SANTA MONICA CARE EXTENDER INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

UCLA

BEATTHE

Care Extender News

Fall 2009 Issue

EDITORIAL Care Extenders, As we head into a new rotation, I want to thank all of you again for being dedicated and incredible individuals. This program is only a success because of you! Inside this edition of The Beat you will be able to read about one care extender’s thoughts on antidepressants and its effects on pregnant woman, and another’s point of view in regard to health care reform. As the new newsletter coordinator, I am looking forward to hearing more of your thoughts and opinions about health care today.

In This Issue

Pregnant Women & Antidepressants 2

Health Care Reform 3 CEs of the Rotation for Summer 2009 5

Special Thanks 7

ANNOUNCEMENTS Extension for Comp Checklist 12/1 5 PM Extension Requests due 12/1Preference Sign-ups Begin 12/6Comp Checklist due 12/20Preferences sign-ups end 1/3Department Assignments posted TBA (will receive email)Department Meetings and Training Day 2/7

Yenith AngBest,

It is apparent that antidepressants in many cases are harmful to the unborn baby. Knowing this fact makes it quite clear that pregnant women should not take anti-depressants. By taking them, mothers are hurting their own child and in a way taking the life of their child, almost like an abortion. It is very upsetting that women will still take drugs knowing that they can harm their own child. Furthermore, doctors should not be able to prescribe antidepressants to pregnant women. Knowing that it can harm the child is enough of a reason for them not to be allowed to do so. Doctors must consider the pros and cons and in this instance the cons of taking the medicine are much more than the pros. Doctors must also think about the future of the child as well as the mother. In this case the child could be harmed much worse if the antidepressant is prescribed. Therefore, doctors should not be able to prescribe antidepressants to pregnant women. On the other hand, some may argue that if the mother does not take antidepressants she may harm herself, which in turn will harm the fetus. I do not believe this is a valid argument since the mother can

seek other forms of assistance that will not harm her child. For example, she can visit a psychologist or psychiatrist in order to overcome her problems and not harm herself or her child. A mother should always put her child in front of herself and should always be thinking about the future of her child. Fol-lowing this statement every mother would stop taking antidepressants to ensure a healthy and live baby. In conclusion, I believe pregnant women should not be able to take antidepressants. This en-sures that the baby will have no fetus or birth defects and will have the opportunity to live a full life.

Pregnant Women &Antidepressants by Carmel Moazez

“By taking them, mothers are hurting their own child and in a way taking the life of their child,

almost like an abortion.”

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Psychiatric Association concluded that women who get pregnant while on antidepressants should consider switching to psychotherapy, especially in mild cases.Should doctors still prescribe antidepressants?

The Beat 2

The Beat 3

Health care REFORM

Statistically, in terms of the status of our health and the afford-ability of care, it would appear we are lagging adversely behind other countries in the developed world. We spend a greater fraction of our total economic output in health care services than any other developed nation. For the year of 2008, we spent more than 15% of the gross domestic product (GDP), on average more than half of any other developed country. Howev-er, despite these prodigious expen-ditures, it appears the benefits we receive are not commensurate with the efficacy. According to a study by World Health Organization, we rank 37th among all healthcare systems worldwide,. According to CIA’s World Factbook, we are out-ranked by Italy, Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, United King-dom, Canada, Taiwan, and even

underdeveloped countries such as Cuba in terms of infant mortality rates, which is a common marker to determine the state of a health-care system. A quick comparison among the developed world re-veals a commonality of universal coverage and lack of for-profit organizations. These systems out-perform the US in administrative costs, population coverage, and cost expenditures as well. Furthermore, while 700,000 Americans are mired by the fate of healthcare-related bank-ruptcies each year, no documented cases have been found similarly in these systems. However, I do realize correlation does not indi-cate causation and I do assent to the arguments that an abrogation of the private system would balk innovation and potential medical breakthroughs. But I believe we in America have always prided

ourselves in ranking our top insti-tutions and organizations, whether from our nation’s top universities to the Fortune 500. Thus, given this data, I believe it gives a much more palpable perspective to reason that perhaps one should not preclude a single payer system as viable option. Firstly, none of the major bills seem to address the high mal-practice insurance premiums for doctors. Physicians are compelled to constantly perform additional tests and procedures to avoid potential lawsuits. This practice of defensive medicine can easily lead to unnecessary waste. Sec-ondly, the fee-for-service system in which doctors are paid more when more services are performed has provided a further incentive to perform unnecessary treatments without regarding the fate of the patient’s health.

By Kevin Yuqi Wang

“This practice of medicine can easily lead to

waste.”

Defensiveunnecessary

(continued on p. 4)

The Beat 4

This also needs to be emphatically addressed. Hospitals including Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, and Kaiser are already scrapping away the fee-for-ser-vice systems and replacing physicians’ pay with fixed salaries. Geisinger Medi-cal Center is even linking up to 20% of a physician’s income based on his or her ability to achieve performance goals. More hospitals should follow suit. Overhauling fee-for-service with a fee-for-performance may make medi-cine less lucrative. However, with pa-tients who are completely insured and have no financial motive to minimize costs when choosing among alternative treatments, and with doctors’ pay that is not commensurate with their perfor-mance, it becomes quite clairvoyant to see an overall effect of increasing insur-

ance premiums. While there is a myr-iad of other problems hindering cost control in our health care system, in my opinion this is a serious one. Let’s give doctors back the opportunity to practice medicine in a less businesslike manner and more on a personally acquainted level in which they strive to keep their patients healthy.

“Overhauling fee-for-service with a fee-for-performance may make medicine less lucrative.”

The Beat 5

CARE EXTENDERS of theROTATIONcongratulations!L&D-A Nikki King Ramin Morshed

Radiology Eric Kwok

L&D-B Dina Farzan

Amy Li

8 North Jacqueline Anderson Constance Obialis

MICU Marlene Meer

CTICU Cathi Lee

MaDonna Johnson ER-A Daphne le Kenneth zurcher

ER-BChris Lawrence

Nushin Natnaeli

CCU Cortney Cantrell Julia Cser

OR EscortsMichael JangBritney Kirkwood

GreetersNicole GrecoRhea Escano

NICU

Bridget McCarthy Patricia Schannong

Orthopedics Michael Sakamoto

(continued on p.6)

CARE EXTENDERS of theROTATIONcongratulations!

The Beat 6

SMH-PEDSArmine ManukyanDora Lendvai

POSTPARTUM Connie ChaoMichelle Liem

RR-Peds Saman MovahediTracey TanKyle Natsuhara

CCLNelson Nguyen

7W-CTUCarmel Moazez

The Beat 7

Care Extenders Fall Staff 2009

Special THANKS...

Executive Staff Silva Thomas Program Manager

Amy NganAssociate Manager

Jenna NawaDC Supervisor (SMH) Christopher Bartlett DC Supervisor (SMH) Christine ThangDC Supervisor (Westwood)

Patrick LuJulia KwonAlex KatzMaria BezchinskyMichael Quocminh Pham Colleen CaldwellSharon HuangEric LowDanielle WhalenHarry LiMegan Segal Kyle NguyenJasmine HuynhSpencer YehSally Mung Ting Yung

Stephen KuGina ChienHande TanJonathan PhuongJenna Nawa Marlene Meer

Department Coordinators

Maggie Pham Samantha BrionesFerdows AtherFrances JavierDominic Hovsepian Eric KwokRita TufenkjianIvette Zelaya Tracy WangYenith Ang

Special Program Coordinators

Want to be more involved in the Care Extender Program? Writing for the newsletter is a great way to STAND OUT and put your two cents in about any health– care issues and share your Care Extender experiences.

http://sites.google.com/site/careextendersprogram

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