Re: Followups

[Helodoc@aol.com]

In a message dated 2/28/01 22:20:47 Eastern Standard Time, BKJRN@aol.com 
writes:

<< Nice to know that there are those out there that place their own motives 
 before the needs of their patients.  I've run into the same type of 
situation 
 not too long ago where I live.  A physician gets mad at a nearby 
institution; 
 therefore, he desires to send his patients elsewhere, further away than that 
 nearby institution.  How juvenile!!  That REALLY solves the problem.  
 
 
 
 In a message dated 2/28/2001 7:22:44 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
PWR109@aol.com 
 writes:
 
 
 
 << As a referring physician who flew a pt to your hospital - and I was told 
 that 
  I could not be given any information regarding my pt - I would be dammed if 
 I 
  sent any more of my patients to your medical center. ( same goes with the 
 EMS 
  agencies I control) -
  
  Please pass this message on to your administrative types
  
  Michael Abernethy, MD, FACEP >> >>
What would Mike's motives be?  Perhaps he feels that unless he gets some sort 
of follow up he has no idea what kind of care his patient received.  But if 
he sends his patient to another facility, he and his EMS service gets 
feedback about their care and know what happened to their patient.  
Physicians refer patients to other physicians for a multitude of reasons, 
some of them having to do with the relationship they have developed.  Very 
few have to do with the "quality of care." In that sense physicians are just 
like everyone else.  If you take a patient to one of the units in your 
hospital you expect some feedback, even if it is just a casual meeting in the 
hall with a "How's Mrs. Smith?"  If the person from that unit replied "None 
of your business." you wouldn't feel too good about things the next time you 
had to take a patient there.  If you had a choice, you might work to send a 
patient to another unit. I think that's where Mike's frustration comes from.

Dave Thomson

David P. Thomson, MS, MD, FACEP
Associate Professor
Emergency Medicine
Upstate Medical University
Syracuse, NY 13210
315.464.6219 voice
315.464.6229 fax

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