Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Fixing the Wholesale Destruction of the "MD" Designator

Thanks to the unrelenting march of regulatory affairs in medicine, the MD designator (Latin: Medicinae Doctor) has been completely devalued for patients.  No longer does "MD" mean you care for patients.  Instead, "MD" could mean many things: like you work for an insurance company.  Or it might mean you sit in a fancy building lined with marble floors in Washington DC writing legal briefs and laws to torment other doctors.  Or it might mean you kill rats for a living. 

What patients need, and want, is a way to determine who is a "real doctor" that cares for and makes the majority of his income from actually seeing, touching, and treating real live patients.

For this, what is needed, like the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, is a "Real Medicine" seal of approval.  It could be appended to every clinical MD's signature.

The seal would mean an MD (or DO) spends over half his or her time, and earns the most of his or her income, directly caring for patients.  It also means that the doctor who uses this designator attached to his MD also is willing to work outside the normal 8am - 5pm business day and even takes call for clinical patient care (available 24-hours/day) on a regular basis annually.

So I have made a "Real Medicine Seal of Approval" for real doctors (as defined above) to use, free of charge:


So patients, the next time you need a "Real Doctor,"  look for the Real Medicine Seal of Approval:*

-Wes

* Non-clinical doctors who use this logo will be summarily humiliated publically by any means real doctors worldwide choose.  Doctors are advised to use this logo with the utmost caution and respect for the real profession of clinical medicine.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where do I sign up to take boards to get my RM designation?

Signed,
Beaten down and submissive

Anonymous said...


Wes

Do not think the RM designation will increase the reimbursement by Medicare since we will soon have "Certified RM" to indicate nurses, paramedics and onlookers.

Anonymous said...

I've seen non-clinical docs referred to as noctors.

DrWes said...

Anony 06:48 -

No need for boards to use the RM designation! This initiative is FREE and TRANSPARENT! And since you become the protector of the designation, if you find anyone using it inappropriately - you are free to slap them with a wet noodle and then puiblically humiliate them as you see fit.

Anony 02:44AM -

I think RM will still work because of the requirement that those using the RM designator must take call and work after regular work hours...

And hey, if nurses want to use the "RM" designator after, say, their "APN" designator, I'm fine with that. At least they're caring for real live patients instead of making ungodly amounts of money from sitting in meetings and pretending to be "value-added."

That's the point here.

Anonymous said...

Scheduled an appt for last week. Got to the clinic , only to see an RNP. Ok, she did OK work up on my six week sinus issue/bloody ear, I think ? Checked with my BCBS on charges,,,only to find the in-patient RNP charge was the same as my PCP charge. Wow !
Next week I see PCP and a specialist. Should I ck to see if they are RM's ?? A Certified RM, to be clear.
Good luck docs ! You'll need it.
Jack

Anonymous said...

As an RN...and a pretty good one...I LOVE this and feel it should be mandatory! The BEST idea I have come across in my 27 years caring for all sorts of people who not only need care...but, deserve the best possible! Great job Dr Wes!