Most doctors hate politics and bureaucracy. Doctors do not compete for limited spots in medical politics the way students fight for spots in medical school. Doctors who serve in politics are different. They have unique tastes.
If you are a normal doctor, or you happen to know one, please encourage them to volunteer time in medical politics. Tell them to go to a provincial association meeting or apply for a spot as delegate to the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) council next year.
Normal Doctors
Normal working doctors usually cannot spare the luxury to debate health policy. They do not question why the system functions as it does. They can’t afford the time.
Normal doctors might have between 5 and 25 years of experience. They aren’t new grads, and they aren’t ready to retire. They take care of patients and fill call schedules. They manage offices and staff, spouses and children/dependents. Normal doctors don’t have much time to volunteer, teach, write blogs, Tweet or do all the things that distract some of us.
Medical associations need normal doctors.
We need mid-career physicians who wouldn’t otherwise be involved. We need to hear from the silent workhorses of healthcare.
Provincial associations always attract a group of doctors frustrated with government meddling in clinical practice. They demand answers to illogical rules and regulations that ruin efficiency and harm patient service. These doctor-businesspeople end up injecting a bit of sanity into discussions about high-minded political debate. But they rarely attend national meetings.
Associations must communicate something that regular physicians can support. National associations must speak for Canadian doctors, not just those who apply to be delegates to annual council meetings.
After periods of questionable relevance, all of a sudden the CMA has become critically important, even though many doctors do not belong to the organization. The following issues demand nation attention:
- Bullying by provincial governments
- Authoritarian regulatory colleges – a coast-to-coast push to dictate physician behaviour; starting in Ontario and Nova Scotia
- Failed negotiations
- Redefining medicine from “Do no harm” to “Cause death, if patients request it.”
- Unchanged patient wait times
- Seniors’ care
- And much more
We need regular doctors to provide relevance and focus, not just dreams and idealism. We need practical working doctors; people who’ve battled through years of uncoordinated, bureaucratic, over-regulated care. We need you to keep us grounded on patient service, patient need.
The latest phase of Medicare finds governments and courts defining what it means to practice medicine, what defines good care. We need professionals who practice great care everyday to help guide the change. If we don’t get your input, regular doctors might not recognize medicine tomorrow.
photo credit: ca.news.Yahoo.com