> in the main they are understandingly using whatever angle they have to
> ensure that they get good treatment.It is not always about jumping the
> queue. They are worried that they could be "stuffed up" by some junior
> doctor. Having a coping strategy for the "entitled" patient is a skill
> we all have to acquire.
Sorry, I must have missed the point here somewhere.
There is no such thing as 'entitled' patients - there are just patients.
Some may require extra layers of privacy due to being known in the unit or
being famous.
I'm not sure what you mean by being 'stuffed up' by a junior doctor. Do you
mean that juniors are not being properly supervised and are therefore a
liability and 'stuff patients up' on a regular basis, or do you mean fellow
professionals just think juniors are not safe?
Also, in what way do the professionals you listed have any extra rights over
Joe Public not to be 'stuffed up'?
Either the care being provided is safe or it is not - if not you should be
shouting it from the rooftops, not just letting the chosen bypass the
dangers.
The reason why queue jumping is such a terrible thing is that the cumulative
extra wait for all the people behind you in the queue is much greater than
you might think. Lets say the department is a small one and has a single
treatment stream (one doctor on duty). Say 30 people were in the queue
before you, and you took 20 minutes of department time. That means 30
patients waited 20 minutes longer EACH to be seen, so he cost the other
patients 20x30 = 600 minutes (or 10 hours) in total.
Is it fair to say that saving a colleague a 2 hour wait justifies making
everyone else wait a combined total of 10 hours more?
If some patients are being given special access to medical treatment because
of who they are then that is unjust and should be stopped.
Robbie Coull
email: [log in to unmask] website: http://www.coull.net
|