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Scott M. Krasner's avatar

I didn't fully appreciate the role of nurses until I was undergoing aggressive cancer treatment. When I had serious reactions to immunotherapy, 8-10 nurses were immediately there, some for the hours it took to stabilize me. I can't really imagine Joe's role in a psychiatric unit with the sheer unpredictability of that patient set. It's unconscionable that Joe and his colleagues are reduced to being a cost to be managed and that patients' well-being of subject to the willingness of hospitals/hospital management to ensure they're cared for so long as it doesn't cost much.

I worked with public insurers as HMOs were being pushed. It was all about throughput (utilization). The trade-off was level of care. And when doctors and nurses got backlogged the patient experience was like being caught in a traffic jam - you couldn't see what started it but boy was it bad.

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