Time to link priorities

Exercising clinical judgement. It’s what you think you’ll be doing when you decide to go into medicine. And it’s what your patients expect from you. But in today’s environment the vision of a doctor and a patient making decisions about how best to deal with a health problem is clouded by a whole host of other prerogatives. Health reforms start from a number of vantage points: the sustainability of the health care system, the need for better integration, monitoring quality and cost-effectiveness. And expansive networks are being constructed to support those priorities. Will these improve your access to the tools, information and facilities you need to care for your patients? Will they enhance your skill set? Will they make medicine a more rewarding profession? These are not the end-points being considered in many of the reform projects underway, and they will not be considered unless doctors across the country in all different practice settings begin to examine the projects, anticipate their impact and speak out about their concerns. The most important changes are always made while we are too busy to notice them. It’s time to link up health system priorities and physician priorities so they begin to follow a similar path.

Susan Usher