triage, evac and transport, not care for people long term.
Click to expand...

Last month, Wired magazine ran a story about military medicine: its triage, stabilization, evacuation, and subsequent mismanagement of infections down the road.
 
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