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> Tamerius (D) is challenging California *Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R) > (Note: is also cosponsoring Smith's version). In the October 1996 issue of > the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF NURSING, Tamerius said, "Our practice will be > determined by what happens in healthcare financing in the next 10 years. If > we're not part of the solution, we'll be out > of there," AMERICAN HEALTH LINE reports. ----- After seeing this post, I couldn't resist writing. I worked my 3-11 shift last night on a medical unit. We take care of people with chronic illness, primarily cardiac and pulmonary disease with a smattering of neurological and oncological disease. I left my shift a 2 a.m. frustated and disappointed in the changes HMO philosophy has visited upon our once compassionate institution. In short, the reason I left work so late was because we were *severely* understaffed - by design. Please, please, please remember that if you, or your loved one, is hospitalized for any reason and you are dissatisfied with the service you received to complain to your doctor and the hospital administration *in writing*. HMOs are not only encouraging doctors to eliminate testing that might better define the patient's pathology, refusing to allow what *they* consider unnecessary treatment and procedures, but they also are encouraging hospitals to become 'lean and mean.' That means decreasing staff so that you may not receive the nursing care you have a right to expect and receive. The beauty of capitalism is that the consumer drives the system. But, the consumer must also voice dissatisfaction to make the system improve. All of our lives are on the line here. In a country where the finest medical technology is available, patients are not being given ready access to medical treatment and care because of the avarice of a single industry. ----- Regards Mary Ann