To: Editor Alpena News

My Name is William Dale Blank AKA Bill Blank.

I was an LPN from 2001 until April of 2021. My experience includes med surge, ICU, OB, ER, home health, private duty, and long-term care.

May I start by saying insurance providers remain a major problem with medical services.

More often you are seen by an NP under the license of a doctor or psychiatrist. To add to the disconnect, you will see a different practitioner in a facility than you will see on the outside. Instead of practitioners working together, they appear to me, to be competitors. The lack of continuity of care presents numerous concerns. Medication management, as well as different conditions presenting with may be different in and out of facilities.

Continuity of care should include correct and understood terminology, consultations between all practitioners, and a patient-first approach to health care.

It has been my experience in ER to see the same patients with the same complaints numerous times in the same week if not the same day. It must still be the priority of practitioners to treat patients as this is the first time seeing the specific patient.

Whether the practitioner’s condition is due to fatigue, overwork, and/or bad home situation, in my opinion, no one should have to experience “Okay do you want to kill yourself Or NOT? I AM Busy!” Just one incident of what I consider inappropriate behavior.

BILL BLANK,

Harrisville