Article Link: MSNBC.com:Sleep-deprived docs told to drink 6 cups coffee

um… yeah.. very good example of patient care focused on patient safety… (Sarcasm. I hate that I have to put this, but I am paranoid that if I don’t, this Internet post is going to come back and bite me in the future.)

I thought US Resident Physicians had it bad with our 80 hour/week cap (which isn’t as strict as some would like). But 80 hours of work without rest? That’s just downright ridiculous!

Maybe the guys in charge down under think that their doctors are super-human…

Ok, ok… so they admit that there is a doctor shortage. And they need more doctors. I guess it’s a good thing for foreign graduates who have an interest in working there.

Personally I have thought about working there in Australia after I finish training here. But I would not want to have to do an Australian residency in addition to my US one…

Source: Army doc, 74, ready to deploy to Afghanistan – Military- msnbc.com

Dr. John Burson

*****

I just read this story over at MSNBC. It seems pretty crazy. Seventy-four year old ENT surgeon is getting ready to ship off to Afghanistan for a deployment with the Army.

I wonder what I’ll be doing when I’m 74 — of course, that’s assuming I do live that long. It’s hard to say these days. I’m not trying to sound suicidal. I just mean that there are so many unknowns. Nobody can really know how long they are going to live for.

But this whole story got me wondering about the Military Medicine system. I’m just wondering: Don’t they have any younger doctors? Is the situation that bad?

I suppose this could just be because the guy really loves deploying. I mean, it sounds like he does have fun with the excitement. I just hope it isn’t because our military is so desperately thinned out by this ongoing war that we have to resort to sending senior citizens into war zones when they should be enjoying retirement.