You know, when all these Baby Boomer aged health care professionals finally retire, do you believe the next generations will be enough, to 'care' for the Baby Boomers, such a huge generation of people?
Also, do you think that the percentages of young students going into and sticking with nursing is as high as in earlier days?
There are so many other ways to make money, and with all of the cut backs and the unforgiving nature of nursing, do you forsee a big problem with getting adequate numbers of nurses to staff facilities?
I have informally picked by strongest child to be my advocate, I need to make it formal but her understanding is that if I can't request myself then I am a no treat, not just a DNR.
Although I'm in my mid-twenties, if I went into the hospital, I would sign a DNR. Depending on what condition I'd have, I might even refuse treatment and go with comfort care. As for the DNR, I'd rather die suddenly (even painfully) than be resuscitated and have to live the rest of my live with a tube feeding and trach, possibly even in a persistent vegetative state. That is my worst fear, and I think anyone who forces someone to live that way for years should be criminalized.
Although I'm in my mid-twenties, if I went into the hospital, I would sign a DNR. Depending on what condition I'd have, I might even refuse treatment and go with comfort care. As for the DNR, I'd rather die suddenly (even painfully) than be resuscitated and have to live the rest of my live with a tube feeding and trach, possibly even in a persistent vegetative state. That is my worst fear, and I think anyone who forces someone to live that way for years should be criminalized.
You are very wise! Or are like minded which I think is very wise, lol. I did my first "living will" which is what it was called way back when at 23yo. The Karen Ann Quinlan case was a hot topic when I was a child and horrified me to the point that I decided early on quality over quantity was my preference. I still fee the same way, my advanced directive is comfort care only, no antibiotics or tubes but plenty of pain meds so hopefully I won't linger.
I'm sure many more deaths are prolonged by treating UTIs, fluid overload and respiratory complications than any successful resuscitation (how often does that even happen to the chronically ill and/or frail?)
Families aren't likely to stop expecting to treat those symptoms until it becomes seen and voiced by the medical community and society in general as the wrong thing to do.
Historically, people have always made bad choices. It's the human condition.
I think a lot of the current health issues have been exacerbated by the manipulation of our natural world and consumption of those products.
At times, I feel like the culture in some areas is that the baby boomers should just shut up and die (along with the indigent and displaced and minority status).
I am betting that the generations to follow will be a healthcare and societal burden to someone too.
Historically, people have always made bad choices. It's the human condition.
I think a lot of the current health issues have been exacerbated by the manipulation of our natural world and consumption of those products.
At times, I feel like the culture in some areas is that the baby boomers should just shut up and die (along with the indigent and displaced and minority status).
I am betting that the generations to follow will be a healthcare and societal burden to someone too.
Yes, it is a human "nature" to make bad choices. It is not a "nature" of society to support such choices, and the society has only limited responsibility to deal with the results of such choices. The phrase "I just made some poor choices in my life" is not known anywhere outside of the developed world. Everywhere else, it is still jungle's law. Sorry, but so it is.
Boomers (as well as indigent and minorities) receive the same care as everybody else and then even some more of it. 90+% of patients who are in waiting lists for organ transplants are in Medicare/Medicaid - that means, we are paying for these extremely costly surgeries, supportive treatments, chronic life support, etc. At least the good half of the patients in these lists got there because they "made some poor choices" in their lives and now fully expect someone else to pay for that, not mention someone young and healthy to die so that they could continue to enjoy their lives. Whoever comes to ER gets all the help available, however costly or futile before anything else is checked - including displaced, minorities and even illegal immigrants.
I am pretty much sure that the next generation following the Boomers will be even a bigger pickle because it ould be the first one encompassed by several problems, including widespread substance abuse and other chronic therapies (nobody can predict how a human brain would react on 30 - 40 years of artificial limiting of cholesterol synthesis, accounting for the fact that human brain mostly consists from water + cholesterol, for just one example). Those of us who are still in their 30th or 40th can very well avoid the gloom by taking general good care about themselves, following principles of preventive medicine and avoiding those ubiquitous "poor choices" , about which we all know.
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
Boomers (as well as indigent and minorities) receive the same care as everybody else and then even some more of it.
Not always...there are well-known health care disparities that persist among certain groups of people. When I was uninsured, I was treated differently than when I had health coverage.
For instance, my Boomer father is also a nearly indigent member of a racial minority group. He lost his health insurance a couple of months ago after losing a job he worked for 10 years. He is uninsured because he cannot afford COBRA premiums of $1,100 monthly.
He attempted to enroll in a marketplace insurance plan, but was told to apply for Medicaid due to being unemployed. However, he did not qualify for Medicaid due to his small amount of savings.
My father is a type I diabetic with chronic kidney disease and hypertension. He visited a low-income clinic to obtain prescriptions for his medications and was told by the receptionist to "return at 1:00pm." He dutifully returned at 1:00 and was told, "You cannot be seen today. We have too many people here."
My father will eventually receive the works at the taxpayer's dime...once his chronic kidney disease progresses into ESRD requiring dialysis. At that point, he will qualify for Medicare under the ESRD program.
Nonetheless, it would make better sense for the healthcare system (and the person) to keep the disease process from progressing to a costly, miserable point.
The part of the problem is that it is difficult for poorer and poorly/uninsured to get preventive services, but once they develop serious complications, Medicare/Medicaid doors suddenly open much more.
On the other hand, I have to shell $350 every month for the inhaler which, for some unknown reason, works very good for me but it is still officially not approved for asthma, so my (private and otherwise considered to be of the best in the country) insurance plans doesn't cover it and I do not qualify for any type of saving card or other financial assistance because of I am not poor or indigent. On the other hand, my (mostly poor and indigent) patients are given these inhalers and cards right and left, free of charge, for COPD, asthma and sometimes even for nasty cough after flu or CAP. Medicare/Medicaid happily pay for that. Patients often are not happy about it, because in order to use saving card they have to make a couple of phone calls and they are "have no time to do that". They demand me and office staff to do it for them, and get upset when they are told that it won't be done because of PHI protection. And they are not using the inhalers because umeclidinium doesn't play good together with nicotin and they "just want to enjoy their smoke".
After a while of that, they are getting their slip for home oxygen, Boost QID and BiPap and told that their COPD is now considered to be terminal. And they ask always the same question: "I was doing just what everybody else around me did. Yes, I was thinking about quitting smoking, I made a wrong choice that I didn't quit. But what about my lungs now - can they just give me a new one or fix them some other way so I could breathe again?"
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
You know, when all these Baby Boomer aged health care professionals finally retire, do you believe the next generations will be enough, to 'care' for the Baby Boomers, such a huge generation of people?
Also, do you think that the percentages of young students going into and sticking with nursing is as high as in earlier days?
There are so many other ways to make money, and with all of the cut backs and the unforgiving nature of nursing, do you forsee a big problem with getting adequate numbers of nurses to staff facilities?
Young students who go into nursing these days aren't looking to be bedside nurses or to take care of patients. Hopefully that is a trend that will change. As far as people sticking with nursing -- the generation that is just starting nursing now does not need to work in order to eat. Many of them are living with parents who provide the roof over the head, food on the table and hot and cold running wifi. I expect that people who are going to stay in nursing (or any job that they initially "hate" or even "don't like") will be those who have to pay their own bills. I suspect that there will be more of those people in the future.
"Unforgiving nature of nursing"? What's that about?
Boomers (as well as indigent and minorities) receive the same care as everybody else and then even some more of it. 90+% of patients who are in waiting lists for organ transplants are in Medicare/Medicaid - that means, we are paying for these extremely costly surgeries, supportive treatments, chronic life support, etc. At least the good half of the patients in these lists got there because they "made some poor choices" in their lives and now fully expect someone else to pay for that, not mention someone young and healthy to die so that they could continue to enjoy their lives. Whoever comes to ER gets all the help available, however costly or futile before anything else is checked - including displaced, minorities and even illegal immigrants.
Wow. Talk about judgmental. Your post certainly is full of human kindness. Let's make sure we judge other peoples choices too. You are also paying for costly wars and for financial bail outs and your taxes cover lots of other things. Hopefully by the time you need a costly procedure paid for by Medicare you will have learned some humility.
Yes, it is a human "nature" to make bad choices. It is not a "nature" of society to support such choices, and the society has only limited responsibility to deal with the results of such choices. The phrase "I just made some poor choices in my life" is not known anywhere outside of the developed world. Everywhere else, it is still jungle's law. Sorry, but so it is.
I feel sadness for your words. There is something profoundly humane missing from them. You get it but you don't.
Libby1987
3,726 Posts
I have informally picked by strongest child to be my advocate, I need to make it formal but her understanding is that if I can't request myself then I am a no treat, not just a DNR.