As I said.....
I think the way to fix these issues is to expand the hours of urgent care to 0600-2200 and then put an urgent care center right next to the ER. Patients could be triaged and sent right over to urgent care and told to wait if need be for opening hours.
I don't defend irresponsible behavior but as I said being judgemental closes the door to influencing better choices. Its the old you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar approach...
The other part of this is that we need to provide culturally competent care to our patients.
Culturally competent care requires a commitment from doctors and other caregivers to understand and be responsive to the different attitudes, values, verbal cues, and body language that people look for in a doctor's office by virtue of their heritage. The concept of tailoring health care isn't a new one; we already have medical specialties based on age and gender. Cultural sensitivity is one more dimension of that kind of refinement.
Cultural competence does not require that patients be treated by using the same methods used in their country of origin. However, cultural competency does create a compelling case for understanding the different ways patients act in a clinical setting and for communicating with patients to ensure the best possible clinical outcome.
http://xnet.kp.org/permanentejournal...competent.html
Mow to bring this back on track.....
The article speaks to the perverse incentives attached to our current system......
How are we going to make insurers compete to give us the best care?
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