Americuh!

So I've been partaking of a friend's generosity in the form of a shared Netflix account and so far I've been plundering the documentary listings with regularity that would make any senior's bowels go green with envy.

How's that for an opening? I should just quit now.

A couple of these documentaries have depicted the American healthcare system in varying capacities: as the focus of the story, a minor subplot, even a plot device. Now, I really try not to take many solid cues from the media as it just never feels quite right to accept something that has been influenced by many forces before the finished product (and all its missing pieces) gets presented to me. It (media) actually has begun to offend my sensibilities and now I get disgruntled because I can't check source references or know that the story was published objectively by a peer-reviewed entity.  So much communication contains, relies upon, and is sustained by misinformation that it is very difficult to differentiate and I know I'm just beginning to learn.

I digress...

Suffice it to say that, personally, I know the American system and its inner-workings VERY loosely and have no first-hand experience with how it functions; so, if we could keep that disclaimer at the back of our minds, I'll continue.

It breaks my heart.

I wanted to insert profanity here for emphasis but I'll let my yes be yes.

Now the explanation.

I don't understand a lot of things about the US system.  For instance, I don't understand how people have to make a choice between seeing a doctor and paying their rent.  I also don't understand how a family with a paranoid schizophrenic child suffering an acute episode has to first call a customer service wonk from their insurance to see which hospital they're allowed to go to and for how long their child can stay before they will no longer be covered.  I don't get how nurses are (forced?) told to discharge patients who have no coverage or means to pay for treatment.  I don't get how a serious illness or serious trauma can result in the remortgaging of your house or the seizure of your house because you had to use it as collateral for your ballooning hospital bills and now you can't pay because you're sick.  I don't understand how being sick precludes you from receiving coverage that would help you to stop being sick.

I guess overall I don't get how the issue of money runs even with the state of health of the individual.

I come from a far away land where we have different way of doing things and dammit if we don't have our own injustices and problems to work out.  Please don't mistake this for an argument whereby I'm just asking why the US doesn't just do what we do; I mean, they should, but that's rather trite.

I am on my way to becoming a registered nurse in this country and I'm getting somewhat excited to get done with school and get back out working again. My excitement is buoyed by the healthcare system that I will be representing because I know that the number one priority is to be the patient and the health of the people as a whole. However, as I get more and more glimpses into the US system, I have realized that there exists a situation where I would walk away from my profession because I couldn't reconcile my actions with my thoughts.

You get paid as a nurse...

 

...and this is great; but what happens when you don't believe in/agree with the system you represent?  What would you do?

This is what keeps bothering me.  Obviously people raised in the the US will be acclimatized to their healthcare system and some will end up working there as nurses.  No big deal.  But then I keep hearing (constantly) about how Canadian nurses are flocking to the US and the reasons vary slightly but they ALWAYS contain more money. Chalk it up to personality differences but I'd rather sodomize myself daily with a roll of newspaper articles bemoaning Canadian ED wait times than have to look a patient (NOT a client, customer, or guest) in the eye and tell them I could no longer treat them because their coverage had run out and accounts recievable hospital policy says they have to leave.

That's what it comes down to for me.  If being a nurse means prioritizing money ahead of the patient's needs then I'm done....I'm out.

I will be the first to admit that I am naive about a great many things and this goes doubly for nursing.  What I always want and need is a little perspective, a little learnin'.  No better way to do that than asking questions and listening with your mouth closed.  Come at me!