Re: uniformed medical professionals

[Guest guest]

After I said:

Doctors and researchers aren't watching TV during the day. " Oprah " or

" Montel " won't change anything. Even if every housewife in America knew

about Chiari, it wouldn't do us much good. We need our family doctors to be

able to recognize chiari symptoms and order MRI's when appropriate. We need

them to be able to differentiate between asymptomatic Chiari and symptomatic

chiari AND pass us onto next higher level expert when appropriate. As of

today, this doesn't usually happen. THIS is what we need to change. " ...

A lot of you have asked " So how do we change this? "

And my answer is: The only way we can effect a major percentage of chiari

patients, is .... .... ... to get " Chiari " in the curriculum of new medical

students and new doctors. It needs to be taught up front- before these

medical professionals are subject to the realities of the numerous HMO's,

CEO's and misguided bean-counters.

Right now, many Family Physicians think it's cost-effective to do all sorts

of testing and referrals before ordering an MRI. In reality, studies show

that $1400 - $3300 worth of tests are done ... before ordering a (national

average) $1200 MRI. It doesn't take a math whiz to see that an MRI would be

LESS expensive in just about every case.

Okay, Mr. Know It All... so how do we get Chiari introduced to the

cirriculum of new student and Doctors ?

I don't know. I've been working on this a long time. I'll gladly listen to

ideas !

I haven't found the solution.

Chip

5+ years post-op and doing great !

http://www.pressenter.com/~chip/chiari.htm

[Guest guest]

> Okay, Mr. Know It All... so how do we get Chiari introduced to the

> cirriculum of new student and Doctors ?

>

> I don't know. I've been working on this a long time. I'll gladly listen to

> ideas !

Word of mouth...maybe????

Anne

[Guest guest]

> Right now, many Family Physicians think it's cost-effective to do

all sorts

> of testing and referrals before ordering an MRI. In reality, studies

show

> that $1400 - $3300 worth of tests are done ... before ordering a

(national

> average) $1200 MRI. It doesn't take a math whiz to see that an MRI

would be

> LESS expensive in just about every case.

Yep, you hit the nail right on the nose there, Chip. That's been my

argument for a long time too - many doctors think ordering these

cheaper tests ends up being cheaper, but lots of cheap tests end up

costing the system alot more in the long run - not only from a pure

math perspective, as you indicated, but the time wasted doing all the

cheaper tests often is sufficient to allow the patient to deteriorate

to a point of no return, or the problem may end up being more

complicated which will end up costing the system even more to " fix " it

and the patient could end up being a permanent burden on the system.

Ordering MRIs more frequently at the start of problems can help get

to the root of the problem more quickly and thus resolve it right

away, thus improving the health of people and reducing health costs.

Unfortunately, our insecure politicians in Canada are so afraid of any

privately-run medical services (such a taboo word among some) that

they will not allow privately-run MRI clinics which can help reduce

the heavy line-ups for MRIs at public hospitals - and they won't fund

more publicly-run hospital MRI machines - so stupid! Meanwhile, people

are waiting months for MRI scans - I can only imagine the number of

patients who deteriorate or die because of this.

Eurico

[Guest guest]

--- Chip wrote:

A lot of you have asked " So how do we change this? "

>

> And my answer is: The only way we can effect a major

> percentage of chiari

> patients, is .... .... ... to get " Chiari " in the

> curriculum of new medical

> students and new doctors. It needs to be taught up

> front- before these

> medical professionals are subject to the realities

> of the numerous HMO's,

> CEO's and misguided bean-counters.

>

> Right now, many Family Physicians think it's

>

>

> Okay, Mr. Know It All... so how do we get Chiari

> introduced to the

> cirriculum of new student and Doctors ?

>

> I don't know. I've been working on this a long time.

> I'll gladly listen to

> ideas !

>

> I haven't found the solution.

>

> Chip

> 5+ years post-op and doing great !

> http://www.pressenter.com/~chip/chiari.htm

Dear Chip and Group,

It has already begun here in Virginia.By me allowing

my nuerologist to videotape my exam in front of

students and staff at an area hospital.Copies of that

tape were to be sent to all the teaching medical

centers in Virginia.

One by one, little by little the message is being

spread.Each time one of us brings information to our

GP the message is being spread.

Gentle hugs,

Lee

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