Quote:
Originally Posted by golfing eagles
I wasn't going to respond to this, because I think the question misses the mark in the real world, but....
Let's answer with a story:
I went to medical school at the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center---a middle of the pack school, certainly not in the top 10 or 20. (Yes, I declined my acceptance at Johns Hopkins for a variety of reasons). They had their "superstars"--Carroll, Waterhouse, Krasnow, Griep--but nowhere near as many as Harvard. There was plenty of research, but again nowhere near Harvard. It was a solid school academically, but again not on the level of Harvard. But for practical experience, it was hard to beat. Kings County Hospital was more like a MASH unit in a war zone, vastly different from Massachusetts General. Medical students got to manage patients and perform procedures that only the post residency fellows at Harvard could do.
On my first day of internship at a University Hospital, I was assigned to the ICU with Teddy from Harvard and Mary from Cornell. Mike, the pulmonary and ICU director had a patient that needed thoracentesis (removal of fluid from around the lungs). He asked each of us how many we had done before:
Mary: None, but I saw one once
Teddy: None, but I read about it
Me: Several hundred, but you already know that Mike, we've done a bunch together on some rotations here in my 3rd and 4th year of school.
Mike: Yes, please teach these 2 how to do it.
I tried to get them to actually perform the procedure under my supervision, but neither of the were willing to stick a needle in the patient's chest. Not good since the patient was suffocating from having 6 liters of fluid on his lungs
So, bottom line: If it were you lying there suffocating, would you want the doctor from Cornell, the doctor from Harvard, or the doctor from Downstate?
My opinion---if you are happy with your PCP, that's worth a hundred "what ifs" somewhere else. You mention Shands, but that is just a building. Last I checked, no one has ever been cured by a building. So unless you have a list of all possible diseases you might contract in the future, and have researched a specific specialist at Shands that treats each of those conditions, I believe a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush. There are plenty of good hospitals in this area other than Shands.
End of novella.
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There are times when experience is more important than training. At the sheriff's office where I worked in Tampa, every deputy filled out a form directing where he or she wanted to be taken in the case of a gunshot wound or other life threatening injury. The answer could be, 1. The nearest hospital to the scene, or 2. A specifically named hospital. The overwhelming response was Tampa General Hospital, even though it was deep in the city and there were many closer hospitals in the county.
This was because almost all gunshot wounds that occurred in the City of Tampa were taken to Tampa General, so their ER staff was the most experienced in treating heavy trauma.
The situation was similar in New Orleans when I was there. Virtually everyone selected Charity Hospital for the same reason. I received some training there as an Emergency Medical Technical (EMT) and transported many severely injured people to Charity, including a police officer who had been shot six times.
Training is important. But experience is vital.