I read a very interesting article titled Who Will Heal the Healers? in which Patricia Wilbe talks about her own experience being a MD and coming from the world of HMO’s (health-maintenance organizations, think Kaiser, or a big, bureaucratic hospital) and switching to running and working at a community wellness center after burning out. In a study done with 12,ooo US primary care physicians, 75% said they were “overworked and overextended”. Instead of seeing the patients for 5 minutes, Wilbe now gets to spend as much time as she needs to talk with the patient and really get to know them and their history. Something I feel that is very important is she now not only hears about their health history, but their life history, events that could of made an impact on their current health. As we know, traumatic events affect us physically.
My dream is to see many wellness or integrative centers in all of the cities and towns in our country. This way, if something is wrong, people can go see the MD’s and holistic health educators, who have more time to see them and to really get to the heart of the problem. If surgeries or other intensive procedures are needed then the patient can go to the hosptials where it won’t be as over crowded and rushed.
The thought of all these well intended doctors running around, overworked and unsatisfied breaks my heart. I know that they entered into this profession because they wanted to make a different in people’s lives, but I don’t think they have to do that while sacrificing their own health. And, unfortunately, the way things are going, with so much demand and not even education about prevention, I’m not sure the majority of people are getting the health care they truly need.
Article is from The Sun, November 2009
I completely 100% agree with you.
What you’re proposing would make for a much better health care system all around.
I’m so glad you posted this!!