Warning: Rant
Playing rural/rez doctoring roulette today. At this point, our best option here in Eagle Butte, SD, with a child who has had a fever come back twice in a week (after the initial virus) is to literally wait until the preschooler has his fever come back today and then take him to the Indian Health Service emergency room.
I don't believe in hauling children to the doctor for every sniffle, and I take great pains to nurse them at home as much as possible. This helps them to avoid too many antibiotics and allows their immune systems to develop in a healthy way. However, sometimes you KNOW that something has backed itself into a secondary infection and mom's nursing can't cut it anymore. This is when I am used to calling up our clinic and getting my child in the same day, sometimes to double check it is a secondary infection and other times knowing for sure we must leave with an antibiotic.
We also MUST get a new primary care provider. No appointments for a week?! No provision for acute care? For a regular appointment, IHS was even longer. Hence, we're stuck trying to get into the ER and the necessity of him feverish and fussing when he goes.
The clinic with an opening can't get our insurance referrel from our primary themselves. They told me I must call our doctor ourselves. I did, but got the machine.
The thing is--while I'm highly peeved at the administrative organizing of the rural clinics, I also know this isn't just their fault. Patients are at fault too, not just here, but across the country.
I'm so SICK (pun almost intended) of people going to doctors/clinics for baby crap stuff. You make me tiger mom mean when I wait to be sure something is a secondary infection and want my child seen TODAY, but can't bring in my little one, because you went in for sniffles or the stomach flu. I'm lethal right now--glad his dad (who is also ill) is taking him in--I can not only avoid germs for baby, but I won't be beating anyone to a bloody pulp for having a headache. ;)
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