Doctors struggle with end-of-life talks

I came across this article from the Texas Tribune talking about Doctors struggle with end-of-life talks .The medical field is always full of interesting stories and things that we as patients have the right to know or get information about. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to tell a family that their loved ones have a certain time to live or that they did not make it after a certain surgery. Doctors face internal and external barriers to start the conversation about it. According to a survey that was done by many doctors, Dr. Ziad Obermeyer states that "These conversations are just insanely difficult, whether in the emergency room or the hospital or the office".

Most physicians work in systems that provide little help, and often don't know what to say or when to say it and that is why they are asking that Medicare begins to paying for end-of-life conversations. Earlier this month, the federal health program for the elderly proposed to start paying physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants to talk with patients about their end-of-life wishes. Details of the plan are expected later this year, with possible adoption next year.

Dr. Anthony Back, co director of the Cambia Palliative Care Center of Excellence at the University of Washington, which is connected with one of the survey's sponsors said, "Doctors should start talking in a general way with patients when they first seek any kind of care." When the patient develops a serious illness, those conversations should resume.

I am pursuing a career in the medical field. Someday I will become the nurse I have always wanted to be. Yes, I do agree that is difficult to talk about the possibility of death or death itself but, as a professional you should already be prepared for this kind of situations. How can they be asking to get paid more for something that is already their job. They should just make training more mandatory or review every other month. I think is more money getting used for nonsense instead of something important like more studies on curing cancer or something in that matter.

MAKE GOSSIPING ILLEGAL

The title of this article made me read the post that Around us wrote about a patient that records her surgeon because of the way she was treated before her surgery and led her to want to record him during her surgery and after. Ethel Easter found out that they had made negative remarks about her and her body.

First of all, how did she get a recorder in her hair? Don't nurses or the people that prepare the patients for surgery could of noticed? Regardless, I probably had done the same. But would of failed because I have short hair. Anyways, in continuation with the article, I think yes it was wrong of the doctors and staff to be talking about her to start with. That is not professional specially in the medical field. He did mentioned that the patient was being difficult about her surgery getting moved to sooner but she was not getting her way at first. She did filed a complaint with the hospital but the hospital responded by not taking further actions with the situation. It is disappointing how this system works. The patient was embarrassed and I could imagine what she was feeling while listening to the conversation. The doctors got nothing and there goes making it okay to talk about someone else.

Yes I agree with Mr. Kim on having Texas enhance their protective law but also patients should not take advantage also. Ethel was in the wrong for forcing her surgery sooner and eventually got the doctors upset because there are other people that have to wait to get something done even if they are in pain. I am not taking the doctors' side but we have all been patients in some point. Some respect the situation some don't. It really doesn't matter what it said as long as you got the procedure done and never see them again. She is not the first one to be talked about and won't be the last. Everyone has done it at some point. My question is, Isn't it illegal to record someone without their consent? Those doctors could of been talking about something important that the patient shouldn't be listening to. I guess every law is different.

Go Back to Paper and Pencil!

So, last week Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath told the State Board of Education that there was technical issues that caused public school students to lose their answers on a state standardized exams, (STAAR) more than 14,000 computerized tests were lost. Most of those tests were taken by special education students. Really sad right?
I know technology is advancing but make sure it's working properly. First of all, testing is stressful as it is to everyone in school. Why test us at our level.

The Texas Education Agency later confirmed that school districts across the state had reported that students' previously selected responses on online tests had disappeared after they logged out or either voluntarily due to 30 minutes of inactivity or lost of internet connection. That should not be the case. Go back to paper and pencil and all records should be safe. These days we have to be careful what we write or what we save because it is never guaranteed. Of the 14,220 affected exams, 8,778 were STAAR A, which was given to special education students. The rest were regular STAAR L exams, which were given to English language learners.

It is "simply unacceptable". Kids in the classroom should never suffer from mistakes made from the adults." The state left the decision of whether to retest the affected students. If the problem isn't solved by May, the state would reconsider its contract with Educational Testing Services, the New Jersey-based company that they picked last year to develop and administer the state-required exams.

I am a parent and I will be furious if my child had to retake the state that they studied hard for. I would petition for the people that take care of administer the exams to take the test for them. Why do our children have to suffer? What if they did great the first time and do worst the second time because the stress. Not fair.