Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Our patients pay for dumbed down American medicine

Jordan Grumet, MD
Policy
August 4, 2013
Share
Tweet
Share

I guess what is so utterly frustrating is that the guys up there don’t see what is going on down here. The march of health care reform continues with little realization of what it feels like to be one of the tiny peon foot soldiers on the ground. We are not deaf. We hear the politicians and policy wonks. We read as non-clinician “doctors,” ivory towered administrators, and the business and public health degrees tell us how we are being obstinate when we balk at the grand reform being shoved down our throats.

If those darn doctors would just step in line!

Those of us providing care on a daily basis have an alternate perspective. We see the trees from the forest in a very different manner. While the view from a thousand feet may be rosy, on the ground the various and myriad pot holes threaten to cause a rent in the great superhighway of our care giving universe. We see the beginnings of destruction, gridlock.

Are we dumbing down American medicine?

The message and the finger pointing couldn’t be clearer. Physicians are being blamed for overspending, overtreating, and overutilizing. The doctor’s pen has been given mythical status and the great call to silence it echoes throughout the tenor of health care legislation. Yet, there is no acknowledgement that physicians are sandwiched between the needs of the individual and the needs of the community, which are often at odds. Emotionally attached, afraid of legal retribution, and unfaultingly aware of the oaths we took in medical school, we are left to look into each families eyes and proclaim our decisions. No policy wonk has ever been faced with such responsibility.

There is a not so subtle attempt dumb down American medicine. The Affordable Care Act aims to promote less rigorous programs of study to replace those of us who are reticent to fall in line. Alternative medicine is being given in roads to reimbursement at the exact same level as physicians even though such fields lack the evidence based outcomes that are being so thoroughly evaluated in the doctors’ clinical care.

Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are being championed as the next best thing even though many are graduating with slim clinical experience. Residency programs are few and far between. Pharmacy based clinics staffed with new graduates are taking on the herculean task of managing chronic illness with a fraction of the time and commitment.

Are physicians automatons?

There is a pervasive push to destroy deep and independent thinking. The call for health care technology not only attempts to automate our work processes, but to replace our thoughts. People can no longer be trusted with such important tasks. We are trying to graduate from meaningful use to “meaningful cognition.” But, to date, no machine or clinical guideline has ever been able to place a hand on the shoulder of a suffering patient. Only a person can love and care for another person. Destroying the art of medicine will only lead down a false path of buffed numbers but sick and despondent patients.

We heal with our hearts, our minds, and our souls.

Why take the soul out of medicine?

Is data the new work product?

A doctor’s job is now more about filling out forms and clicking clicks than face to face patient evaluation. Even in the last few years, the amount of paperwork has expanded rapidly. Physicians in training spend radically more time in front of computer screens than in patient rooms.

The confusion stems from the idea that good health care is about documentation and less so healing. Meaningful use never saved a life. Medicine reconciliation means nothing if someone hasn’t properly diagnosed and prescribed the right medications in the first place. Good care giving takes slow, deep, and unlabored thinking.

Your average doctor has no time for this anymore. They are too busy doing paperwork.

ADVERTISEMENT

Here on the ground, we are seeing great decline

Our patients are suffering. Physicians are bowing out or becoming concierge. The hospital is now the de facto outpatient clinic: admit and evaluate.

Over and over again, sub-par medicine is now the rule. While we physicians complain, in the end we will be just fine.

Our patients, however, are the ones paying the ultimate price.

Jordan Grumet is an internal medicine physician and founder, CrisisMD.  He blogs at In My Humble Opinion.

Prev

MKSAP: 27-year-old woman is evaluated for a 4-week history of wheals

August 4, 2013 Kevin 0
…
Next

Each patient is still human and deserves to be treated as such

August 4, 2013 Kevin 10
…

Tagged as: Primary Care, Public Health & Policy

Post navigation

< Previous Post
MKSAP: 27-year-old woman is evaluated for a 4-week history of wheals
Next Post >
Each patient is still human and deserves to be treated as such

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Jordan Grumet, MD

  • The man who changed the world with baseball cards

    Jordan Grumet, MD
  • A hospice doctor’s advice on getting your finances in order

    Jordan Grumet, MD
  • A story of persistence in the face of death

    Jordan Grumet, MD

More in Policy

  • How locum tenens work helps physicians and APPs reclaim control

    Brian Sutter
  • Why Medicaid cuts should alarm every doctor

    Ilan Shapiro, MD
  • Why physician voices matter in the fight against anti-LGBTQ+ laws

    BJ Ferguson
  • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

    Carlin Lockwood
  • What Adam Smith would say about America’s for-profit health care

    M. Bennet Broner, PhD
  • The lab behind the lens: Equity begins with diagnosis

    Michael Misialek, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why removing fluoride from water is a public health disaster

      Steven J. Katz, DDS | Conditions
    • When did we start treating our lives like trauma?

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • When the diagnosis is personal: What my mother’s Alzheimer’s taught me about healing

      Pearl Jones, MD | Conditions
    • 2 hours to decide my future: How the SOAP residency match traps future doctors

      Nicolette V. S. Sewall, MD, MPH | Education
    • Why physician voices matter in the fight against anti-LGBTQ+ legislation [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why being a physician mom is harder than anyone admits

      Cynthia Chen-Joea, DO, MPH | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • Bureaucracy over care: How the U.S. health care system lost its way

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • Why we fear being forgotten more than death itself

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • Why recovery after illness demands dignity, not suspicion

      Trisza Leann Ray, DO | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Why physician voices matter in the fight against anti-LGBTQ+ legislation [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The man in seat 11A survived, but why don’t our patients?

      Dr. Vivek Podder | Physician
    • Why gambling addiction is America’s next health crisis

      Safina Adatia, MD | Conditions
    • When did we start treating our lives like trauma?

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • How robotics are reshaping the future of vascular procedures

      David Fischel | Conditions
    • Medicalizing burnout misses the real problem

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 70 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why removing fluoride from water is a public health disaster

      Steven J. Katz, DDS | Conditions
    • When did we start treating our lives like trauma?

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • When the diagnosis is personal: What my mother’s Alzheimer’s taught me about healing

      Pearl Jones, MD | Conditions
    • 2 hours to decide my future: How the SOAP residency match traps future doctors

      Nicolette V. S. Sewall, MD, MPH | Education
    • Why physician voices matter in the fight against anti-LGBTQ+ legislation [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why being a physician mom is harder than anyone admits

      Cynthia Chen-Joea, DO, MPH | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • Bureaucracy over care: How the U.S. health care system lost its way

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • Why we fear being forgotten more than death itself

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • Why recovery after illness demands dignity, not suspicion

      Trisza Leann Ray, DO | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Why physician voices matter in the fight against anti-LGBTQ+ legislation [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The man in seat 11A survived, but why don’t our patients?

      Dr. Vivek Podder | Physician
    • Why gambling addiction is America’s next health crisis

      Safina Adatia, MD | Conditions
    • When did we start treating our lives like trauma?

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • How robotics are reshaping the future of vascular procedures

      David Fischel | Conditions
    • Medicalizing burnout misses the real problem

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Our patients pay for dumbed down American medicine
70 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...