We save lives for less than a dollar a minute. It is true most nurses today are compensated at less than one dollar a minute for their contributions to healthcare. Physicians and mid-level providers are compensated at higher levels but when it comes down those critical seconds and minutes when a life hangs in the balance either from illness or injury healthcare providers as a whole are poorly compensated for what they do.
In today’s society we value many things; some are materialistic while others are not. Most of us value our lives and the lives of our families and friends. When illness and injury befall us or people we know, we turn to healthcare providers to set the tables right once again. Society expects much from healthcare providers today but how do we as society explain the value we place on providers?
Arguably most healthcare providers would relate to the many difficulties of working in the clinical environment today. The demands on one’s time are enormous, the responsibility is nothing short of awesome, and the liability potential is more than real. Healthcare providers at all levels, nurses, advanced practice nurses, physicians, and physician assistants spend each day making life and death decisions, or at the very least make decisions that significantly impact the quality of life of their patients. Many times our decisions as healthcare providers are clinically difficult, ethically complex, and sometimes the lesser of two evils. We make decisions with partial information, we don’t always have the time to do all the research we should or would like to do. The world of medicine doesn’t work that way. Many decisions are time sensitive and seconds count when a life hangs in the balance. This is especially true of those working in emergency departments and other acute care settings. Time is a luxury we often do not have.
The lay public is typically not privy to the behind the scenes of healthcare. Several obtain a skewed impression from primetime television or other such venues that are designed to thrill and entertain. Clearly these are not portraying the true picture of healthcare. For many of the non-medical public their exposure to the ebb and flow of healthcare is limited. It is difficult even in today’s information saturated world to truly appreciate the arena that all healthcare providers work in.
Healthcare providers are held in high esteem by many. Our skills and knowledge and the application of such are typically admired. Generally the vast majority of the populous values our contributions and commitments we make to ensuring and maintaining the health and wellbeing of others.
That being said, I have wondered for some time now why society as a whole devalues those in healthcare so much. If healthcare providers are held in such high regard for their skill and ability to mitigate the sufferings of the human condition why is there such a disparity in value.
Time in healthcare is measured in seconds and in minutes many times. Typically longer periods of time such as the hour, the day, the week etc. have lesser meanings because by the time these extended time periods come to pass, it is too late to moderate many clinical issues. In acute care settings when life threatening events take place we measure time by the seconds and minutes. Much can happen over the course of a minute. A patient can die; suffer irreversible complications of illness or injury, or become permanently disabled.
Providers at all levels are juggling significant patient loads. We care for several people concurrently all the while keeping the details straight in our minds, careful to avoid error. Like I said, people’s lives depend on us. In that being healthy is clearly valued and society expects much from healthcare providers, how is it that we pay a nurse less than a dollar a minute to save a life, a physician a few dollars more, and we pay some guy standing on a mound of dirt chewing tobacco $2000 every time he throws a ball at another a guy hold a stick?
In today’s society we value many things; some are materialistic while others are not. Most of us value our lives and the lives of our families and friends. When illness and injury befall us or people we know, we turn to healthcare providers to set the tables right once again. Society expects much from healthcare providers today but how do we as society explain the value we place on providers?
Arguably most healthcare providers would relate to the many difficulties of working in the clinical environment today. The demands on one’s time are enormous, the responsibility is nothing short of awesome, and the liability potential is more than real. Healthcare providers at all levels, nurses, advanced practice nurses, physicians, and physician assistants spend each day making life and death decisions, or at the very least make decisions that significantly impact the quality of life of their patients. Many times our decisions as healthcare providers are clinically difficult, ethically complex, and sometimes the lesser of two evils. We make decisions with partial information, we don’t always have the time to do all the research we should or would like to do. The world of medicine doesn’t work that way. Many decisions are time sensitive and seconds count when a life hangs in the balance. This is especially true of those working in emergency departments and other acute care settings. Time is a luxury we often do not have.
The lay public is typically not privy to the behind the scenes of healthcare. Several obtain a skewed impression from primetime television or other such venues that are designed to thrill and entertain. Clearly these are not portraying the true picture of healthcare. For many of the non-medical public their exposure to the ebb and flow of healthcare is limited. It is difficult even in today’s information saturated world to truly appreciate the arena that all healthcare providers work in.
Healthcare providers are held in high esteem by many. Our skills and knowledge and the application of such are typically admired. Generally the vast majority of the populous values our contributions and commitments we make to ensuring and maintaining the health and wellbeing of others.
That being said, I have wondered for some time now why society as a whole devalues those in healthcare so much. If healthcare providers are held in such high regard for their skill and ability to mitigate the sufferings of the human condition why is there such a disparity in value.
Time in healthcare is measured in seconds and in minutes many times. Typically longer periods of time such as the hour, the day, the week etc. have lesser meanings because by the time these extended time periods come to pass, it is too late to moderate many clinical issues. In acute care settings when life threatening events take place we measure time by the seconds and minutes. Much can happen over the course of a minute. A patient can die; suffer irreversible complications of illness or injury, or become permanently disabled.
Providers at all levels are juggling significant patient loads. We care for several people concurrently all the while keeping the details straight in our minds, careful to avoid error. Like I said, people’s lives depend on us. In that being healthy is clearly valued and society expects much from healthcare providers, how is it that we pay a nurse less than a dollar a minute to save a life, a physician a few dollars more, and we pay some guy standing on a mound of dirt chewing tobacco $2000 every time he throws a ball at another a guy hold a stick?