So when all employees in this country have to be female 20 to 30 year olds and weight 125lbs with blonde hair and blue eyes cause it's apealin to the person doing the hiring and it looks professional. Your good with that?
However, I really miss that my Dr's appt's aren't just between the two of us and his actions are now dictated by actuarial tables and ever-changing rules and regulations, and decisions by numbers instead of by individual circumstances.
Insurance companies are having a big impact on practice: dwindling reimbursements means less time with patients, outcome measures mean less individualized care, more prior auths mean more difficulty getting appropriate tests done and meds prescribed, higher deductibles mean more out of pocket costs and less compliance/adherence, etc
"In 1960, when I came out of prison as an ex-convict, I had more freedom under parolee supervision than there's available to an average citizen in America right now... God almighty, what have we done to each other?" ~ Merle Haggard, an American country singer
The youth doesn't know what freedom means. They are too accustomed to being bound to know the difference.
Coming from a military family freedom can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. I know in the Kurdish camps freedom means having their own country and not being suppressed from Sunnis or Shiites. For me freedom means I can say what I want to say baring harmful things like I am going to end your life...threats or for that matter yelling out in a crowd fire when there is none...those kinds of things that stupid people do. Additionally freedom means I can live anywhere I want in the United States and have any weapon I want to protect my family and property. To my friend who is working in Rwanda freedom to them at this time means being able to walk to the well to get water safely. When my kids were teenagers freedom to them meant the ability to go out when they got their drivers license.
Freedom comes with responsibility and responsibility come with restrictions. It is a matter of perspective. I personally like a happy medium. I am not opposed to harsher background checks for my weapons however there is a limit to what I will feel is appropriate (safety classes and background checks are OK to me) I think we need to pick our battles carefully and lean towards a more simple way of thinking. We will not please everyone and if I did I seriously think I did something wrong.
What I an finding is this...
We can go down the slippery slope of no smoking, no hiring obese people, no hiring members of the skin heads, no hiring member that are LGBT, hiring females at a rate 30 percent less...we all have choices I do not care about your smoking as long as I do not have to walk through the smoke on my into the front door, I do not care about your weight unless it is interfering with our working together you cannot do your job, I do not care if you choose to be a skin head as long as you do not talk about what your activities are at work and your treatment of everyone is the same respectful manner, I do not care about who you like male/female/transgender/pansexual it is none of my business unless you make it my business and sue me because I will not make a cake for you (just take your business somewhere else and give them a bad review), and me being a female I can negotiate with the best of them to get the best pay I can.
Business has a right to place criteria in their work environment, we live in a capital world if you do not like it just do not go to that business take your dollars elsewhere, I do. Health Insurance companies do have some blanket policies. Most commercial Insurance companies serve the business, it is the company you work for that determines what kind of benefits they want to give their employees. Insurance companies do not pocket the monies when they do not pay out that money goes back to the company you work for.
We have gone down a many slippery slopes the past 20 years and things keep changing. It is not just corporate greed it is too many divided people who will not meet others half way. Change, real change occurs when diverse people both liberal and conservative band together for a simple common cause/ideal in a manner that is respectful to both sides, no drama just pure willingness to operate together. What spoils the atmosphere is the inability to work together for a common cause despite differences.
I remember the more innocent days of bring your license, show up and work that day. Now it is fingerprints, a 3 month long background checks and urine screens.
My mentor told me about a doctor that she met recently. When he was in high school he used to just put on scrubs and walk into Parkland ER and pass as an intern. He would do grunt work and stitches even. Can you imagine!?!?
I just read the headline on a newspaper in the doctor's office today. It seems some employers in California/Colorado are relaxing the 'no THC' rules due to a scarce number of eligible workers. I guess the point being when a requirement starts to become a nuisance to a business more than a help, then prospective employers will change it.
We don't sacrifice "all personal freedom" when we enter health care. We voluntarily choose to enter a profession in which we are responsible for other people's lives -- knowing that there will be some restrictions on our behavior in order to be worthy of the public's trust. There is a difference.
The employer is free to establish the standards for their staff. If you don't want to meet those standards, you are free to work somewhere else.
So you are saying that piece of nicotine gum in my cheek will somehow compromise my ability to practice in a safe fashion?
I'm a proud Veteran and nurse also. I'm also a long-time smoker who is quitting (vaping now). Anyway, you still have the right of personal choice. You can smoke all you want. It's a free country. We fought to keep it that way. However, the employer still has some rights also. Statistically a non-smoker; costs less to insure, takes less days off, takes less breaks causing less dissention in the workplace, is more likely to be a credible role-model both for patients and new nurses....
If an employer has to choose between hiring a smoking nurse and a non-smoking nurse its a no brainer. You ain't getting hired. Its money and its business. Welcome to the 21st Century. You have a right to do whatever you want. They have a right to make sound business decisions
I think it goes a little deeper than "business", as OP has stated.
It's not nearly as free a country as it was even when I was growing up, let alone, for example, some older people I know of who lied about their age and went to work before age 16 because their families were HUNGRY. They had no SS card or number, such did not yet exist. Now, that slave number follows you from cradle to grave.
Pee tests, hair clippings to check for drugs and nicotine, fingerprints - used to be you could start work upon hire if you had a uniform with you.
No, we are not nearly as free as you might think. Cameras everywhere, thumbprints, retinal scans. Who thinks all of this is good? Yes, some good comes of it and yes, some safeguards are necessary. But how did we get by without all of these things?
It could be worse. I've never been drug tested for a Federally legal substance at any of my jobs and I have never been randomly tested either. Regarding immunizations, they let us wear a mask if we don't get the flu shot. I had a reaction so couldn't get mine, had to wear a mask. The salary I make with the insurance benefits outweighs these minor inconveniences for me. A lot of it is about economics. I think people in general have gotten used to privacies being stripped away, facebook sharing our data for example. It's just a small piece of a larger problem not limited to the healthcare industry. It's good to notice these things and not get bogged down in despair, find a way to channel your voice to make positive changes.
We voluntarily choose to enter a profession in which we are responsible for other people's lives -- knowing that there will be some restrictions on our behavior ...
I respectfully agree and disagree with this.
I completely understand a nurse "under the influence" (... but of what, alcohol? Caffeine? Weed? Sleep loss? Stress?) being reviewed and possibly terminated or, preferably, offered professional assistance through recovery programs.
However, these days things like marijuana are being seen for how little danger they pose, while smoking and alcohol are killing people left and right. We still let nurses and physicians drink, but not smoke, and DEFINITELY no marijuana (but it is the safest choice of all of those).
I think healthcare employers (all employers in general) need to get out of employees home and personal lives, as long as their choices do not bring issue to the workplace. If a nurse drinks or smokes marijuana (or even cigarettes) at home, I think employers should have zero say in this behavior. I am not theirs while I am off the clock, and am not being paid for my off the clock time. This is actually a slippery slope.
This is a very blurry area but employers definitely need to stay out of the personal lives of their employees. If the person comes to work and functions at 100 percent, leave them the heck alone.
Edit: I DO think people who partake in known deadly behaviors like drinking or smoking, or eating unhealthy, should pay more for their health insurance, but that's another topic.
What everyone is missing here is it's the insurance companies and the government that dictates all health care. From mandatory flu shots to insurance companies passing edits down on all healthcare and there employees. Nothing but corporate greed and a bunch of upper admin like the 1st replier to this post that tow the company line with some liberal propaganda while showing the homeless from the waiting room back into the street.
Get out of here with the politics. Im liberal and agree with you. So knock it off with the liberal crap.
I agree that a lot of employers stick their noses too far into our business. It shouldn't matter to them what we do in our spare time. But it does, and that's the system we work in, so it's best to "go along to get along". At least it's not like it was in my grandmother's day, when nurses could not be married and were only allowed to see "gentleman callers" once a week for a couple of hours (chaperoned, of course). They were expected to attend church on Sundays, and they were not allowed to smoke or drink or do anything unbecoming a person of high moral character, which of course nurses were supposed to be. So it could be worse!
I am just wondering but as a veteran who fought for his country. Then went to college to become a nurse. How does everyone feel about the loss of personal freedom in healthcare. Hospitals that test for legal substances in the blood (i.e. nicotine) and deny employment. Even in states that workers are protected because hospitals are " non profit" even though we all know they are for profit as you can get cause your CEO drives a jaguar. Denying employment to workers they consider obese and overweight. What are we going to do as Americans and Nurses when they test us for artificial flavorings and sugar products and deny employment. This trend will not stop. The slippery slope has begun.
Insurance companies are having a big impact on practice: dwindling reimbursements means less time with patients, outcome measures mean less individualized care, more prior auths mean more difficulty getting appropriate tests done and meds prescribed, higher deductibles mean more out of pocket costs and less compliance/adherence, etc
And get off my lawn!
Correct.
"In 1960, when I came out of prison as an ex-convict, I had more freedom under parolee supervision than there's available to an average citizen in America right now... God almighty, what have we done to each other?" ~ Merle Haggard, an American country singer
The youth doesn't know what freedom means. They are too accustomed to being bound to know the difference.
Coming from a military family freedom can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. I know in the Kurdish camps freedom means having their own country and not being suppressed from Sunnis or Shiites. For me freedom means I can say what I want to say baring harmful things like I am going to end your life...threats or for that matter yelling out in a crowd fire when there is none...those kinds of things that stupid people do. Additionally freedom means I can live anywhere I want in the United States and have any weapon I want to protect my family and property. To my friend who is working in Rwanda freedom to them at this time means being able to walk to the well to get water safely. When my kids were teenagers freedom to them meant the ability to go out when they got their drivers license.
Freedom comes with responsibility and responsibility come with restrictions. It is a matter of perspective. I personally like a happy medium. I am not opposed to harsher background checks for my weapons however there is a limit to what I will feel is appropriate (safety classes and background checks are OK to me) I think we need to pick our battles carefully and lean towards a more simple way of thinking. We will not please everyone and if I did I seriously think I did something wrong.
What I an finding is this...
We can go down the slippery slope of no smoking, no hiring obese people, no hiring members of the skin heads, no hiring member that are LGBT, hiring females at a rate 30 percent less...we all have choices I do not care about your smoking as long as I do not have to walk through the smoke on my into the front door, I do not care about your weight unless it is interfering with our working together you cannot do your job, I do not care if you choose to be a skin head as long as you do not talk about what your activities are at work and your treatment of everyone is the same respectful manner, I do not care about who you like male/female/transgender/pansexual it is none of my business unless you make it my business and sue me because I will not make a cake for you (just take your business somewhere else and give them a bad review), and me being a female I can negotiate with the best of them to get the best pay I can.
Business has a right to place criteria in their work environment, we live in a capital world if you do not like it just do not go to that business take your dollars elsewhere, I do. Health Insurance companies do have some blanket policies. Most commercial Insurance companies serve the business, it is the company you work for that determines what kind of benefits they want to give their employees. Insurance companies do not pocket the monies when they do not pay out that money goes back to the company you work for.
We have gone down a many slippery slopes the past 20 years and things keep changing. It is not just corporate greed it is too many divided people who will not meet others half way. Change, real change occurs when diverse people both liberal and conservative band together for a simple common cause/ideal in a manner that is respectful to both sides, no drama just pure willingness to operate together. What spoils the atmosphere is the inability to work together for a common cause despite differences.
I just read the headline on a newspaper in the doctor's office today. It seems some employers in California/Colorado are relaxing the 'no THC' rules due to a scarce number of eligible workers. I guess the point being when a requirement starts to become a nuisance to a business more than a help, then prospective employers will change it.
Being employed is lack of personal freedom. They pay us, they own us.
By the way... A jaguar is a piece of junk.
It's not nearly as free a country as it was even when I was growing up, let alone, for example, some older people I know of who lied about their age and went to work before age 16 because their families were HUNGRY. They had no SS card or number, such did not yet exist. Now, that slave number follows you from cradle to grave.
Pee tests, hair clippings to check for drugs and nicotine, fingerprints - used to be you could start work upon hire if you had a uniform with you.
No, we are not nearly as free as you might think. Cameras everywhere, thumbprints, retinal scans. Who thinks all of this is good? Yes, some good comes of it and yes, some safeguards are necessary. But how did we get by without all of these things?
It could be worse. I've never been drug tested for a Federally legal substance at any of my jobs and I have never been randomly tested either. Regarding immunizations, they let us wear a mask if we don't get the flu shot. I had a reaction so couldn't get mine, had to wear a mask. The salary I make with the insurance benefits outweighs these minor inconveniences for me. A lot of it is about economics. I think people in general have gotten used to privacies being stripped away, facebook sharing our data for example. It's just a small piece of a larger problem not limited to the healthcare industry. It's good to notice these things and not get bogged down in despair, find a way to channel your voice to make positive changes.
I completely understand a nurse "under the influence" (... but of what, alcohol? Caffeine? Weed? Sleep loss? Stress?) being reviewed and possibly terminated or, preferably, offered professional assistance through recovery programs.
However, these days things like marijuana are being seen for how little danger they pose, while smoking and alcohol are killing people left and right. We still let nurses and physicians drink, but not smoke, and DEFINITELY no marijuana (but it is the safest choice of all of those).
I think healthcare employers (all employers in general) need to get out of employees home and personal lives, as long as their choices do not bring issue to the workplace. If a nurse drinks or smokes marijuana (or even cigarettes) at home, I think employers should have zero say in this behavior. I am not theirs while I am off the clock, and am not being paid for my off the clock time. This is actually a slippery slope.
This is a very blurry area but employers definitely need to stay out of the personal lives of their employees. If the person comes to work and functions at 100 percent, leave them the heck alone.
Edit: I DO think people who partake in known deadly behaviors like drinking or smoking, or eating unhealthy, should pay more for their health insurance, but that's another topic.
I agree that a lot of employers stick their noses too far into our business. It shouldn't matter to them what we do in our spare time. But it does, and that's the system we work in, so it's best to "go along to get along". At least it's not like it was in my grandmother's day, when nurses could not be married and were only allowed to see "gentleman callers" once a week for a couple of hours (chaperoned, of course). They were expected to attend church on Sundays, and they were not allowed to smoke or drink or do anything unbecoming a person of high moral character, which of course nurses were supposed to be. So it could be worse!
I am just wondering but as a veteran who fought for his country. Then went to college to become a nurse. How does everyone feel about the loss of personal freedom in healthcare. Hospitals that test for legal substances in the blood (i.e. nicotine) and deny employment. Even in states that workers are protected because hospitals are " non profit" even though we all know they are for profit as you can get cause your CEO drives a jaguar. Denying employment to workers they consider obese and overweight. What are we going to do as Americans and Nurses when they test us for artificial flavorings and sugar products and deny employment. This trend will not stop. The slippery slope has begun.