Lions and Tigers and Doctors Unionizing, Oh My! Interesting developments in the field of hospital medicine. (Fresenius buys Cogent and Sound hospitalist companies. Is that good?)
I am presently doing locum tenens shifts in a lovely community in Oregon as a hospitalist. (For people not steeped in the lingo, that means I am filling in as a hospital doctor.) I have been to this hospital before and was glad to return when they needed some help. I like this place and noticed on my first go around that patients got good care and that physicians and nurses all seemed to get along pretty well together. When I first worked here, 2 years ago, they had just transitioned away from a national company that organized and provided hospitalist coverage. The company was expensive for the hospital and refused to work with the doctors to allow them to have reasonable work loads. Not having a reasonable work load as a doctor is not just an irritation, it is dangerous. An overworked physician is not available to respond to, or ideally avert, emergencies. Because doctors are primarily over achievers, being unable to provide good care because of being responsible for too many pati...