i need to jog my memory on this, but maybe 13 or 14 years ago, there were lobbyists pushing against mail order pharmacy, and I remember one of their arguments were that millions of dollars of medicines were being billed for, paid for by Medicare / Medicaid and still sent for patients who had died, in some cases, died years earlier. they also showed pictures of mailbins full of tablets and capsules that had melted in their packages because of the summer heat

My father is a large animal vet in a rural community. He was diagnosed with appendicitis but they couldn't get him in right away for surgery. He asked if he could go work for a few hours until they were ready for him. They said no. 😂

I worked in Rural Maryland for awhile at a VA outpatient clinic. Getting those guys to go to Baltimore for treatment was impossible. All his rural med skits are spot on.

The rural medicine ones are my favorites, because that is my family. 🤣😅

The rural medicine skits are my absolute favorites. I live amongst farmers, and my husband does a fair amount of farming. He knows rural medicine so well. My favorite skit is the one where the farmer comes in on his own. As soon as I heard the farmer didn't finish the fence and came in on his own, I knew it was serious! Farmers are no joke!

As a pharmacy tech, I love his pharmacy videos. They are pretty spot on. Now, I'm community, not hospital, but yeah...

My Dad was a blue collar country man and he was that stubborn guy that you see at the doctors and just know that he was dragged or forced there by someone. He lost over 70lbs and could barely breathe or walk and still didn't want to go. When I found out I had to make the appointment and take him myself. Small cell carcinoma extensive type. Mass measured approx 10cm x 9 cm x 8.5 cm. It was wrapped around his aorta, pushing in on his esophagus, and infiltrated the lungs lymph nodes. He told the doctor it didn't cause him any pain. The stories about these old farmers, ranchers, and down home types are spot on. You have to drag them and the whole way they are talking about the work they could be doing. His oncologist asked what he wanted to do if they could improve things and he told him he wanted to be able to work again.

Thank you for taking up my suggestion! My dad is the "island doctor" of a small community in the German North Sea, it's so spot on. Subbed!

I love how he captured that lab tech. As someone who works in a lab it's soooo true. If I was handed a random test tube without a barcode I'd be like, "I'm not taking responsibility for that."

And the sound comment was spot on. Labs seem eerily quiet when nothing's running but my supervisor walked by with a decible reader the other day because we were complaining about the noise pollution when everything's running.

For all his complaints about a work-life balance though, that tech was 100% on his phone when the med student walked up. And he'll definitely go straight back onto at after he leaves XD

I believe Bill is a resident, not a med student. :-)

I am so grateful to trauma surgeons. 2021 I fell and broke my leg, - compound fracture. I was 76 yrs old so I contemplated my death as I rode in the ambulance. Now an 18 inch titanium rod and 4 pints of blood later, - I am alive, healthy, and humbly grateful to UNC NC Trauma surgeons  who saved my life. A generation ago such a break was a death sentence for a Senior Citizen - no exaggeration !!

This is why I’m so passionate about providing healthcare to underserved/unserved populations around the world. People shouldn’t die from things we already know how to treat.

At my former hospital, annual training included a poster board of shame. They posted the tubes/samples that were incorrectly labeled or procured (PPI redacted) and explained in painful detail how the failure impacted care. Hilarious. Embarrassing. The entire hospital would see it. And everyone on your unit can recognize your handwriting…

Rural medicine is spot on. Women here now have to travel 1 hour + to deliver their babies. And farmers are a tough breed!!

You've got to see the one where he treats and then bills his daughter for services she can't afford. Nothing speaks to the evil of healthcare debt better. And well his poor five year old is too adorable!

Rural vs urban doesn't even really capture the reality in this country.  In the before times, I got my finger caught in a hedge trimmer.  It was cut to the bone, chipped some bone, really unpleasant.  I called a friend with access to veterinary lidocaine, grabbed some of the bird antibiotics I'd stocked up on because they can be had without a prescription, and used steri-strips and superglue to put my finger back together.  It's not perfect, there's a bit of a bulge, but the feeling has mostly returned and nobody casually glancing at the finger would notice.
By "before times" I mean before Obamacare.  Today I'd head straight to the hospital.  And fortunately now I can do that, kinda like I did in 2014, just after I first had health insurance.  I'd called my doctor's office (because I finally had a doctor I could call) that morning, discussed the pain in my abdomen, and they sent the ambulance.  24 hours later I got home, missing an appendix.  Had it happened a year earlier I'd probably decided to tough it out.  That would have been a mistake, the appendicitis was fairly rapid onset, I went from normal to severe pain in about 12 hours, and was told that I was maybe 12 more hours from a burst appendix.  I'd probably died of sepsis in my bed in a failed attempt to not become homeless.  The bill was about $25,000, Obamacare covered all but about $500.
Thanks, Obama!

As a former medical records analyst, I can 100% identify with The Lab!  We were in the hospital dungeon, nobody could find us and the patient IS the barcode!

I have the “I take a controlled substance” and “Epipens and Emgality hate extreme temps in either direction” to avoid all mail order pharmacies.

I managed to line up all my other scripts with my Ativan prescription so I only go to the pharmacy once a month.

Dear Bill is a resident, likely first year.  He sometimes is helped out by the medical students who often find him exhausted from his labors!  The med students will talk to the attendings about the lack of evidence that long hours produce the best doctors!  (I know, I went through IM residency where we had 36 hour shifts at the time, that is no longer the case.  )  Anyhow, these are still wonderful and I can show them to non medical people because you explain them so well!

I've been with the same doctor since 04.  She has literally saved my life more than once.  One day United Health care informed me that my doctor was no longer on their plan so I had to choose a new doctor.  I laughed at them and chose a new plan.

When I was a med student, intern and resident we didn’t have computers, or EPIC. I had to arrive to the hospital around 6 AM and go to the lab and collect all the results manually and then paste them into my patients charts. Much of the scut work we did is now history for the newer generation. This is so spot on, it brings back so many memories.