Good Housekeeping Magazine Article on Cruise Ship Doctors - SCARY!!

[BearySweet2Cruise]

And as for the "real doc"... zithromax to treat strep is very expensive over kill......

 

but Zithromax is very good medication and works extremely well, therefore worth every penny (or dollar) to knock out URI quickly. :)

[gohuskies]

Sept 05- My 3 yo daughter developed wheezing from a cold. The 2 Drs and several RNs were outstanding and gave her appropriate treatment. They gave us wonderful care and adored my daughter. She received antibiotics and a predinsone shot. (My family dr was impressed with the aggressive care she received in the middle of the ocean) Several times a day we had to stop by for breathing treatments. A few times, the RNs would meet us at the infirmary after hours (10pm) for her last treatment of the day. I was very impressed with the medical facility. It was a mini ER - very modern and very clean. One doctor was Northern European and the other was from Central America. I was very comfortable with the level of care. Once we returned home, our family doctor said she received great care. On our last day, I stopped by with a gift as a token of my appreciation. We had a great trip and didn't miss a beat as my daughter's wheezing improved each day.

[Ocean Boy]

but Zithromax is very good medication and works extremely well, therefore worth every penny (or dollar) to knock out URI quickly. :)

Actually URI's are typically caused by viruses and zithromax will have ZERO effect on them. Secondly, using an expensive broad spectum antibiotic to treat strep when a first line drug is JUST as effective is one of the reasons why we are seeing so much antibiotic resistance. Then just what do you turn to next after these bugs have developed clarithromycin (zithromax) resistance? I won't even go into the possible drug interactions seen with zithromax and some of the more commonly used antihistamines and decongestants.

 

It isn't all about whether or not you consider something to be "worth every penny or dollar." It is about knowing pharmacology and microbiology and applying those sciences to the proper practice of medicine.

[dickens56]

I man in his 80's at our table during our last cruise in September on the Navigator, became very ill. He got very dehydrated. He went to the doctor onboard and said they practically gave him a complete physical. He said it was better treatment then he got from his own doctor at home. They even phoned the room everyday to check on him.

[Majesty Fan]

I too am an nurse. I have never had to use the doc on the ship and most do come from UK or Europe which is where my husband is from and I have seen hospitals there. They still do not use gloves and use scapels to draw blood anf 7-1o people to a room! As I nurse I see very good docs and docs I would not send my cat to. So this is not just on a cruise ship this is on land too. My Dad's cardioliogist told my dad on a Friday afternoon that his chest pain was heartburn, not Chest Pain. He gave him some nitro and told him to go to the Er if not better well he did the 3 days later on a holiday too. Well find out he had a heart attack and had heart surgery a week later and died . His death might have been prevented if his doc would have done a EKG or sent him to the ER then but instead was in pain all weekend and did try to go to the ER but walked out after waiting for 6 hours! When I cruise I bring as much meds as I might need. Pain, nausea, Antibiotics, diarhea meds. The best way to prevent getting sick is wash your hands!

 

Lexi

[nurseone]

Our medical director of our ER just likes to cruise and Holland America will let them sign on for just one cruise (they have 2 docs on board - the other doctor was responsible for the crew so all he had to take care of was the passengers but sweetheart he is he helped out if needed. He just likes to cruise and enjoys it. Does it several times a year.

[alexkrn46]

My daughter broke her toe, I went to the infirmary with her. I am a RN, I was impressed with the clinic. When e got home she went to a local orthopedic doc and he said the care was a+.

 

On another cruise my son met another kid who's father was being oriented as Ship's MD. I was impressed that they were giving him an orientation and he was a fully trained US doc.

 

So my opinion is that I wouldn't have an issue being treated in on the ship.

[on board]

Cruise ship job descriptions and requirements:

 

 

Doctor: US$ 4,800 – 7,000 per month. Oversees the entire shipboard medical facilities, treatment mostly to passengers and sometimes crew. Current license, extensive experience with cardiac and primary care, trauma, internal, and emergency medicine required. Diploma from an accredited medical school and fluent English Language skills required.

 

Nurse: US$ 2,800 – 3,200 per month. Requires background in trauma care or accident and emergency treatment, preferably in an ER/ICU. Diploma from accredited nursing school with a minimum of two years recent hospital experience required. Certified nurse.

 

This is the pay they get? Why would they sacrifice the pay they could earn in their own practice or even for a hospital to make this amount? Um...It certainly has me thinking AGAIN! The bottom line is, you have to be in control of your own medical condition, if you cannot then hopefully whom ever you are traveling with is able to take control! Do I think the article was made up? No..Do I think they over stated anything NO!

Last, I have 2 in-laws that are Doctors, 1 Grandfather that was a Doctor and now retired. They make well over 400,000.00 a year! I also have 3 other relatives that are Nurses and they have been at the same hospital for 15 years and are making 60-80 thousand a year! My opinion is, why would anyone in their right mind give up that amount of money to be at sea and practice? Probably because they have had something happen and they cannot get a job anywhere else??????? ;)

[mommabean]

I also wonder why a doctor would give up a day of his week each week of the year to work for free in a clinic for the low income. I wonder why some will give up their vacation time to go into the mission field and help those in other countries who don't have what we have - all for free and some even pay their own way to get there.

 

I think some people just like having new, different or exciting experiences. And getting paid a little for that experience on a cruise ship might just be considered the icing on the cake to that fun experience. It's probably not a career for most of them. It's more like a paid vacation. And they still get to do what they like. Practice medicine, meet new people and just maybe some of them are really fascinated with ships like some of the rest of us.

 

On board - your point is well taken though. This was just a possible answer to the "why" they would do this. Not everyone is money motivated every day of their life. It could be all about the experience. You can add free room and board to the pay benefits. :)

[Ocean Boy]

This is the pay they get? Why would they sacrifice the pay they could earn in their own practice or even for a hospital to make this amount? Um...It certainly has me thinking AGAIN!

This is probably at least part of the reason why you don't find a lot of American or Canadian physicians on the ships. Docs from many countries probably can make just as much, if not more, than in their home countries. It doesn't mean that they are not good docs.

 

I once had a long chat with a doc on the Horizon who was from South America. He told me he was working the ships because the medical system in his country was essentially completely broken. I really feel that it isn't fair to judge someone just because they choose to work on a cruise ship. What about physicians you choose to spend their careers in the military? Plenty of U.S. docs do that and they can make much more on the outside. Dicisions are not always based on money.

[nrdsb4]

This is the pay they get? Why would they sacrifice the pay they could earn in their own practice or even for a hospital to make this amount? Um...It certainly has me thinking AGAIN! The bottom line is, you have to be in control of your own medical condition, if you cannot then hopefully whom ever you are traveling with is able to take control! Do I think the article was made up? No..Do I think they over stated anything NO!

Last, I have 2 in-laws that are Doctors, 1 Grandfather that was a Doctor and now retired. They make well over 400,000.00 a year! I also have 3 other relatives that are Nurses and they have been at the same hospital for 15 years and are making 60-80 thousand a year! My opinion is, why would anyone in their right mind give up that amount of money to be at sea and practice? Probably because they have had something happen and they cannot get a job anywhere else??????? ;)

 

They are probably working a lot more hours than the ship's nurses do, and I would guess they are working a lot harder also. Hospital nursing is very demanding, both physically and emotionally, at least for me in the ICU (though personally I think the floor nurses have it worse). After two or three 12 hour shifts in a row, I'm just completely exhausted. It takes me a day or two to recover. Also note that your nurse friends have been at their hospital for 15 years and therefore are probably on a higher pay scale than average.

 

If you were fairly young and unattached, with little overhead or debt, I think cruise ship nursing could be a nice diversion for awhile. It's not always all about the money.

[newtoboard]

My husband got sick on an NCL cruise several years ago. He had a high fever (which is the norm for him when sick) and horrible ear pain. He'd never had an ear infection before. After 24 hours of the fever I decided we had to go to the infirmary. I doubt our experience is common but it sure was painful for my husband. The nurse was less than thrilled that we didn't wait longer to see if it "went away". The doctor discussed in broken English something neither of us had heard of but he guaranteed it would work. He YELLED to the nurse to get a basin of very hot water. Then he took out what looked like a turkey baster. You guessed it, he rinsed out my husband's infected ear with hot water. My husband about went through the ceiling. Luckily ,this was our second to last day of the cruise. He spent the remainder in bed. When we got to the airport, I bought an antihistimine and some tylenol PM, hoping to knock him out for the flight. A very nice man approached us while Joe was passing out and asked if we needed any help. He then identified himself as a doctor. I told him what had happened and what I gave my husband. He said he'd probably sleep all the way home but to call our own doc when we got home.

 

The rest of the story is, that ships doctor did some real damage. He has had recurrent ear infections and has been under the care of a specialist since that cruise.

 

For those of you that think these are all "real" doctors. I checked the requirements for that cruise line at that time. At that time, they recruited Residents for the job. Not real doctors in my opinion!

 

Be careful!!

[true salt]

Let's face the facts, if these doctors could get a practice stateside then they would. I had someone that worked with me at one time who's brother in law was a doctor on a cruise ship. He wanted so badly to practice here in the states but could not pass the tests or whatever it is that he needed to go to get a license to practice so he stayed on the ships. I have used a doctor on the ship one time many years ago. I developed an ear infection and he prescribed the medication and it cleared up. Not sure that I would want anything more serious though.

 

People like you give good decent Americans a bad name. What an arrogant thing to say. Guess what, not everyone wants to live in America. It is a very big world out there. Get a grip

[nrdsb4]

It's also arrogant to think that the only decent doctors are those educated in the U.S. That's simply not true.

[Ocean Boy]

And to make it sound like the typical American physician in private practive is pulling in $400,000.00 are year is way off the mark too.

[Cruising89143]

People like you give good decent Americans a bad name. What an arrogant thing to say. Guess what, not everyone wants to live in America. It is a very big world out there. Get a grip

 

Excuse me. I give Americans a bad name. No you get a grip. My mother had a doctor from India. He told her that he missed living there and my mom asked him why didn't he return home and start a practice there. His statement. He could not make a living there. So that is my opinion like it or not.

[wvjohn]

well my .02 - my regular GP who is also ER certified used to do cruises because he could get family vacations cheaply and he liked to travel....my wife had what might have been (wasn't) a serious problem on the Grandeur last fall and the ship's doc was a woman from Sweden who was outstanding....

[wvjohn]

well my .02 - my regular GP who is also ER certified used to do cruises because he could get family vacations cheaply and he liked to travel....my wife had what might have been (wasn't) a serious problem on the Grandeur last fall and the ship's doc was a woman from Sweden who was outstanding....

[dforeigner]

As a trauma RN/ER/ACLS trainer something is "rotten in Demark" with that article! Advanced cardiac life support protocal for "flat lining or asystole" does NOT call for shocking. If the patient was truly flat lining and unconscious, someone should be doing CPR rather than applying the paddles. Always, always treat the patient not the monitor! Shocking is only indicated for V-Fib, pulseless V-Tach or cardioversion for UNSTABLE SVT. I would question what the real facts of that situation were. :confused:

 

A long time ago, the ACLS algorithm allowed the defibrillation of witnessed asystole in case is was fine v-fib. This of course changed in the mid 90s. One rule that everyone (in the medical field) needs to abide by is that every time there is a rhythm change in the monitor, to confirm it with a pulse check. In this case, the monitor showed asystole but the patient was alert and oriented, a pulse check would have given the doctor or nurse a clue check the monitor leads. I have seen a few calls for a CODE in the ER (US land based hospital). The CODE team arrives and the patient is simply asleep. I guess some people forget to do the shake and shout part :eek: .

 

I have also saw a case (in a US land based hospital) where the patient was experiencing an anterior wall Myocardial Infarction. The patient was on a nitroglycerin drip when suddenly his blood pressure crashed. The doctor ordered Dopamine and kept increasing the dosage but could not figure out why the patient was not responding. Yep, you guessed it, the Nitro drip was still flowing.

 

Now, whether the defibrillator has paddles or hands free fast patches is irrelevant. In my opinion, what matters is the proper care a patient following the Standar of Care. The bottom line is to remember the first rule: Do no harm!

[nrdsb4]

well my .02 - my regular GP who is also ER certified used to do cruises because he could get family vacations cheaply and he liked to travel....my wife had what might have been (wasn't) a serious problem on the Grandeur last fall and the ship's doc was a woman from Sweden who was outstanding....

 

Some friends of mine went to Sweden this summer. Their son was hit by a car in a parking lot, so they ended up at the hospital. The Dad said it was the most amazingly clean, effecient, and compassionate medical facility he'd ever seen. The medical care was top notch, and he said it was much cheaper than they would have had to pay here.

 

I think we're pretty lucky in many repsects to live in the US, but we don't have a monopoly on state of the art medical care and facilities.

[true salt]

Excuse me. I give Americans a bad name. No you get a grip. My mother had a doctor from India. He told her that he missed living there and my mom asked him why didn't he return home and start a practice there. His statement. He could not make a living there. So that is my opinion like it or not.

 

Yes , and that doctor still may not want a practice in the US. They work on a travelling cruiseship, make what is good money for them, and return to their HOME. i spent 16 years on cruiseships, and trust me I have NO desire to live in the USA. I love my HOME country, but also loved to travel and visit places like the US. But I will always LIVE in my home country:D

[Ocean Boy]

In this case, the monitor showed asystole but the patient was alert and oriented, a pulse check would have given the doctor or nurse a clue check the monitor leads.

Actually, the patient being alert and oriented should have been enough of a clue. If someone is alert and oriented and you can't find a pulse the chances are you are the one with the problem not the patient.

[mommabean]

Actually, the patient being alert and oriented should have been enough of a clue. If someone is alert and oriented and you can't find a pulse the chances are you are the one with the problem not the patient.

 

I totally agree - AND - this is the one thing that makes me believe the entire article is NOT worth believing. An alert and oriented patient is certainly not going to let someone come at him with paddles and use them, unless he was severely mentally retarded or a quadriplegic. This is beyond the need to understand the patient's bill of rights.

[dforeigner]

Actually, the patient being alert and oriented should have been enough of a clue. If someone is alert and oriented and you can't find a pulse the chances are you are the one with the problem not the patient.

 

True, but have you ever heard of five person CPR, where it takes four people to restrained a patient while one actually attempts to do CPR. I have personally witnessed this more than once. This is why there are set protocols and guide lines in place. Now, if people would actually follow them we probably would not be talking about it on this thread. Unfortunately, not everyone has a clue or can keep it together under stress.

[RevSmith]

Anybody had a chance to read this yet? RCI along with Carnival and NCL are being sued due to negligence by "doctors" on board these cruise ships.

 

Anybody had any experience with any cruise lines' infirmary or doctors? If any of you have had a chance to read this article in Good Housekeeping, I would sure like to hear your opinion.

 

Truthfully, the article is downright scary what happened to these people.

 

I can only say one thing...my DH who is a diabetic and a dialysis patient and I have traveled with RCI on over 10 cruises, and never has there ever been a problem with the doctors. My husband is in the infirmary almost every other day for his dialysis treatment. The doctors are knowledgeable and very nice. Hopefully I will still be able to say this after our 20th cruise.