Posts by Brandon Newman95

bluehawk37 said:A pharmacist's job description includes giving advice; if they don't do that, it's their own fault.
Yet, nobody blames them.

Kindness is always extended to a kind patient. But there is nothing in the manual
stating I have to kiss the feet of a patient who is arrogant or rude.
As my namesake colleague would put it: arrogance must be earned. 😁

I don't care about the "who, what, where, or how"—if they're wrong, I'm judging them. Look, if a patient is being an arrogant jerk, that's one thing—but in my own little journey here, I've been nothing but fair and professional with everyone, just like they were with me.
Especially since I'm such a unique medical case myself.

bluehawk37 said:I would personally introduce Russian language and literature, basic shipbuilding, and perhaps logic and reasoning. That would solve everything. Like I said before, there isn't much need for "communication studies." A patient tells me what hurts and what their issue is; I provide a diagnosis, recommend therapy, or refer them out. Why would a kid in med school need communication skills? We aren't running therapy sessions. If a patient is boring or rambles about nonsense, I'll send them to psychiatry or dump them on a colleague. (That was sarcasm). A doctor won't tell you about drug side effects. I certainly wouldn't. That's what pharmacologists are for. Maybe if they swapped communication classes for more pharmacology, it would work. For anything else, go talk to a pharmacist.😁

Look, I'm talking specifically about antidepressants, not every other pill out there. Like, take Zoloft—it doesn't leave me stumbling around the house like a drunk. But what happens when you find yourself caught in this massive psychological-neurological-psychiatric showdown? (Not that anyone actually cares, since everyone seems to be pro-psychiatry anyway 😉). I’d also say—if we're being technical—they should probably be taken on a full stomach, unlike something like Heffterol. And the whole pharmacist thing is such an old story... whenever I’ve asked them anything, they haven't had a clue, unless they're strictly following some script from the doctor they're tied to.
As for "communication studies"—maybe just try being a little more decent to patients.

jadesailor14 said:Unless we're talking about plastic surgery, it’s going to be a tough climb! 😁

That's wonderful! 👍
I honestly doubt they’d actually know what to do with that information if they ever found out! 🤣

I am seriously dying of curiosity here—I just have to know, how much is that actually going to run me?
My daughter would definitely have to pay back more than that if she used it for her PhD, but that's still a long way off! Honestly, the scholarship is such a fantastic opportunity, even though the cost of living over there is absolutely sky-high.
But what about here in the States?

Sent you a PM.

State-funded care + being one of the top students in class.

jadesailor14 said:The first one is seriously chaotic, especially on Fridays when parents are dropping kids off before heading out for the weekend. I’ve actually been there with my own daughter because they couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, so we had standing orders to head straight to the ER the second her fever hit anything over 98.6, no matter the hour. So yeah, I've seen it firsthand!
But honestly, you also get parents who are just in a total panic, and you really have to show some empathy for that.
I've been to the second one a few times, and it wasn't a madhouse at all. The nurses there are great at filtering people—deciding who needs to stay and who can head home—and they don't pull any punches about it (though I haven't officially confirmed that)!
I haven't had much experience with the internal medicine one yet.

As for internal medicine—it really just depends on who you end up seeing. For me, I spent way too much time dealing with weird rashes on my legs caused by nothing more, nothing less, than Neurobion. Everyone was acting shocked, asking why it was making me so irritable and high-strung (if my primary care doctor recognizes me here, I am going to lose it next time I see him).😉

jadesailor14 said:I actually remember hearing about several cases like that back in the 80s; it was almost like there was a plague of those sick birds.
The only good bird is the one you see on a roll of paper towels! 🧐
brrrrrr

Yeah, you're right, a bird in a role is the best. And man, it really was a plague.

Kevin Garcia12 said:@Brandon Newman95
Wait, you're saying it's a virus from a parrot? Are we sure it wasn't actually psittacosis we were dealing with all along?...

It was some kind of atypical viral pneumonia—both my dad and I caught it, but my mom stayed fine. We took the parrot to a vet school somewhere back in '89, and under Dr. Peze-papig, the poor thing died within a few hours. Honestly, I’m a medical freak of nature; none of my illnesses ever follow the textbook rules.
They barely even caught my mononucleosis. If they hadn't transferred me from one hospital in Chicago over to the infectious disease ward—who knows what would've happened.
Then about three years ago, I picked up this weird virus—my GP was the only one who actually dug deep enough to look for those rare neurological issues (you know, the stuff people usually overlook). To this day, nobody has any clue what actually happened to me back then.

Kate Collins67 said:@ jadesailor14

Did the government foot the bill for your K-12 education, or maybe even your college degree? And because they did, are you somehow legally obligated to spend your entire career stuck in public service?
I’m perfectly entitled to feel underpaid and demand a raise—if you actually think you're being compensated fairly, fine, good for you, but I don't. Everyone fights for their own interests, don't they?

Come on then, enlighten me. Give me some actual, concrete examples of other career paths I could take. And please—spare me the vague guesswork and give me specific professions that require longer schooling. Just... please, no more empty clichés about how "we all need to keep learning forever" to justify everything.

Look, the only thing I’ll agree on is that doctors are underpaid. There are plenty of other ways to make money, but I'm not going to get into that on this forum.
It isn't even about the years of school. They should be teaching basic stuff at medical school: how to actually deal with patients, the doctor-patient relationship, how to communicate properly. Because if I ask, "Hey, does this med have side effects?" I expect an actual answer from a doctor. Not some "no, there are no side effects" nonsense—unless they want me stumbling around my house like a drunk. And then, suddenly, someone remembers, "Oh, by the way, this drug has a ton of side effects until your body adjusts, and don't take it on an empty stomach." Great. Just great.
In every profession, people need to learn things—it just depends on the individual.

Kate Collins67 said:Well, newsflash: you *are* just another patient in the queue—what else would you be? To them, everyone is exactly the same.

It’s not about that. I'm someone who expects to actually be seen and heard. I mean, after paying through the nose for all these "miracle" treatments, I should have been hospitalized and sorted out within two weeks—not left dealing with improper care while still trying to recover, which shouldn't even be happening. A lot of this depends on your environment, too.
Take my own situation back in the day—I was in my 80s—I caught this atypical viral pneumonia. Thank God I had an incredible primary care doctor; he actually heard the crackling in my lungs and sent me straight to the Mayo Clinic. They barely even caught it there, and get this: they were practically pulling blood from my ear or something. Then later, my dad caught pneumonia too. My GP was the only one smart enough to ask if we had any pets at home. Yeah, we had a parrot that died right after, and we ended up taking it to the local vet. Turns out, we got our pneumonia from that damn parrot. Atypical viral pneumonia, of all things.
And as for you—if the medical field doesn't satisfy you—well, we all know why people go into it, and I don't think doctors are some special breed of humans. You should've known what you were signing up for and what you'd have to sacrifice.
It's like a baby doesn't ask if it's going to be born tomorrow morning or whatever. It just happens.
Doctors, seriously, come down from your high horses—especially you younger ones.

Angela Wright said:People can be absolute bottom-feeders. And honestly, you can divide them into left, right, or centrist. 😳

I’d strongly suggest any doctors reading this pick up David Servan-Schreiber's "against cancer." He does a killer job describing that gut-punch feeling when you suddenly find yourself crawling into pajamas while still holding a university professorship. I imagine the shock hits you lot even harder than it does us mere mortals. 😳

That's the truth. Even doctors aren't immune to getting sick.

bluehawk37 said:I don't know. I've never seen this distinction between "real" and "fake" doctors. Maybe I should have. Honestly, I don't care. I have your life in my hands, but I have zero interest in your personal drama, inheritance disputes, or whatever other nonsense patients drag into the exam room. I love it when a patient spends twenty minutes talking about their son living overseas instead of telling me what actually hurts—only to tell me after 3,500 tests that they're fine or that I'm looking in the wrong place.

Who said I work in private practice or at a private clinic??

I tell a patient to sit down and calm down, or I let a child in a stroller go ahead of them in line, and they start screaming at me because they've been sitting in the waiting room since dawn. That's about politeness. As for being "informed," forget it. Three out of ten patients are impossible. I tell them exactly what's up: doctors are attacked and reported over nothing, so I personally run ten different tests before I make a call. It's about self-preservation. I don't want to see my name in the headlines tomorrow. It's easier for a patient to call a news station than to call their doctor to ask for an appointment or advice.

I wasn't saying patients shouldn't talk about their history. I meant that a *real* doctor will always look at both the lab results AND the patient (instead of just talking about a son abroad) and then order the right tests. They should ask how someone was acting before a virus hit—like, were they in pain, how were they handling social stuff, or anything regarding their physical constitution, especially if you have bloodwork or pathology results. At the end of the day, private problems can absolutely trigger physical illness. No matter how hard that is for you to wrap your head around.

Second, I never said you were in private practice, but everyone knows those private clinics work hand-in-hand with the big hospitals.

Fine, kids, pregnant women, and people with disabilities get priority. I'm not complaining about that (believe me, I've spent plenty of time waiting in line and shuffling from one doctor to another myself).

I'm not exactly sure where you practice, and I'd rather not find out in case we actually know each other in real life. But seriously, I was treated like a ragdoll for three whole years because my cases weren't processed within two weeks. If they had, it would have saved my primary care doctor a massive headache and a mountain of unnecessary tests that could have been handled in a fortnight.

bluehawk37 said:I need to add my two cents to this.
I didn't spend ten years in medical school and specialized training just to be bullied by patients. You need some level of empathy—it’s non-negotiable—but I expect my patients to show a basic level of decency and composure in return. When someone storms into my clinic, pounding on the door despite the "do not knock" sign, then barges into the exam room screaming about why they received one less box of medication, frankly, I’d rather send them straight to hell. But I stay quiet. A doctor treats the disease; we diagnose, we provide treatment, and we aim to help. The focus is on the pathology, not the person. If I let myself get emotionally attached to every patient who walks through that door, I’d have retired within three years. I diagnose, I assist, I treat. If the outcome isn't what we hoped for, there is nothing more I can do. I gave it my all. The nurse is there for the patient; the doctor is there for the illness and the cure.
It’s honestly refreshing when patients show up at the ER feeling fine, sunburnt in 105-degree heat, demanding I check their blood pressure just because they can. They see the doctor across the street has a shorter line and suddenly I'm the problem. It’s called an Emergency Room for a reason. When you deal with uninformed, rude people who exhaust you with sheer stupidity and then have the nerve to get insulting, you just want to sit down and cry. Spare me the "why didn't you finish college" lectures. People are just jerks. They're disrespectful and think they're geniuses. I'd love to see one of these patients try stepping into a doctor's shoes. When you haven't left the hospital in two days, seeing 130 people pass through those doors daily, eating poorly, skipping sleep, and working without proper equipment, it's a total disaster.

Well, I am not buying that. Real doctors look at both the lab results AND the patient. Because according to you, I'm just another number in a long line and you couldn't care less. And don't even get me started on how private clinics and hospitals play together. As for that last sentence, I only believe the part about being short on equipment. Patients have access to way more information now and they want to know if their lives are actually at risk or not. They want things explained to them. They don't want to be dragged along like a kid on a leash for three years.

Look, I’ll just come out and admit it: I haven't stepped foot in a doctor's office in ten years. There, I said it. Let the judgment commence. Honestly, it was my own damn fault. I should have at least gone in once a year for basic blood work, but I skipped it. Now? Now I'm paying the price for that mistake, dealing with some neurotropic virus that basically dragged me through the ringer for a year and a half because I spent all my time bouncing from one specialist to another.
I'm with Angela Wright on this one. A good doctor really needs to be everything at once—partly your GP, partly your therapist, you know? I actually owe a huge thanks to my primary care doc and his nurse for keeping me sane.
And as for joining the European Union? Don't hold your breath. It's never going to happen. 😉

"I’ve honestly been trying to wrap my head around what you're saying, but this—this is just total garbage.
Please, just for the sake of your own future (and let's be real, you've still got plenty of working years left in you) and the future of the healthcare system you're a part of, just get one thing straight: you treat the patient, not the disease.
And if you actually want to treat a patient, they need to understand what they're suffering from and how they're going to get better. And yeah, that is YOUR job for YOUR patients."

Look, I’m with borna 07 on this, even though she works in the medical field herself. Every doctor needs to look at both the person and the test results. We need a little more humanity among doctors, too. But, I will admit one thing: doctors aren't paid enough. Seriously, construction workers make better money.
I agree with Angela Wright.

Kate Collins67 said:That isn't even the right way to frame it. It’s easy to sit here and play the saint—saying "Oh, I'd give everyone equal treatment"—but let's be real: you can only make those kinds of calls if you're swimming in cash.

Let me flip the script and ask you this: If you were the one making the call, who are you helping? Are you pouring resources into an 87-year-old grandmother battling terminal cancer with only months left to live, or are you helping a 50-year-old who *might* have a heart attack in a few days?
I'm not saying these are the exact scenarios we face every single day, but in my opinion—and this is where it gets ugly—we far too often find ourselves forced into these impossible choices. And when we are, what do we actually choose?

Both—because they both have a right to healthcare. But let's be real... that's just a nice thought on paper.

Honestly, this whole thing smells like bulimia or anorexia to me—or maybe it's something else entirely, like they're on some kind of medication or whatever
Kevin Garcia12 figured out.

Kate Collins67 said:I haven't had the luxury of sitting down to dig through the entire legislative program yet—all I've managed to scrape together from snippets on TV and whatever I've stumbled upon online—so it’s honestly hard to say for sure.

If you want my personal take? I think we actually need fewer state-run public hospitals than we have right now.
In my view, the real priority should be consolidation—bringing people and resources together into more efficient hubs rather than having everything scattered everywhere.
As for the proposal to scrap those supplemental insurance subsidies for about 360,000 people... well, I can see how that would be a logical next step in a restructuring, though I'm not necessarily jumping on the bandwagon for or against it just yet.

I can't shake this nagging feeling that what they're presenting to us is nothing more than a carefully staged show for the public. In reality, there's likely some much heavier, more significant shifts happening behind the scenes—changes that I can't even begin to pinpoint the direction of from where I'm standing.

If anyone caught what Dr. Ostojica-kaz was saying yesterday, he basically said he started building a house and ended up tearing it down to the foundation.
First off, eight of these hospitals are in the metro area, and then there's eight more elsewhere. When you pay for supplemental coverage abroad, you actually get decent extra services and a real shot at quality care. But here? They stay silent about doctors working private practices while also pulling shifts at the hospital.
We're headed straight for strikes, massive "rationalization," and mountains of useless paperwork. Quality of service is going to hit zero.

Casey Palmer5 said:Hey everyone, if you’ve ever struggled with a poorly written term paper where the whole presentation is linked somewhere else... I totally get it. Some of the connections made sense to me, but others? Honestly, they felt completely nonsensical...

Exactly my point.

So, what am I even supposed to say about this "brilliant" new healthcare reform for the hospitals in the city? It’s completely disconnected from reality—just like how T-Portal is reporting it and how they played it on the news. Honestly,
meritas, >, and > were right to be skeptical.

dustymason3 said:Hey everyone!

I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction. I need to get some stuff done ASAP—fast, high quality, and won't break the bank (and since I'm not from the local area, I don't really know my way around):

- chest X-ray
- blood work, specifically liver and kidney function tests???????????

Thanks in advance!!!

You could try Breyer Labs, or just pay up at the Billings clinic over on Kings Street—I think they have walk-in hours for things like blood work and those liver/kidney panels. Otherwise, you might have to head to the ER or one of those infectious disease clinics.