Thanks, ChrisFNP
My wife, a NurseMidwife and FNP and I had interesting and personally fulfilling careers in a medical practice that was based on personal relationships with patients and mutual responsibility. We were always "on call", for example, but rarely did any patient abuse that privilege. We had a good run, we lasted 35 years -- now it is time to move on to something else before succumbing to the bitterness of an old age that can't adjust to the new corporate world.
Modern corporate practices seem to emphasize relationship and responsibility to the corporation, not the patient, and a sort of wedge can be driven between patient and doctor.
This development is not a new phenomenon -- James Burnham wrote "The Managerial Revolution" in 1941, detailing how a managerial class has come to dominate all the traditional power brokers without needing any of the specialized knowledge or financial clout of the groups they were gaining control of. That was in 1941, and it has progressed to almost total bureaucratic control in every field of endeavor in the USA. The medical profession seems to have finally totally ceded control of the profession to the "managers"
I am actually relieved to have given up that (probably imaginary) control -- looking back, I am sure I have overestimated my own importance -- and will be pleased to spend more time watching my grandkids navigate the shoals and rapids of early adulthood.
Thanks to all who have created and participated in this forum. I have learned a lot, and have often been amused.
