Is anyone else here sick of the state of healthcare in Canada?

[PhysioMD]

Wondering how people feel about healthcare in Canada?
I moved to a new city 3 years ago and bounced around about 5 family doctor teams and still have not found a reasonable doctor to care for me. I've not only worked in healthcare but also dealt with family and friends in all levels of illness from minor to critical and I can't recall one incident where the entire team and the most responsible physician really made an impression on me.

In July / August I lived in Boston and spent 2 months shadowing a specialist in one of the downtown hosptials while working on another venture (the reason I was able to transfer to Boston for 2 months). I was absolutely blown away. The guy actually had mini presentations and imaging and thorough explanations of techniques for surgeries etc which we showed to our patients. It felt like Grey's anatomy when they pull out the ipad and demonstrate how the OR will be done and what to expect. In my 5 years working in Canada I have not ONCE witnessed an appropriate consent process with my inpatients - mostly it's a junior resident with limited knowledge of the procedure who completely forgets to explain half the risks / contraindications.

Anyway, not meaning to sound negative but I've now been back at work for 3 weeks in Canada and I really really miss how things are done in the US.

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[ConfusedChemist]

It's the price we pay for not having the average person potentially go bankrupt if they got a cancer diagnosis during a transition between jobs.....it's not even close to perfect, and sure it lags behind the US in many, many ways, but it's also a much, much fairer and more equitable to the average person.

What I'm totally sick of is the total disregard for health care by our political leaders. Sure, spend 200million on foreign aid, but cut health care massively despite a growing population. I think it could be a lot better, but sadly the people making decisions don't seem to care

 

[Medstart108]

Wondering how people feel about healthcare in Canada?
I moved to a new city 3 years ago and bounced around about 5 family doctor teams and still have not found a reasonable doctor to care for me. I've not only worked in healthcare but also dealt with family and friends in all levels of illness from minor to critical and I can't recall one incident where the entire team and the most responsible physician really made an impression on me.

In July / August I lived in Boston and spent 2 months shadowing a specialist in one of the downtown hosptials while working on another venture (the reason I was able to transfer to Boston for 2 months). I was absolutely blown away. The guy actually had mini presentations and imaging and thorough explanations of techniques for surgeries etc which we showed to our patients. It felt like Grey's anatomy when they pull out the ipad and demonstrate how the OR will be done and what to expect. In my 5 years working in Canada I have not ONCE witnessed an appropriate consent process with my inpatients - mostly it's a junior resident with limited knowledge of the procedure who completely forgets to explain half the risks / contraindications.

Anyway, not meaning to sound negative but I've now been back at work for 3 weeks in Canada and I really really miss how things are done in the US.

I haven't been to the US, but every person I have met who has been to the US has said good things about patient care in the states. Sure it might be expensive, but it is advanced care. I totally concur with you, as a med student, I have my entire life had doctors who have not been the kind of doctors they teach us to be in medical school. They cut you off, try to rush you, have very long wait lists as well as waiting time lineups etc.

The reason is that in a socialized system, doctors don't have competition anymore, the system undersupplies doctors so that there is no excess supply of physicians. The positive aspect of this is that there is technically less waste, but the negative is that doctors can get away with pretty much anything since they know that if you don't go to them you pretty much have to wait 4 months to see a different specialist.

So all in all, we probably run a cheaper, more equal but less advanced healthcare system than the states.

For all we teach about the doctor-patient relationship being about partnership rather than the doctor being always right, the system in Canada currently encourages the doctor is always right kind of relationship.