Quote:
Originally Posted by Lady Courtesan
The solution that made the most sense to me was to begin a program for those who specialized in taking care of the mentally ill-who did not have to endure the punishing years of medical school, perhaps only going for two years. Perhaps lessening the burnout and leave the core of caring that brought these individuals to this field in the first place.
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What kind of program would that be, though? I mean... I know that in the US there is this program / job description 'physician assistant'. Every now and then people come over here and try and persuade us to introduce the program. There has been a lot of resistance to this idea. From nursing, especially. They keep asking 'what can physician assistants do that we can't?'.
So, if there were to be a program that was focused on care for people who are mentally ill... Well... The education people (with their counseling qualifications) and the nursing people and the occupational therapy people etc etc etc will all want to know what this new program / qualification can offer that they aren't capable of doing already.
So then I guess we get to 'well, why aren't they'. Doing it, I mean.
Partly it is about $$$$$. They say here that there are a shortage of nursing home / aged care workers. But then they advertise nursing home / aged care jobs as something approximating minimum wage. The workers they get are run off their feet... Burning out... Similarly for care of disabled. People with autism or downs syndrome or whatever whatever who need varying levels of care... Over 200 pounds of three year old hurling things out the window because he didn't get his gold star...
I don't think very many people go into medical school with the intention of becoming psychiatrists. There has been some discussion... That medical schools are more likely to be wary / suspicious of students saying that they have a special interest in psychiatry. They worry that the student won't be interested in anatomy and more traditional (most of the rest) of the areas of medicine. Psychiatry... Is one of the easiest areas to match into... Aka... It has a tendency to pick up the doctors who are only there because they failed to get into the program they really wanted.
I think this is perhaps partly why the scope of psychiatry has become more and more limited over the years. Health insurers and governments are only really willing to pay psychiatry for a 15 minute medication consult. Forget about psychoanalytic talk therapy or discussion on housing or... Allied health: Much cheaper.