OSU Medical Center!!!

[Jonette]

Children, Children, Can't we all just get along!?



[}:)]

[sgrizzle]

I swear I clicked on a link to a hospital discussion...

[Jonette]

I know, the children have all gone a stray.


Are you all aware that it is not only employees who are uninformed about the OSUMC situation? The residents don't even have a clue about what's going on.
I ran into a physician this evening and she said for all they know, OSU may have thrown EVERYONE under the bus. For all anyone knows, OSU may know exactly what is going to happen in the near future. It's sad that we are at their mercy and may be the last ones to know what's being discussed and planned.

HELLLOOOOO, we need jobs and patients need a place to get their care.

Oh dammit, I forgot, these corporates don't give a **** what happens to us.

I know I can't buy Christmas. I have put my financial life on hold. I'm in a holding pattern.

Jonette

[sgrizzle]

You work there Jonette?

I know someone who does and she was told that OSUMC will close January 1 unless something is done.

[waterboy]

Lots of jobs in the medical field. Southcrest, Hillcrest, St.Francis, St.Johns and tons of private practices.

Talk to one of your mail room types. They usually know before the masses.[]

[Jonette]

[V]

I am sick with worry. I am getting my resume together and hoping for the best.

What most people don't know is that there are NOT a lot of jobs in the medical field. You may notice in the Sunday Tulsa World there are a lot of positions posted for all the hospitals, but what they don't understand is that although the jobs are posted and NEED to be filled, the higher-ups won't approve the budget for any of them. This happens at all the hospitals. There is a position open, personnel says post it in the paper, then when all the apps are received personnel says, welllllll we don't really have the budget approved for that position. So it goes unfilled and the department works short-handed. I know several people who work in the field as I do and they have the same problems in their hospitals. It's the same with nurses. There is always talk of the "nursing shortage". Well, if they would just hire the ones ready to work, then there wouldn't be a shortage. There is a formula administrators use to decide patient to personnel ratio's. Bottom line-it's all about the money. The less personnel per patient, the more money the hospital makes.

The truth is, Administrators care more about money than people.

Hell,,,,,,, we knew that!!


Yes, I work there.  I love it there, I've been there 6 years and I know several people in my department alone, that have been there 30 or more years. Severance packages? They have not told us anything. Will the hospital really close ? Again, we only know rumors.  

I know we have 33 ICU beds that are full most of the time, We have a lot of long-term care patients. We have a VERY busy ER. I really don't think any minor emergency in town is going to do all the things for these patients that we do everyday.
I don't care how many people think they will not feel the difference if this hospital closes, they are kidding themselves. Do you have any idea how many drunks stay in our ER until they are sober enough to be released?
How many babies run fevers at home and come to our ER after their Primary Cares tell them they can see them in 3 weeks. Hmmmmmmmmmm fever for 3 weeks,,,,,,let the kid die...... How many people have no insurance and come in to our ER with REAL chest pain and are in our OR the next day having bypass surgery? DO you know how much that cost? I am not even going to try to think of any minor emergency that is going to be doing bypass surgery for free. I can imagine that most of those cases will just be diagnosed with pneumonia and sent home. What happens next. Well, they die. No problem,, they didn't have any money anyway.





I'm stopping for now.....





I'm sure some people are glad.


See ya in the overcrowded Er's all over town soon.....

[tim huntzinger]

Yeah well no offense (who, ME) but maybe it is time to let the patient go.  If this is the best that socialized medicine can do - let a staff worry day after day if the place is going to be around . . . must be like working in some Soviet-era pit of washed-up 'humanity.'  Thanks for the heads-up about the conditions there, J.

[Double A]

quote:Originally posted by tim huntzinger

quote:Originally posted by Double A
[br=Jonette you are absolutely right about Spincyle. By the way, this is a matter that concerns the city because the City Council and the Mayor had to approve the agreement that created the OSU Tulsa hospital.

P.S. Spincycle is the Executive Director of a Public Trust and his wifey was on da Mare's payroll, FYI. Connecting those dots explains a lot of his B.S.

Yeah well who are YOU? Patton is not elusive or deceptive about who he is but what the eff is a Double A? Can we not stop the infantile behavior for just one matter that concerns us all?

Beating someone to a pulp every time they post anything is not the 'clash of ideas', it is something different altogether exploiting freedom for its own ends.

Sure guy, since you are so reliable about practicing what you preach, especially when there is a diverges of opinion that contradicts your own.

To answer your question, a Double A is one of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.

[sgrizzle]

Nice try Dr. Gonzo.

[Jonette]

Well, went to work tonight and NO NEW NEWS from the great Ardent gods.

The ER docs are managed by a company called Swallowtail. They do not have a schedule for January. They usually have schedules made out several months in advance. The docs said they had a meeting with Ardent today and Ardent asked them if they would go month to month after December. Their contracts usually go from January to December. Swallowtail says month to month is unacceptable. No one will agree on a shorter term contract either.

The docs say that as far as now, December 31st will be their last day. After that Ardent can bring is temps or locums as their called. It's not that difficult to do, but it is NOT cost effective. Something Ardent is trying to be right now.

Anyway, we have a department meeting tomorrow and I am not sure if there will be anything more  than more smoke.

We will see.

[Jonette]

Well, the newest news is that OU has been in the building several times this week. They have been assesing the building to see what it would take to upgrade the interior.

Their thinking is that they would either remodel the existing structure or build an entirely different building. Probably comparing the options to see if anything is feesable. OU standards are very high as you can see from their main operation.

Our building is acceptable on the exterior, although the interior has been maintained, there are some improvements that are needed.
Upgrades mostly.  

We will see what conclusion they arrive at and hope for the best.

We still are being told by the ER Physicians that they will be leaving December 31st,2008.


We are still busy taking care of our patients and providing the indigent care that noone else will touch with a ten foot pole.





[?]

[Jonette]

Tim,

You said " maybe it is just time to let that patient die"

Well, you know we do open heart bypasses on people that are not "OLD". Last week we did one on a man who was 39 years old. How old are you?

You think you are protected from anything like this happening to you. It also has nothing to do with the matter of you having insurance or not. If you have a massive heart attack and the other hopitals are on divert,(this happens all the time) you WILL be brought to OSUMC. Then your life will be in our hands. We save people everyday and we get compliments from people who have very good experiences at our hospital. They are always surprised at how nice we are to our patients and how we treat everyone like a human, not based on their ability to pay.( Also people are always surprised when they learn all the procedures we do at OSUMC each and every day)If you come into our ER with chest pain, you are rushed straight back to see the doctors, we don't even know your name but we are on you with the quickness. Then as soon as we establish that you are in a true cardiac crisis, Cath Lab is notified and you are on their table upstairs within 30 minutes. Believe me, this won't happen at any other facility in Tulsa. We save people all the time with this protocol. Cardiac crisis knows no age limits. It does not know income levels and it does not know hospital divert status or hospital preference, nor does it care.


We really do hope that someone finds a way to keep OSUMC (or whatever it ends up being called) open. We really love working here and really don't want to work anywhere else.

That's why we are still here and not running out the door.


Never give up!!!

[sgrizzle]

Here is the first of (maybe many) proposals to save OSUMC.

http://www.newsok.com/article/3314567

[Ibanez]

quote:Originally posted by sgrizzle

Here is the first of (maybe many) proposals to save OSUMC.

http://www.newsok.com/article/3314567

And the response of the vast majority of legislators will be "Tulsa? Where the hell is Tulsa?"

[cannon_fodder]

quote:State Treasurer Scott Meacham said that according to experts, it would take $80 million to bring the hospital up to standards and keep it open, with an annual operating subsidy of $10 million to $15 million.

"I am a little bit unclear about exactly where all those savings would come from," he said. "I think it would cost much more, and I'm not sure what it would save. And if we could save that much money, why are we not doing it already?"

Tyra Palmer, a Hillcrest HealthCare System vice president, said city officials and hospital executives are trying to determine the best way to provide medical care for Tulsa's indigent population should the OSU Medical Center close.

Wow.  So wrong on so many levels.  I understand doubting the numbers, I want my treasurer to do that.  But the line:  "If we could save that much money, why are we not doing it already" is a fantastically horrible logic statement.   If it isn't being done, it probably shouldn't be.

Meanwhile, the final paragraph translates to: "Tulsa area hospitals prepare for a massive beat down when OSU medical center closes."

Lets see one of the 2 public hospitals in OKC close down, and then count the HOURS until something is done.