A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

Do any American doctors work at VA facilities? - just passing through

Posted: Dec 21, 2011

Working on a VA account as backup and have had nothing but ESL. Glad to know our veterans are being taken care of by foreigners.

I use the VA, and yes, have an - American MD. NM

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xx

You must not go to the one I'm transcribing for, lol. nm - just passing through

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nm

15 years ago... - MT

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For the past 23 years I have been in the MT field in one capacity or another.

IME MOST VA docs are foreigners; that was the case in the late 1980s and is still true today.

In the late 1990s I took an ill Vietnam veteran friend to the VA Hospital in Nashville. He was admitted, and throughout that hospitalization ALL he could talk about were the "damn g---" nurses. It sounds "racist," but people have to understand that during wartime our military are indoctrinated with this attitude. It upset him so much that it triggered a couple of flashbacks. (He suffers from PTSD from his combat experiences in that war.)

So IMO it is NOT a good idea to have so many foreigners administering medical care to our military vets. The federal government seems to favor those folks over Americans. I happen to know why that is but won't post it here.

I can only imagine it comes down to money. EVERYTHING - comes down to money. nm

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x

You are not incorrect, but.. - MT

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Yes, money is part of it.

The rest is social engineering.

As in promoting one global community? - nm

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x

It's not just the VA, but reflects - sm

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the new hierarchy of acute care and the use of "hospitalists" to oversee inpatient management, instead of the former system of attendings supervising house staff. The majority of hospitalists in the US are now foreign nationals. It's not a highly sought-after specialty among our domestic med school graduates, and we don't produce enough of them to meet the demand even it was; therefore, the aggressive global recruitment of doctors educated elsewhere. Since the VA hospital system was among the first to implement the hospitalist model, it's not surprising that you're hearing nothing but ESL dictation.

As the wife of a veteran, I too find it disconcerting (on behalf of the veterans) but the VA does recruit domestically as well; problem is, they don't get enough response from US docs to fill their needs. I'm not sure whether it's an issue of pay, or the fact that there's no "allure" in being a hospitalist, or both.

Hospitalists: Talk to MTs who have family members as patients.. - AZMT

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3 of my MT friends have had loved ones hospitalized with cancer.

All 3 reported the same thing: That the care was mediocre at best (these were NOT VA hospitals BTW), and they were particularly outraged by the hospitalists, described as "doing absolutely nothing" or "almost killed my dad."

I have transcribed enough reports dictated by hospitalists to conclude that they are a waste of oxygen.

Resident Docs - GC

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Resident docs at a teaching hospital are another issue. They are a real scare when the only time an experienced doc comes with them is at the end of the day, and then they stand out in the hall and discuss the patient with no patient interaction at all.

Heck No! They barely have American MDs in their military hospitals on military bases! - SM

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When my husband was active duty, about five years ago, I fell on the ice and thought I just twisted my ankle. A few hours later when it started to swell, became warm, and I couldn't bear weight, I went to the military hospital on base and saw an Indian doctor who took a single view x-ray of my ankle, said no fracture, and then diagnosed me with gout.

Nevermind that I was 36 years old, female and had family history whatsoever of gout. Nevermind that I had taken a pretty hard fall earlier in the day. Two days later, after spiking a fever, and swelling about two sizes bigger in my ankle, my husband came home and said "I'm taking you to a real hospital." We went off post to a civilian hospital. I was immediately admitted to the hospital with cellulitis, dehydration, and an abscess in my ankle.

The "medical care" that the government provides for our veterans, soldiers and their families is a travesty!

Yes, they have lots of American doctors - sm

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The VA is not what it was 15 years ago and definitely is not what it was 20 years ago. In the mid-90s, they made an effort to change. They now are considered to provide excellent healthcare. Some of the best in the world, in fact. Other healthcare entities study the VA to see how they do it.

I choose to receive my healthcare from the VA because the care is far superior to what I received from local doctors.

I am also honored to be a part of the VA healthcare team. Quality care is very important to us. Our mission is to care for the men and women who put themselve on the line for us. We do that with an intense focus unlike anything I saw working in healthcare outside the VA.

We believe in what we do. We receive superb support from the VA that encourages and facilitates innovation and achievement.

The Vietnam veteran experience was regrettable. I think we try to make up for that every day. It saddens me that some still believe those conditions still exist. That attitude keeps veterans who need our services from getting the care they need and which the have earned.

One big difference between the VA and outside hospitals is that their errors go unnoticed while the VA's errors end up on national news. When we receive awards and good press for the excellence of our care, nobody notices.

If you have a lot of ESL dictation, it may be a reflection of the fact that many VAs are affiliated with university residency programs. Aside from that I believe our physician staff is reflective of the local community. You are hearing mostly hospital staff because they generate longer reports that would be dictated. You probably do not hear much from the primary care and specialist outpatient staff, so you would not be aware of the Americans on the staff.

One post above implied that VA pay was so low that only bad physicians would work there. That is not true. In fact, we can attract very good physicians because we pay competitively. We attract a lot of very good doctors who are tired of the reimbursement hassle on the outside.

If you google you can find a number of articles that talk about the areas in which the VA excels and the quality of the care it provides.

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