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A nurse as the surgeon general? What will the army think of next?
It makes me think that the skills required of a surgeon general are distinct from the skills required of a physician.
now you might see if it is possible to have a nurse as SG and see what happens......
now you might see if it is possible to have a nurse as SG and see what happens......
A nurse as the surgeon general? What will the army think of next?
Ive recently changed my mind about the wisdom of having nurses as hospital commanders and/or SG. Ill grant that it is not optimal, but the two alternatives are.
1. A physician who has remained in the military only because of clinical incompetence, lack of ambition, or prolonged indentured servitude, and is skilled only at glad-handing his superiors.
2. A nurse who has presumably distinguished herself by some degree of management skill, and has some competition from peers who also want to remain in the military as a career.
In other words, a shameless suck-up vs. a go-getter.
I have rarely encountered a physician at the O-6 or O-7 level who had a strong leadership presence, was respected by his subordinates, or was competent in anything other than making Powerpoint slides and sending out e-mail. Most dont even seem to have basic management skills. In contrast, there are occasional MSC officers who are aggressive and able to get things done.
MSC and NC officers may be know-nothing buffoons when it comes to directly supervising MDs in a clinic, but at higher levels of administration Im not so sure they are any worse than the current crop of physician-administrators.
Most of the O-6, O-7s I've met are great people, competent leaders, and occasionally, good clinicians too
Wow, Desperado, I am so surprised to hear you say that. Our experiences in the AF must be VERY different. My observation is that hard-charging, no-nonsense decision makers who can cut fast and straight never rise to the top of Air Force surgical departments. It's more the go-along, get-along guy who doesn't make any waves that ends up in charge. Sort of 'leadership by default.' I imagine my current commander saying, "Well ****, I'm the only O-6 surgeon who's still in the USAF, so I guess I'm in charge."
And Galo...I've got two words for you: Wright-Pat...Dr. P.M. Could any nurse be worse?
Did anyone read the article in Newsweek about Walter Reed? I understand the idea of inaccurate reporting and media misrepresentation, but it seemed that there are a good deal of unhappy soldiers/veterans who are receiving poor care and being put on waiting lists to get an appointment. So for the people defending Walter Reed, are the interviewed soldiers lying?
Congratulations you Army guys, you've got a new temporary surgeon general. A nurse! Guess it's back to the civil war days when the only qualification to be a battlefield doc was you were good with a hacksaw.
Those who are doing their best to provide care are not going to suffer for this. It's those that have prevented the provision of that care or failed to support it that will be eviscerated--and rightfully so.
.You have no idea. The staff and residents at WR are suffereing greatly
You have no idea. The staff and residents at WR are suffereing greatly. Not directly b/c of the media, but indirectly b/c of the army's typical idiotic responses. I don't have several hours to write all of them down. But one of the major new issues is that we have to admit every patient from OIF/OEF, regardless of whether their were air evac'd out b/c of a sprained ankle from a football game. Then it's impossible to discharge anybody b/c there is a ton of additional paperwork and signatures that have to be completed. So it's turning WR into a hotel. The medicine/ortho/surg/etc residents are being completely screwed b/c instead of seeing cases that are actually educational, they're just baby sitting a bunch of perfectly healthy people who don't even need qshift vitals. The consult services are being screwed b/c they don't have the man power to suddenly be dealing with a large in-patient service (even if the patients are healthy, pages still come 9 times per day). of course the nurses are lovin it b/c they're socializing with all the patients and just having a blast all day long.
They're making everyone an inpatient? And they added an additional sheaf of papers for the already-stretched providers to fill out? No ****? That's their X$@#! solution?
*Deep Breath*
Nooooooooooooo! You fools! Ahhhhhhhhgggghhh!
If everyone will excuse me, I'm going to go beat my head against the wall in solidarity with all the WRAMC residents who are no doubt doing the same.
If there's one thing my time in the military has taught me, it's to over-react to everything inappropriately.
If there's a base anywhere in the world with a fire, you need to run 3 fire drills in a month even during buisness hours while patients are being seen to make sure everyone knows that the stupid parking lot didn't change positions suddenly.
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