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In another attempt to discredit physicians, USA Today came out with a piece that ran with the headline Kids get correct care from doctors less than half the time. The study was done by the RAND Corporation and published in the NEJM. It looked at 1500 kids and found that the following were the percentage of times that children received the recommended health care for certain illnesses:
Upper respiratory infection 92%
Acne 57%
Fever 51%
Urinary Tract Infection 48%
Asthma 46%
Well-child services 38%
Acute diarrhea 38%
Adolescent preventive 35%
Obviously, doctors in this country are terrible. That is what they are saying, right? Sorry, not buying it. Yes, there are doctors that do too much volume and either don’t do what is recommended or forget to document that they did it. Even so, I still don’t believe this data. Are you telling me that we can’t even treat acne correctly? No way. Expect more of these bogus studies to come as P4P continues to gain momentum which will only create an industry of watchdogs trying to make us look bad.
Upper respiratory infection 92%
Acne 57%
Fever 51%
Urinary Tract Infection 48%
Asthma 46%
Well-child services 38%
Acute diarrhea 38%
Adolescent preventive 35%
Obviously, doctors in this country are terrible. That is what they are saying, right? Sorry, not buying it. Yes, there are doctors that do too much volume and either don’t do what is recommended or forget to document that they did it. Even so, I still don’t believe this data. Are you telling me that we can’t even treat acne correctly? No way. Expect more of these bogus studies to come as P4P continues to gain momentum which will only create an industry of watchdogs trying to make us look bad.
3 comments:
It is truly amazing that we are doing such a poor job. With all of the incorrectly treated fevers, UTIs, and asthma, it would not be surprising if a large number of children grew up with febrile, septic, anoxic brain damage. Oh wait, they did- they now work for the RAND Corporation!!
Oh, for pity's sake. Children are healthier now than ever before-no polio, no diptheria, no pertussis, no h.flu menigitis, not even the mumps/measles/chickenpox/etc most of us went thru as kids. I haven't seen a case of rheumatic fever in 18 years (guess all those "inappropriate antibiotics"), or a case of hemophilus menigitis and have never seen a mastoiditis or a Bright's disease. Send these idiots back 50 years--then they'd see some poor outcomes.
A lot of time the patients don't get the correct care because their mommies don't WANT the correct care. Antibiotics do nothing for viruses, but try telling that to a mother who has spent 2 hours driving to, and waiting to see the doctor. You pretty much need to give them a colsolation prize or they get pissed off and report you to your employer. And of course, the office manager has to support the "customer".
The patients are the problem, not the doctors.
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