My hospital uses Russian programmers. The entire job of OUR coders is to learn and debug the Russian code...
Talking to them it seems that the majority of their time is really spent rewriting the code in a more readable, more secure format. However, they don't have the time or manpower to do it all.
Therefore, more bugs get in the final product...
What an odd system... especially in a hospital were errors can mean lives.
Looking at an EKG takes a considerable amount of skill and learning. Once you've read a million, it only takes 60 seconds to read a normal EKG... I've spend hours on abnormal ones.
Both of them get charged the same because...
Doctors do not get (much) for time. The insurance companies and the government has decided that we get paid for things... procedures, evaluations or test, etc.
That's why surgeons get paid tons... and your local internist is probably making a third of what the surgeons makes. The internist thinks, the surgeon cuts...
A blood test make take 5 seconds to read... but may costs thousands of dollars to do.
All the information that an EKG gives a phsyican... it's a steal for a $100.
I am 24 and the test was not necessary and she knew it. She did it for the money and you know it.
24 with hypertension is not normal.
I have no idea what symptoms are you having... or what your clinical picture is. I just wanted to explain that $100 for a EKG is not excessive.
If you have that much friction with your doctor, then change doctors.:)
Davak
Re:Sad state of affairs...
on
Stealth Inflation
·
· Score: 2, Informative
"EKG Consultation Fee" is the charge for the reading and evaluation of the EKG.
My pre-EKG teaching is "hey, I need to look at the electrical activity in your heart. Is that okay?"
I would love to explain to my patients the wonders of every test I order... down to the physics and chemistry of it.
Re:Sad state of affairs...
on
Stealth Inflation
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
No physician should bill for a patient that they have not physically examined.
However, most of a consultant's time is reviewing the charts, labs, and radiographs. Only very seldom does talking to or examining the patient change a consultant's recommendations.
Doctors can't easily bill for follow-up consultations anymore anyway. So after the initial consultation, the doctor probably isn't getting paid anymore anyway.
Those "peek-in's" are usually just make sure the patient is improving and that the consultant doesn't need to re-evaluate the patient.
No doubt some doctors abuse the system and consult each other on every case. They should be in jail, not in medicine.
Usually, however, consultants see the patients much more frequently than they charge.
Davak
Re:Sad state of affairs...
on
Stealth Inflation
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
I did see that she charged my insurance company $103 for an "EKG Consultation Fee". Call me insane but there is absolutely no way she had the right to charge $103 for a 2 minute deal.
Let me defend my profession a bit. $103 dollars for an evaluation of an EKG is very, very cheap. An EKG is an easy way to rule multiple life-threating illnesses. Compare an EKG to an CT scan, for example. and it probably saves many, many more lives per dollar than many other studies.
With insurance the way it is, the doctor probably billed for twice that much... but only took what the insurance was willing to pay.
Included in that fee is the cost of the machine including upkeep, malpractice insurance, and the greater than 7 years of training that the doctor has received.
"Did you need an EKG" is another question completely. If you are an older man/woman with hypertension, then an EKG is not a useless test... especially if you were having any symptoms. Some docs (like myself) might use a different blood pressure medication if there are related EKG changes.
If you are 20 with hypertension, then it's harder to defend. Even then (thanks to the lawyers) anybody with pain above the belt will probably get an EKG because cardiac disease is so common.
Looking at a normal EKG for 2 minutes is probably about 1 minute too long. However, it's normal... but it's not useless. If we knew the answer without the EKG, then it wouldn't be a very useful test, would it? If the EKG would have been abnormal, then the doctor would have had to spend more time on it.
Anyway, rant off. Medicine as a lot of thing wrong with it. $100 EKG is not one of those things.
Thanks to some great suggestions by people previously on slashdot I have completely switched to VoIP for my phone service. It rocks.
Previously I had not switched because I was scared of losing 911 service. However, if you have wire running into your house, you can still pick up and dial 911--even without service!
So we have our emergency land-line phone--for free. Now we are using VoIP for everything else.
However, if VoIP starts getting taxes to death, then people like me will switch to something else... and then something else...
Can't the government just stay off these new industries long enough for them to get started?
When I was in grade school, apple gave the schools computers for very low amounts of money. I always assumed that they figured that we would learn how to use apples better... and I, or my family, would therefore buy one.
I seems like a very logical business plan.
Should we be donating a bunch of *nix boxes to our local schools? I know that my learning curve would have been much more enjoyable if I had been introduced to unix in grade school than my senior year in high school.
By then I had little chance of being a jedi ninja hacker...:)
I remember the concepts during the actual experiments (ball dropping, etc) better than I remember the content from sitting at my desk during lectures.
The brain learns better by experiencing different things.
For example, studies have shown that diverse experiences improve the memories of alzheimer's patients. In those studies the lessons learned near the "new" experience were remembered better than routine lessons.
Reading/lectures are vital keys to learning. Experience/experimenting, however, beats it hands down.
Learning to use a computer is just like learning a new language!
Expose the kids to computers, foreign language, poetry, or whatever--the younger the children are when they are first exposed, the better their minds are going to adapt to this type of input/output device.
Should computers be used for everything in education? No, of course not. Either should books, TV, lectures or anything else... the more variety the better.
Teachers can be lazy and use computers... just like they can be lazy and use videos.
25 great holiday gifts for science lovers of all ages Who says there's no science to gift giving? Tell that to the geek on your list whose bemused smile at "yet another acrylic turtleneck" is but a thin veil for his real desire for a James Watson Bobble Head doll. Once again, we have left no stone unturned in ferreting out the very best gifts for the science lovers in your midst. What's under those rocks, you might well ask. Well, the South American Longhorn Beetle Collection for one, mounted quite elegantly in your choice of frames in one of our most attractive present selections. What's more, we've got a one-pound, anatomically correct chocolate brain for hungry minds, an at-home forensics lab for the pint-sized Sherlock, and, at long last, a clever contraption that will help your loved ones to divine their dogs' most profound emotions. For your very nearest and dearest, consider a self-orienting telescope, a Swarovski crystal-studded computer mouse, or Sony's AIBO ERS-7, the latest and most astounding in robotic pet technology.
Scientific American.com stands firm in the belief that there truly is a science to gift giving. We've done the research--now you furnish the results! --The Editors Special thanks to Melissa Kirsch for her assistance in producing this section
GIFTS UNDER $25 A Crick in His Neck? Best known for his contributions to the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the structure of DNA, James D. Watson has never been so memorably depicted as in the form of the Watson Bobble Head. Bearing an uncanny likeness to the scientist himself, the doll's head lolls hither and yon delightfully, perhaps unsteady with the weight of all that knowledge! A mini-model of the famous double-helix clasped in his tiny hands, the figurine is a must-give for the biologists on your gift list. James Watson Bobble Head $21.95
Not Just for Hydrochloric Acid Anymore One need not be a chemist to enjoy drinking that morning joe from a beaker! These sly Pyrex mugs sport handles, unlike many beakers in the lab, so your loved ones won't burn their hands on the vessels' steaming hot potions. This addition is also useful for science teachers, as students can watch the transfer of liquids without the demonstrator's hand blocking the view. The mugs hold up to 400 milliliters of coffee, tea or corrosive chemicals. Beaker Mug $10.95 ($59.95 for set of six)
Food for Thought Studies abound detailing the effects of chocolate on our nervous systems. But we've yet to see a scientific study on the results of consuming a chocolate brain. Now you can find out when you give the gift of an anatomically correct one-pound solid milk chocolate brain to all the neurosurgeons, med students, brainiacs and knuckleheads on your holiday roster. Potential organ donors should note that warm climates require express shipping for their brains. Chocolate Brain $16.95
The Hypochondriac's Teddy Bear There's nothing adorable about a sore throat in real life, but when it's magnified a million times, rendered in plush and given a set of button eyes, there's no denying it: this is one cute microbe. Joined by his other stuffed friends The Common Cold, The Flu and Stomach Ache, these pals from the Under the Weather Collection make a wacky gift for kids and adults alike. Each four-inch-tall critter is accompanied by an image of and information on the actual microbe it represents, lest anyone get too cozy with their darling little illnesses. Just as much fun is the Maladies Collection, which includes cuddly Bad Breath. Kissing Disease, Athlete's Foot, and Ulcer. Plush Microbes $19.95
Quiz Show For all those budding geniuses, here are endless hours of riddles, number games and word puzzles from the folks at the stratospheric-IQ society, MENSA. Choose from three different sets of elegantly designed quiz cards. At just about the size of your average index card, they're great for long car trips, sleepless nights or a post-dinner parlor game. MENSA Mindbender Quiz Ca
Please give me a Swiss Army PDA Phone with MP3, GPS, Wireless, and GameBoy emulation all in one. Oh, and please include the linux plug-in adapter as well.
Davak
PS. I've been a good little Karma Whore this year.
The MPAA estimates that file sharing has cost the film industry more than $1 billion in the last year.
I estimate that the MPAA overestimates 125% of the stats that they estimate.
Because somebody watches a pirated movie does not directly mean that anybody lost money over it. Money is only lost if that person would have paid money but instead watched it for free.
Oh... I see the anti-gun, anti-weapon, anti-rat poision people eating this thread up. (groan)
However, more than actually trying to plead their case, it sounds like Kazaa is just trying to build support for their service. The ads are encouraging users to be cheerleaders for the service:
The ads invite readers and Kazaa's estimated 60 million users to "join the revolution" by proclaiming their love of Kazaa to "politicians, journalists, record labels, movie companies and friends." They also exhort the entertainment industry to embrace the "revolution" or get left behind as technology passes them by.
Use your money to educate people about copyright laws. Use your money to compensate artists. Use your money to change the laws regarding digital distribution.
Use your money to promote an actual positive idea... We don't need wasted ads encouraging people to be cheerleaders for a service.
They should just say: "Tell your lawmakers that you want free copyrighted material or you won't vote for them."
That's just not a very tasteful way to promote your service, IMHO.
Slashdot Mirror
Touche' /me thus proved that doctors cannot spell.
Davak
My hospital uses Russian programmers. The entire job of OUR coders is to learn and debug the Russian code...
Talking to them it seems that the majority of their time is really spent rewriting the code in a more readable, more secure format. However, they don't have the time or manpower to do it all.
Therefore, more bugs get in the final product...
What an odd system... especially in a hospital were errors can mean lives.
davak
Those that do... do...
Those that can't... teach?
Who is he calling low-level?
Davak
I wondered how old one had to be to get a 3-digit slashdot ID.
:)
/Running and ducking
Now we know.
Davak
I think you are missing my point.
Looking at an EKG takes a considerable amount of skill and learning. Once you've read a million, it only takes 60 seconds to read a normal EKG... I've spend hours on abnormal ones.
Both of them get charged the same because...
Doctors do not get (much) for time. The insurance companies and the government has decided that we get paid for things... procedures, evaluations or test, etc.
That's why surgeons get paid tons... and your local internist is probably making a third of what the surgeons makes. The internist thinks, the surgeon cuts...
A blood test make take 5 seconds to read... but may costs thousands of dollars to do.
All the information that an EKG gives a phsyican... it's a steal for a $100.
I am 24 and the test was not necessary and she knew it. She did it for the money and you know it.
:)
24 with hypertension is not normal.
I have no idea what symptoms are you having... or what your clinical picture is. I just wanted to explain that $100 for a EKG is not excessive.
If you have that much friction with your doctor, then change doctors.
Davak
"EKG Consultation Fee" is the charge for the reading and evaluation of the EKG.
My pre-EKG teaching is "hey, I need to look at the electrical activity in your heart. Is that okay?"
I would love to explain to my patients the wonders of every test I order... down to the physics and chemistry of it.
No physician should bill for a patient that they have not physically examined.
However, most of a consultant's time is reviewing the charts, labs, and radiographs. Only very seldom does talking to or examining the patient change a consultant's recommendations.
Doctors can't easily bill for follow-up consultations anymore anyway. So after the initial consultation, the doctor probably isn't getting paid anymore anyway.
Those "peek-in's" are usually just make sure the patient is improving and that the consultant doesn't need to re-evaluate the patient.
No doubt some doctors abuse the system and consult each other on every case. They should be in jail, not in medicine.
Usually, however, consultants see the patients much more frequently than they charge.
Davak
I did see that she charged my insurance company $103 for an "EKG Consultation Fee". Call me insane but there is absolutely no way she had the right to charge $103 for a 2 minute deal.
Let me defend my profession a bit. $103 dollars for an evaluation of an EKG is very, very cheap. An EKG is an easy way to rule multiple life-threating illnesses. Compare an EKG to an CT scan, for example. and it probably saves many, many more lives per dollar than many other studies.
With insurance the way it is, the doctor probably billed for twice that much... but only took what the insurance was willing to pay.
Included in that fee is the cost of the machine including upkeep, malpractice insurance, and the greater than 7 years of training that the doctor has received.
"Did you need an EKG" is another question completely. If you are an older man/woman with hypertension, then an EKG is not a useless test... especially if you were having any symptoms. Some docs (like myself) might use a different blood pressure medication if there are related EKG changes.
If you are 20 with hypertension, then it's harder to defend. Even then (thanks to the lawyers) anybody with pain above the belt will probably get an EKG because cardiac disease is so common.
Looking at a normal EKG for 2 minutes is probably about 1 minute too long. However, it's normal... but it's not useless. If we knew the answer without the EKG, then it wouldn't be a very useful test, would it? If the EKG would have been abnormal, then the doctor would have had to spend more time on it.
Anyway, rant off. Medicine as a lot of thing wrong with it. $100 EKG is not one of those things.
Davak
Thanks to some great suggestions by people previously on slashdot I have completely switched to VoIP for my phone service. It rocks.
Previously I had not switched because I was scared of losing 911 service. However, if you have wire running into your house, you can still pick up and dial 911--even without service!
So we have our emergency land-line phone--for free. Now we are using VoIP for everything else.
However, if VoIP starts getting taxes to death, then people like me will switch to something else... and then something else...
Can't the government just stay off these new industries long enough for them to get started?
When I was in grade school, apple gave the schools computers for very low amounts of money. I always assumed that they figured that we would learn how to use apples better... and I, or my family, would therefore buy one.
:)
I seems like a very logical business plan.
Should we be donating a bunch of *nix boxes to our local schools? I know that my learning curve would have been much more enjoyable if I had been introduced to unix in grade school than my senior year in high school.
By then I had little chance of being a jedi ninja hacker...
dictionary.com for grade school
Okay... so I was three years off.
I remember the concepts during the actual experiments (ball dropping, etc) better than I remember the content from sitting at my desk during lectures.
The brain learns better by experiencing different things.
For example, studies have shown that diverse experiences improve the memories of alzheimer's patients. In those studies the lessons learned near the "new" experience were remembered better than routine lessons.
Reading/lectures are vital keys to learning. Experience/experimenting, however, beats it hands down.
Kick ass.
In my high school physics class, we dropped balls from buildings. And we were happy to be out of the classroom.
The "irregular" teaching styles are the ones that I remember. I remember very little of the sitting-at-my-desk-being-lectured-to stuff.
Learning to use a computer is just like learning a new language!
Expose the kids to computers, foreign language, poetry, or whatever--the younger the children are when they are first exposed, the better their minds are going to adapt to this type of input/output device.
Should computers be used for everything in education? No, of course not. Either should books, TV, lectures or anything else... the more variety the better.
Teachers can be lazy and use computers... just like they can be lazy and use videos.
So I wonder when people were crying that books shouldn't be in classrooms.
When I was in grade school, people bitched about using TVs.
We need all of these things to teach our kids!
Top Sci/Tech Gifts 2003
25 great holiday gifts for science lovers of all ages
Who says there's no science to gift giving? Tell that to the geek on your list whose bemused smile at "yet another acrylic turtleneck" is but a thin veil for his real desire for a James Watson Bobble Head doll.
Once again, we have left no stone unturned in ferreting out the very best gifts for the science lovers in your midst. What's under those rocks, you might well ask. Well, the South American Longhorn Beetle Collection for one, mounted quite elegantly in your choice of frames in one of our most attractive present selections. What's more, we've got a one-pound, anatomically correct chocolate brain for hungry minds, an at-home forensics lab for the pint-sized Sherlock, and, at long last, a clever contraption that will help your loved ones to divine their dogs' most profound emotions. For your very nearest and dearest, consider a self-orienting telescope, a Swarovski crystal-studded computer mouse, or Sony's AIBO ERS-7, the latest and most astounding in robotic pet technology.
Scientific American.com stands firm in the belief that there truly is a science to gift giving. We've done the research--now you furnish the results! --The Editors
Special thanks to Melissa Kirsch for her assistance in producing this section
GIFTS UNDER $25
A Crick in His Neck?
Best known for his contributions to the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the structure of DNA, James D. Watson has never been so memorably depicted as in the form of the Watson Bobble Head. Bearing an uncanny likeness to the scientist himself, the doll's head lolls hither and yon delightfully, perhaps unsteady with the weight of all that knowledge! A mini-model of the famous double-helix clasped in his tiny hands, the figurine is a must-give for the biologists on your gift list.
James Watson Bobble Head $21.95
Not Just for Hydrochloric Acid Anymore One need not be a chemist to enjoy drinking that morning joe from a beaker! These sly Pyrex mugs sport handles, unlike many beakers in the lab, so your loved ones won't burn their hands on the vessels' steaming hot potions. This addition is also useful for science teachers, as students can watch the transfer of liquids without the demonstrator's hand blocking the view. The mugs hold up to 400 milliliters of coffee, tea or corrosive chemicals.
Beaker Mug $10.95 ($59.95 for set of six)
Food for Thought
Studies abound detailing the effects of chocolate on our nervous systems. But we've yet to see a scientific study on the results of consuming a chocolate brain. Now you can find out when you give the gift of an anatomically correct one-pound solid milk chocolate brain to all the neurosurgeons, med students, brainiacs and knuckleheads on your holiday roster. Potential organ donors should note that warm climates require express shipping for their brains.
Chocolate Brain $16.95
The Hypochondriac's Teddy Bear
There's nothing adorable about a sore throat in real life, but when it's magnified a million times, rendered in plush and given a set of button eyes, there's no denying it: this is one cute microbe. Joined by his other stuffed friends The Common Cold, The Flu and Stomach Ache, these pals from the Under the Weather Collection make a wacky gift for kids and adults alike. Each four-inch-tall critter is accompanied by an image of and information on the actual microbe it represents, lest anyone get too cozy with their darling little illnesses. Just as much fun is the Maladies Collection, which includes cuddly Bad Breath. Kissing Disease, Athlete's Foot, and Ulcer.
Plush Microbes $19.95
Quiz Show
For all those budding geniuses, here are endless hours of riddles, number games and word puzzles from the folks at the stratospheric-IQ society, MENSA. Choose from three different sets of elegantly designed quiz cards. At just about the size of your average index card, they're great for long car trips, sleepless nights or a post-dinner parlor game.
MENSA Mindbender Quiz Ca
Santa Slashdot:
Please give me a Swiss Army PDA Phone with MP3, GPS, Wireless, and GameBoy emulation all in one. Oh, and please include the linux plug-in adapter as well.
Davak
PS. I've been a good little Karma Whore this year.
The MPAA estimates that file sharing has cost the film industry more than $1 billion in the last year.
I estimate that the MPAA overestimates 125% of the stats that they estimate.
Because somebody watches a pirated movie does not directly mean that anybody lost money over it. Money is only lost if that person would have paid money but instead watched it for free.
However, more than actually trying to plead their case, it sounds like Kazaa is just trying to build support for their service. The ads are encouraging users to be cheerleaders for the service:
Use your money to educate people about copyright laws.
Use your money to compensate artists.
Use your money to change the laws regarding digital distribution.
Use your money to promote an actual positive idea... We don't need wasted ads encouraging people to be cheerleaders for a service.
They should just say:
"Tell your lawmakers that you want free copyrighted material or you won't vote for them."
That's just not a very tasteful way to promote your service, IMHO.
Oh, my English teacher would be pissed.
Please change "it's" to "its" in the above post. My early morning typing skills are failing me.
(This post is to avoid the nazi typo trolls.)
I love kazaa. And I think this approach will help... Kazaa needs to highlight it's "other" uses...
however, many people will see this as I see the tobacco companies offering anti-smoking advice/commericals?
Public appearance is everything.
lol.
...and allow us to enjoy one discussion of chess without you.
For all of you GO fans, please enjoy this previous thread...
[Event "X3D Man-Machine World Championship"]
[Site "New York"]
[Date "2003.11.18"]
[Round "4"]
[White "X3D Fritz"]
[Black "Garry Kasparov"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "A00"]
[BlackElo "2830"]
[Annotator "Greengard,M"]
[PlyCount "54"]
{60MB, DELL8200} 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 e6 4. e3 Nf6 5. Bxc4 c5 6. O-O a6
7. Bb3 cxd4 8. exd4 Nc6 9. Nc3 Be7 10. Re1 O-O 11. Bf4 Na5 12. d5 Nxb3 13. Qxb3
exd5 14. Rad1 Be6 15. Qxb7 Bd6 16. Bg5 Rb8 17. Qxa6 Rxb2 18. Bxf6 Qxf6 19. Qxd6
Qxc3 20. Nd4 Rxa2 21. Nxe6 fxe6 22. Qxe6+ Kh8 23. Rf1 Qc5 24. Qxd5 Rfxf2 25.
Rxf2 Qxf2+ 26. Kh1 h6 27. Qd8+ Kh7 *
Anybody know how VoIP 911 access works?
Does it link your number (ip?) with your address?
I think 911-protection is keeping a lot of us from switching...
Maybe now that we can transfer our phone number... we'll soon be able to transfer our 911 protection as well.
Davak