Is there an American Doctor in the house?

[Teakafrog]

I am a nurse. I have worked with doctors from many different areas. Most of them try very hard to speak so that they can be understood. They realize it is literally life and death that we know what they are telling us to do.

But there are a few that don’t even try. If you ask them to repeat what they said, they get angry and curse and then speak even faster and more incomprehensibly. They treat you like you are stupid. But the thing is, none of the nurses can understand them. It’s not just me. We also have pharmacists call and ask us what they said, because they can’t understand them either.

That is very very dangerous. Many medications have similar names, but do vastly different things to the body. If someone misunderstands an order and gives the wrong drug, someone could die.

Again, most are very concerned and try to speak clearly, as they should. If I decided to move to, say, France to be a nurse, and I spoke very little French, I know that I would feel extremely unsafe. I would do everything in my power to learn the language BEFORE I even moved there, and would continually try to correct my speech by taking classes or working with someone while I was there, until I was sure I was being understood correctly all. the. time. Why don’t more people think like that? Why do they think that everyone else there should have to learn their language to be able to communicate?

It’s not about racism, it’s about a choice people make to move to a place where they obviously don’t speak the language, and then make no effort to try to learn it. Again, I know I would never decide to up and move to China, knowing that I don’t speak a word of Chinese. I would not expect everyone there to bend over backwards to learn how to speak English just to understand me. It’s about the sense of entitlement people have. I find it terribly rude.

 

[DailyBread]

One thing to also consider is that many of these doctors are coming over from situations in their countries where they get little in return for their services… also we do have a shortage of med schools here in America… and consider the fact that acceptance rates are hovering around 10-15 percent even as you have many applicants…
Another thing is that with rising costs of health care, more time being spent with beauracracy of Insurance companies, and lower pay, higher debt coming out of med school, and higher malpractice insurance, medicine is less appealing to some (I have heard that some doctors discourage their children from going into medicine), and we have a crisis in this country with not enough nurses or general practicioners (because they get least compensated of all). Some doctors have had to stop practicing because they cannot afford the malpractice insurance especially ob/gyns and hospitals have had to shut down maternity wards (esp if they have many on medicare because the hospital loses money).
Basically the whole system needs reform and I am not saying in favor of the doctors making tons, but such a way to make it more affordable for patients, better return for docs esp gp’s, lower malpractice insurance, and basically stop the for profit Insurance companies from making a a fortune while denying health care for many.