<p>According to their website, “Medi-Cal is California’s Medicaid health care program.” </p>
<p>As for being an anesthesiologist, whenever I’ve had students shadowing me in the past, they’ve been overwhelmed by how busy I was. On my busiest days, I may have 160 patient encounters. Yes, 160! From preop, induction emergence, discharge, regional blocks, codes, and lines. It’s not by choice, just the staffing changes made by large management companies. But not all practices are like mine. I look forward to the boring days but those are rare. </p>
<p>I do receive a lot of satisfaction. I have a lot of patients who are my Facebook friends. I saved someone’s life recently and they are a new FB friend. Trust me, I prefer never to be in those situations; they are emotionally and physically draining!</p>
<p>I know money is a draw to the profession but I want folks to see the big picture. Physicians are here to take care of patients. Hopefully, those patients can pay, some will pay very little, and some just can’t pay. We should do whatever we can, without detriment to ourselves, to do what we can to minimize the patients we turn away. I’ve bought groceries for a patient, I’ve paid for another patient to see a psychiatrist for depression, and I’ve visited others in hospice. You aren’t going to go broke because you’ve chosen to do what’s right.</p>