One day a few weeks ago, after returning from a set of seven 12 hour shifts in a hospital away from home, my husband convinced me to go to a concert. The group performing was the Deviant Septet , based out of Brooklyn, NY. They were an odd combination of instruments and they played mostly newly composed music. The second piece in their program was by Chris Cerrone and was called "Recovering." I expected nothing, perhaps a nap even, but was completely absorbed by the music which wordlessly represented a magical period that I get to observe regularly but rarely remark upon. Patients come in to the hospital when they are sick, and often getting sicker. They are vulnerable and place themselves in the hands of strangers. Usually they feel terrible. We do things to them to try to make them better. Often we are successful. And then something magical happens. Their faces look brighter. Their vital signs stabilize. Their eyes focus. They make jokes. It's still not over, thou
The cost of health care in the US is higher than anywhere else in the world, and yet we are not healthier than our peer nations. In fact, in terms of such measures as infant mortality and life span, we don't measure up. Why is this? Many people involved in providing or receiving care have some pretty good ideas about what costs so much, and what we can do to reduce costs and improve quality. Sharing these stories is an important step in creating affordable universal health care.