Fast food medicine

When I first started in the job force my friends and I used to joke that our actual jobs were GDEC's (Glorified Data Entry Clerks). This was based on the premise that we were told we worked in finance but in reality we were just re-keying instructions from another party. I have found recently that the family doctor in Australia is no better and should have a sign reading Dr. Joe Blow, GDEC, MD.

I recently had to visit the doctor for a couple small things and found that in the 40 minutes I spent in there she spent no more than 5 minutes actually examining the maladies which brought me there. Most of the time was spent punching away on her computer. If she had been a touch typer I am sure I would have been out in 5 minutes. She sat there with her 'peck and hunt' keyboard skills typing away my family history and the issues I came to see her about. Upon my departure I was treated to a $75 bill for a class 'B' examination (ie >30 mins). My wife had the same thing - she spent an hour (charged a double rate) to see the doctor only to have her spend 40 minutes typing and tell her to shush up so she could type. I don't think this is the doctors fault by any means, I am sure when they took their hypocratic oath, administration was the last thing on their mind.

What happened to the days where they would write everything in their notes and have someone else punch them into the computer afterwards? I have been to the family doctor in the most socialist of countries (Denmark) and the most severe two-tiered medical systems (Australia) and sadly the level of 'bed side manner' is directly proportional to the systems in which they operate. Obviously, a two-tiered system is all about the billing - get as many people in and as many people out as quick as possible in order to bill the most and live the highlife. In Denmark, doctors get paid daily and not by patient - they are incentivised to 'see' to the patient and understand their condition. On the flip side, doctors in Denmark make slightly above average wages.

It is worriesome that the state of the medical system has come to churning out patients and spending the majority of their time taking care of the administration. In the meantime, we just have to grin and bear it.