Health Care - Research Paper Example

Interview with a Physician Q. I am especially glad to hold this interview with you Dr. Kosimbei Raymond. As you well know, many bright children and students desire to pursue a career in the medical field. Kindly begin by telling me what your profession entails. Dr. Raymond: I am a primary physician at the St. Mary’s Hospital Illinois. I have been practicing as a primary medic for seventeen years now. Primary medicine is arguably the most expansive field of medicine. It involves diagnosing and treating basic ailments such a flu, sanitation diseases and pest-born ailments. It is mainly outpatient, involving very minimal surgery. I, however, do delivery surgeries for mothers. My profession also entails research into cures of killer diseases such a smallpox, measles, malaria and yellow fever. While these diseases may not be an issue to the United States, millions of people, especially children, die in Africa from these ailments. Q. What do you particularly love about your profession? Dr. Raymond: Being a physician is very self- actualizing. Every day I encounter new challenges and interesting clients. I also love the financial incentive that comes along with being a physician. In addition, it draws much respect and attention from the society; I often find myself in many decisive committees which are not necessarily medical. I also enjoy the research aspect a lot. Medical researches are the backbone of the lifesaving role of medics. We are currently working on a vaccine and cure for HIV/AIDS. It is the best part of my profession. I dedicate at least 20 hours every week to medical research. Q. Does being a physician have serious disadvantages? Better put, what do you dislike about being a physician? Dr. Raymond: The major disadvantage is that sometimes, a physician has to watch a patient die in their hands. It becomes very traumatizing, especially when it is a child. No matter how much I try to get over it, it keeps flashing back until it fades away after a long time. Second is the work schedule; I have an almost random work schedule. One can be called upon to attend to duty at any time of the night. Besides, I have to get up very early and be at the hospital at dawn each day. This does not do my social life any good. I often find that I have lost touch with my family and college friends. While high social status may be seen as an advantage, it can also be a disadvantage. The society seems to always expect too much from physicians. As such, you live a facade for most of your life and may not even realize it. Q. You have mentioned random work schedules. Do you have typical work days? If yes, what is your typical day like? Dr. Raymond: I do have typical days. Most often, I get to the hospital at 6am and leave at 9pm. That means I wake up earlier and sleep later than the mentioned office work hours. On a typical day, I wake up at 3am. After a 30 minute session of morning devotion with my Maker, I get busy with my books. As a medic, reading, continuous reading for that matter is a going concern. Physicians must constantly read to ensure they are competent for new challenges that arise every day. I get to the office at 6am and begin by briefing my crew on the health statistics of the previous day and the pending cases of that day. On average, I diagnose and treat about fifty patients per day. Q. How did you get to become a physician? Dr. Raymond: Health science is a passion of the heart for me. I chose to do medicine at the age of eleven. I was involved in a gruesome car accident in which I was the lone survivor. In the hospital, my attendant doctor, Dr. Evelyn, inspired me to become a physician. To be a physician, one must of course be very good in both their high school and medical school studies. Q. What challenges face the health industry and how can they be addressed? Dr. Raymond: One main challenge in today’s health industry is health insurance. A good number of health centers are not able to claim with success reimbursement of expenses incurred on patients from insurers. The health insurance industry indeed requires regulation and should be harmonized with health providers so that the claim and settlement are seamless. The cost of professional indemnity in the medical field is very expensive. Insurers often require that the premium be a certain percentage of one’s gross income, which reduces physicians’ disposable income. Q. Should you have free time, how do you like to spend it? Dr. Raymond: I do have free time, though not in plenty. I spend most of my free time with my family playing football, chess, swimming or simply sitting at home. I also mentor the youth into prudent individuals. Interview with a cancer survivor Q. I am genuinely grateful Mr. Luis for according me a personal interview with you. I hope that our deliberations will leave both of us equally satiated. How does it feel to survive skin cancer? Mr. Luis: It feels extremely good and lucky to survive skin cancer. How I came about a true cure is still a puzzle to me. I also feel charged and motivated to help save others survive the silent killer. Q. How do you think you got skin cancer? Mr. Luis: Contracting skin cancer is a mystery to both the victims and the physicians. The skin is of course the most vulnerable organ to physical, environmental and pathogenic attacks. As to whether it is genetic is highly debatable, unless my parents were carriers, which isn’t the case so far. Personally, I call it bad luck. Q. Tell me something about the diagnosis and treatment of your condition. Mr. Luis: In the year 2000, I realized my skin was developing inexplicable sores and pimples. Some pimples got big and developed into lumps on the skin. Some parts of my skin also grew particularly dark. That year, I visited my dermatologist every two weeks without improvement at all (Marks 608). The big shocker came in 2002 when I got a serious wound on the calve of my left leg. That wound persisted for six months even under antiseptics and antibiotics and injections too. That sent me the red signal; I knew there was a problem. A little research told me I had either diabetes mellitus or skin cancer. Given the lumps and dark patches on my skin, I knew it was skin cancer. Q. It sounds like a long search! Mr. Luis: It indeed was a long search, especially because I could not come to terms with my now evident condition. I visited the Illinois Cancer Center in October 2002 where my fears were confirmed. I was diagnosed with skin cancer and treatment began (Marks 610). The treatment process almost kills you first then resurrects you! It involves much anesthesia, chemical and radiotherapies and even plastic surgery. The processes are carried out iteratively until the physicians recover the normalcy of your skin. It took me three years to be declared skin-fit. In December 2005, I was discharged from the medical facility. I was, however, placed under close watch for the next two years to ensure normalcy had resumed. Q. Do you imply that, for three straight years, you were bedridden? Mr. Luis: Not exactly. I only wasn’t in a proper medical condition to leave the Illinois Cancer Center. So my compound became confined to the walls of the hospital. During the treatment, it was very painful to sun bask; I felt like the sun used to pierce through my skin into the flesh! Q. What was the experience as when you left the hospital? Mr. Luis: I was greeted by mixed reactions. People wore both joy and fear; joy that I was back to the community fear that skin cancer is communicable. My family was particularly happy of my return. Most of my friends were skeptical of the fact that my skin was normal again and hence treated me to unfounded stigma. Thus far, however, all my friends have grown in the awareness of skin cancer and now appreciate its diagnoses and treatment. Q. Three years in hospital must have wiped out your savings! How did you settle the hospital bill? Mr. Luis: At first, I thought the process would take just a little time to address and hence cost a modest sum. Upon diagnoses and commencement of treatment, I realized I had to engage my insurer. The medical facility informed the insurer of my condition and presence in court. The insurer, upon realizing the magnitude of the claim, was not voluntarily ready to settle it. In response, the hospital invoked the health insurance law and the regulator concerning my case. As to whether this was their duty or not, I found it extremely benevolent of the hospital to take legal action on my behalf. In a nutshell, I left the Illinois Cancer Center completely free. Q. What important lessons did you draw from your long stay in hospital? Mr. Luis: My stay inside there was a real eye-opener. I realized the extreme ignorance in which the masses dwell concerning various types of cancer, including skin cancer. I felt it was important that awareness be created in the United States regarding cancers. Unlike breast or prostate cancers which are gender biased, skin cancer is universal and its causes are most astonishing (Marks 609). I recalled the shock when the doctor sighted exposure to sun’s ultraviolet rays as a possible cause of the rise of skin cancer. This is a cause that cannot be dealt with superficially, or medically. It is a global political and economic issue. More environmental conventions thus need to address the issue from a big picture perspective. Besides, skin cancer awareness needs more NGOs championing it and more budgetary allocations for the eradication of the disease (Marks 611). Q. I am very humbled to have interacted with you Mr. Luis. You have given me invaluable insight into the subject of skin cancer. It was a pleasure and learning experience interviewing you. Works Cited Marks, R (1995). "An overview of skin cancers. Incidence and causation." Cancer 75 (2 Suppl): 607–12. Read More