No emergency? No, thanks…
Uninsured in the US and diagnosed in the ER with a potentially lethal condition that isn't deemed an 'emergency', the hospital is not obliged to treat you
Tag walkabout
Overcrowded, understaffed and underfunded
Rick Abbott wonders why ERs across the world seem to have a few things in common: they're almost all overcrowded, understaffed and underfunded.... What can be done about it? It's just not cricket!
How much is that doggie in the ICU?
Rick Abbott has seriously gone walkabout this time... He's crossed the species barrier to see what emergency physicians can learn from our veterinary colleagues.
It costs what?
Rick Abbot, our 'American ER Doc Gone Walkabout', dives into the murky quagmire of medical costs in the United States and makes a comparison with what he experienced in Australia. At least he tries to...
The Registrar sits at the desk registering patients. Right?
Rick Abbot provides the 'American ER Doc Gone Walkabout' perspective on emergency medicine training in Australia and the United States. He also figures out the difference between a resident and a registrar...
All I need to do is write a final diagnosis, right?
Rick Abbott zooms through time and space to share his personal experience of paperwork, billing and health records in emergency medicine.
Dollars and no sense
This week 'American ER Doc gone Walkabout' Rick Abbot looks at how many times he has to sign his name at work and whether or not his patients can buy their prescribed medications....
Consultants, HTFU
Among the consultants that we love to hate, where should we begin? Dermatology? Naah, dermatologists don't really exist, do they. Hospitalists? No, they're actually our friends. Psychiatry? Hmmmmm there's a potential.
Who’s gonna insert that cannula, place that urinary catheter, whatever?
Who’s gonna insert that cannula, place that urinary catheter, whatever?
What is that stuff that you give for a fever?
Our American ER doc gone walkabout struggles with medications, millimoles and the metric system in the emergency medicine nirvana that is Tasmania...
Why are there so many emergencies here?
American ER doc Rick Abbott goes walkabout... and ends up in Tasmania. He asks "Why are there so many emergencies here? This is an ER!"