Published Sep 25, 2008
pagandeva2000, LPN
7,984 Posts
I am not a master of economics, but it seems that this situation is really, really huge. How do you all think this can affect our role in healthcare?
RN1982
3,362 Posts
I hope it won't or I'll be totally screwed.
These companies need to look at all of their executives that make more than 10 million bucks a year and everyone else suffers. No exec needs that amount of money.
AWanderingMinstral
358 Posts
Economic policy isn't my area of expertise either, but, according to an article in this week's WSJ, Americans, as a result of challenging economic times, are making less trips to the doctor's office. As a result, I imagine we'll be seeing fewer patients. At the same, my unit's census is high even on Sunday evenings (when, six to nine months ago, we were only typically 60% full).
ohmeowzer RN, RN
2,306 Posts
it hasn't effected our hospital yet.. i just got my raise , actually for both my jobs i recieved good raises..
if it does effect the hospitals i'm screwed just like michigan RN...
hypocaffeinemia, BSN, RN
1,381 Posts
If offices see less patients, it is only expected that when conditions worsen they will fill the censuses in acute care facilities.
Even if nobody's paying for them.
I personally find it ironic how the conservatives beat the drum that socialized medicine is bad, while socializing our banks and financial institutions.
I am hearing that some of the off site clinics from our sister hospital may be closing down. This is not directly related to Wall Street, as this was in the works from June of this year, but it makes me think really hard about the future of nursing at this point in time. Our pensions are caught up in this, for example. Then, the rise in health care costs, make me think about the benefits...will they still exist? More patients coming in with stress and needing antidepressants, more ETOH abuse, less people able to pay for their visits, which may lead to layoffs. We are a city hospital that takes people whether they can pay or not. What happens if Medicaid just can't do it anymore? I hear they will be reducing interpetator services, making it harder to communicate with and assess non-English speaking patients (we have PLENTY of those), who knows?
Some of the off sites are already borrowing copy paper and pens from neighborhood banks. Sheesh!
If offices see less patients, it is only expected that when conditions worsen they will fill the censuses in acute care facilities. Even if nobody's paying for them. I personally find it ironic how the conservatives beat the drum that socialized medicine is bad, while socializing our banks and financial institutions.
This is the issue our hospital will be facing. We are a city hospital where the majority of our patients are either Medicaid or are self pay- and many of them pay as low as $20 for a doctor's visit and $2 for medications. We can no longer fill prescriptions in our pharmacy for patients that have outside insurance-we are now referring them to outside pharmacies. There are rumors of really cutting overtime, and they are really cracking hard on attendence issues at this point, because of the overusage of agency staff to replace us.
Medic2RN, BSN, RN, EMT-P
1,576 Posts
Perhaps only the Washington conservatives do.....
SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN
10,263 Posts
Pagandeva, you're seeing the effects of an already well under way recession - rising unemployment, vastly increased fuel and energy cost, lower profits, all equal less income via taxes, which are what fund your hospitals and clinics.
The stock market crash is just the tail end of this. And there'll be more coming.
I guess I made the right decision to gain as much experience in different areas as possible, in case I have to make a move. You never know...
icyounurse, BSN, RN
385 Posts
Yeah, everyone needs to take personal responsibility............except millionaire/billionaire CEO's I guess. No personal accountability there. What hypocrisy:rolleyes: