Welcome to the Third World: yet another opinion

Letters

CJEM 2000;2(4):231

To the editor:

The recent letter¹ by Dr. MacDonald missed the point of your editorial.² I applaud the personal-experience slant that your editorial put on the downsizing of our nation's health care system.

Winnipeg has also felt the growing gap between what we know to be optimal care and what we are able to offer on a day-by-day basis. The pressure to "push the envelope" by refusing patient transfers and the constant hovering over potential discharges to get another bed has left many of us tired and frustrated.

By the way, chairspace has become just as important as bedspace.

I also enjoy the humour and subtleties present in your other articles, because they provoke reflection on what we stand for as emergency physicians. To paraphrase an old tune:

Don't change a hair for us,
Not if you care for us.

Lisa M. Bryski, MD
Director, CCFP (EM)
Section of Emergency Medicine
Department of Family Medicine
University of Manitoba
Winnipeg, Man.

References

1. MacDonald RD. The real Third World [letter]. CJEM 2000;2(3):150-1.
2. Innes G. Welcome to the Third World [editorial]. CJEM 2000;2(1):6,60.