Michael Strickland
Adventure along with an iconoclast
Real Name: Michael Strickland Member Since: August 21, 2007 Last Signed In: November 29, 2008 Profile Views: 887 Blog Views: 6268 Potty Training CONSERVATION MATTERS: Tips for a Sustainable Thanksgiving No worries for Idaho State University Following This Historic Election, Discover One of the Civil Rights Movement's Unsung Heroes Babies and Beethoven: Infants can tell happy songs from sad, BYU study shows Pocatello will have a very special visitor on Monday, November 17th I Just Voted Obama Backers Gleeful While McCain's are Glum BYU statistician simulates “If the election were held today” Barack Obama is gunning for a national landslide August 07 September 07 October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 August 08 September 08 October 08 November 08 December 08 Also see: http://essenceblack.blogspo... 
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What has been Wrong with Portneuf Medical Center? A View from the Inside
Now that Portneuf Medical Center is in the middle of a heated discussion here on the JHub, it is a good time to look back at some perceptions of the core issues that began the massive controversy which has been discussed in great detail on the Idaho State Journal pages and in the Pocatello community.
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Others in the community agree with mbogo 's stated strategy above and have proceeded exactly as he suggests, by taking their concerns straight to PMC.
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Below is the text of a letter, which is now a couple of years old, from Dr. Robert L. Coray a general surgeon and former PMC board member, to the administration of the Portneuf Medical Center. Dr. Coray outlines his reasons for leaving the board and what he thinks is wrong with PMC:
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Dear Mr. Hermanson:
Since announcing my relocation I have yet to hear from PMC administrators or the board regarding my plans or reasons for leaving. Frankly, it is not at all surprising, nor is it without precedence. Over the past few months and years several high-quality physicians, nurses, surgical techs and other ancillary personnel have departed PMC and our community to escape the bureaucratic mess and intolerable medical environment that has enveloped our once-respected medical institution. Rarely, if ever, have these fine individuals been approached to find out the reasons for their leaving and seeking other employment opportunities. I wonder if the administration would contact Dr. Delarosa if he decided to leave . . . . ? Hmmmmm.
Indeed this lack of concern by the medical "leaders" would be akin to a surgeon continuing to operate on a hernia while ignoring a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. At the very least, one would think it valuable to learn why the hemorrhage persists in order to place a much needed clamp.
For the record, let me list in specific terms why I am leaving my community of origin and the things that I believe, if not completely and rapidly corrected, will lead Pocatello's medical environment further spiraling downward to mediocrity and failure.
1) PMC is a county hospital owned by the citizens of Bannock County and should be capable of taking excellent care of those citizens without incurring debt and doubt. PMC should seriously ask itself why good caregivers are leaving and why nearly all the community has lost faith or trust in the hospital. Could it be that the physicians are suddenly incompetent or inadequate? I think not. For the moment there remain many capable, competent, caring, and skilled physicians here; sadly some of whom take business elsewhere and support other medical facilities who are more willing to meet physician and patient needs. Surely the continued outflow of patients and hospitals reflects dissatisfaction with the current management environment. "Care and Compassion" only goes so far when "incompetence and inefficiency" also resides in the same house.
2) Most families have a budget and are forced to stick to it. Instead of saving, planning and supporting the fundamental and basic care needs of the citizens of Bannock county, PMC elected to rush to purchase PRMC and hobble along with the "two inefficient campus" philosophy until the infamous "Heart and Vascular Center of Excellence" was forced upon the community - - all in a feeble effort to provide the capital to save us all from destruction and fund yet another consulting company to determine what we should have been doing all along. While the physicians on the hill are quite capable and render excellent care, I believe we are finding out that we really should just be a very, very good community hospital that does the basics well. A few of us physicians are on record as not supporting the gargantuan Heart Center effort from its beginning.
3) While I understand the need to follow JCAHO's accreditation recommendations, we have allowed the bully big brother to heap an insurmountable pile of bureaucratic garbage upon us. As an example, another surgeon and I had three large cases on the schedule for weeks and find out that the necessary materials are not available on the day of surgery. OK, mistakes happen - - although that particular event is largely inexcusable. The pathetic part is that the OR nurses and staff were more concerned that an updated piece of paper was not on the chart in order to wheel the patient back to the room. (The red-tape had been done, by the way.)
This kind of misfocused patient care is entirely unacceptable. PMC worries more about installing locking doors and name-tags to keep out who-knows-who from getting from the cafeteria to the ED than hiring or giving incentives to competent nurses on the floor. PMC continues to pay ungodly guaranteed salaries to cardiac specialists and yet alienates radiologists, surgeons, and anesthesiologists who have given years of service and dedication to the community. I would speculate that more money is spent killing trees to print the most current "Physician Chart Deficiency Notification" sheets weekly than the amount saved by not paying the general surgeons for trauma coverage. Maybe when all the local patients refuse to receive care at PMC the loyal JCAHO ministers will seek care at the Heart Center.
4) Finally, without so much as a hallway or phone consult, PMC once again ignored the general surgeons and hired a second cardiovascular surgeon, probably to cross-cover the Heart Institute, and become the "Vascular" portion of the Heart and Vascular Center, now that Dr. Whiting and the surgeons who have performed vascular surgery up to this point are alienated and obsolete. What arrogance and shortsightedness! It even makes the administration-physician relationships in Blackfoot appear admirable.
I truly hope for the sake of the good medical staff remaining in Pocatello that these and other issues can be promptly addressed so that patient care can once again return to an acceptable state. Hopefully, confidence can be restored and the hospital can repair the damage, indeed, the dreary perception, that things are not going as well as the PMC newsletters lead us to believe. Maybe the rumors that "have been floating around regarding potential changes in the governance model at PMC" should be heeded and "interested outside organizations" be allowed to purchase, realign, repair and run the hospital as a successful business for the benefit of the citizens of Bannock County.
Sincerely,
Dr. Robert L. Coray
1 comments from 1 users
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posted by
mbogo
on Jul 20, 2008 at 09:51 AM
I didn't know Dr. Coray, but he certainly wrote an interesting letter. My father was a physician and surgeon in Pocatello from 1952 to 1996. When we moved to Pocatello, there were two hospitals in town, Bannock Memorial and Saint Anthony. My father had hospital privileges at both hospitals. The only issues I remember occurring at the hospitals in the 50s and 60s concerned the competence of a couple of doctors. Maybe I just wasn't aware of everything that was going on at the hospitals, but I don't remember any discussions on the magnitude of what is going on now. Personally, I would prefer a truly non-profit hospital that can meet expenses, and any profit goes back into the hospital to cover expenses and required renovation. I think PMC has over extended itself by trying to build the West Campus portion of the hospital and now finds itself in a position where they have to rely on a profit oriented partner to complete the West Campus construction. I suspect that we won't be happy with some of the profit oriented policies that Legacy or Life Point put into place when chosen as the majority partner.
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Local time is currently Wed Dec 3, 2008 4:44:37 pm MST
The JHub is 100% local to Southeastern Idaho
Let me see if I have this right. You have some information that you think the PMC board ought to know, before making a decision about a company they are considering partnering with, but you want them to contact you instead of you contacting them?
How important is this information and whose responsibility do you think it is to get that information to the right people before they have to make a decision? As a government teacher once asked me, "Think about it and let me know what you decide" ...