Father-in-law in the hospital
Feb. 26th, 2023 09:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerMy father-in-law (FIL) was rushed to the hospital Thursday night with severe chest pains. Those are a common sign of a heart attack. The good news is... it wasn't a heart attack. The bad news is... even 3 days later they still don't know what it is. It could be as minor (relatively) as pneumonia or an infection, or it could be a cardiac issue they haven't tested for yet.
One thing FIL's trek through the medical system this week underscores is the very different care one receives M-F 8a-5p versus the rest of the week. I've read about it before; basically it's "Try to have your heart attack Monday through Friday between 8am and 5pm." That's because the best doctors work those hours.
I saw this with my father, too, when he needed many trips to the hospital his last several month of life. It's one thing to have read it, one thing to have seen it before, another thing to see it again. Seeing it again strengthens the conviction that it can't be dismissed as a coincidence or cynical thinking but is a real, predictable thing.
It's not just that the best doctors keep bankers' hours. The whole hospital system shifts into low gear nights and weekends, i.e., the other 75% of the time. There's only a skeleton crew of technicians. That means blood tests which might be analyzed in an hour or two during bankers' hours aren't ready until the next morning. And any kind of procedure? Forget it, there's no staff for it. In fact, if the procedure carries any amount of risk, they won't start it if it's after, say, 2pm on a weekday. That's because if things go bad and it's a multi-hour emergency they don't want to deal with the risk that critical staff have already gone home!
That's a lot of why FIL is still in the hospital after 3½ days. Getting sick Thursday night meant he was put in a holding pattern until Friday. Then by the time they ran a few tests on Friday and got results it was "too late" for an invasive test they needed to run. Thus he continues in the holding pattern until Monday. Don't get sick outside of bankers' hours!
One thing FIL's trek through the medical system this week underscores is the very different care one receives M-F 8a-5p versus the rest of the week. I've read about it before; basically it's "Try to have your heart attack Monday through Friday between 8am and 5pm." That's because the best doctors work those hours.
I saw this with my father, too, when he needed many trips to the hospital his last several month of life. It's one thing to have read it, one thing to have seen it before, another thing to see it again. Seeing it again strengthens the conviction that it can't be dismissed as a coincidence or cynical thinking but is a real, predictable thing.
It's not just that the best doctors keep bankers' hours. The whole hospital system shifts into low gear nights and weekends, i.e., the other 75% of the time. There's only a skeleton crew of technicians. That means blood tests which might be analyzed in an hour or two during bankers' hours aren't ready until the next morning. And any kind of procedure? Forget it, there's no staff for it. In fact, if the procedure carries any amount of risk, they won't start it if it's after, say, 2pm on a weekday. That's because if things go bad and it's a multi-hour emergency they don't want to deal with the risk that critical staff have already gone home!
That's a lot of why FIL is still in the hospital after 3½ days. Getting sick Thursday night meant he was put in a holding pattern until Friday. Then by the time they ran a few tests on Friday and got results it was "too late" for an invasive test they needed to run. Thus he continues in the holding pattern until Monday. Don't get sick outside of bankers' hours!
