RE: What tech is making the most impact in healthcare? Siemens' Luis Castillo weighs in
Folks, I was a critical care specialist for 43 years. From the day we first started using balloon pumps and holding patients in recovery rooms because they had the most attentive nurses.
What we need are very smart, very attentive and dedicated health care providers. At one time smart women had a choice between nurse and teacher. Now those people are doctors and professors.
That is a problem. Nurses are the first line of defense and protection for all the problems of health care. The doctors spend a little time in the hospital or with the patient in his office but if you have a heart attack and need resuscitating at 3 am it is the nurses who are going to bail you out. They need to be top notch and nothing less.
I see two levels of RN's developing and it is going to cause massive problems if the people who are educating them do not figure out how to heal the rift. Perhaps the 2 year grad can begin his or her practice in the outpatient clinics while heading back for the other two years of schooling. I don't know how they will solve it but the responsibilities of critical care, and all patient care is critical, requires more than a two year degree.
