NZ's Health Care System: Part 3

Dinner topics at home usually include a robust debriefing by Tom on the topic of working in a socialized healthcare system. While Tom is quick to compliment his well-trained, highly skilled colleagues, his frustrations with the "system" persist. Examples? During his first 5 weeks on the job, only once has an 8:30 am surgery started on time. Reasons for the delays vary, but twice the assigned anesthetists simply failed to show up without giving any notice (both had decided to get a jump start on their holidays). Interestingly, when cases DO start on time, it's not uncommon for medical personnel to drag the time between and during cases so that they will not have to do the "acute list" (add-on cases). On another occasion a surgery was held up during a critical time because the circulating nurse (the one who gives supplies to the scrub team) went to tea! Patients wait in the emergency room for hours and hours, lining the hallways and filling the holding rooms. Often they are administered to by their families while awaiting medical evaluation. I think Tom gets frustrated because he is not used to practicing medicine in a 9 to 5 environment, and he really isn't much of a tea drinker.