I strongly believe we SHOULD make an effort to see colleagues especially, so
long as:
1. They do need to be seen.
2. They do NOT demand any special treatment or make a fuss.
3. So long as this does not prevent the urgent care of other patients.
I do not think anyone will be surprised to find out that legal people treat
each other this way, that hairdressers do not have to queue for a haircut in
their own salon, etc.
Complaints about this being "unfair" to the patient are illogical in my
opinion:
1. How fair is it for a patient to wait longer with complaint X merely
because he/she presented to a dept which happens to have some patients
triaged as more urgent while in the next hospital he would have been next
seen?
2. How fair is it for a patient to be delayed because you happen to be
teaching the SHO on the previous case instead of just seeing it quickly?
3. How fair is it for a patient who arrives at a time when SHOs have
teaching and the shop floor is more thinly covered than it would be at the
same time next day?
The solution? Bring in a senior colleague who happens to be on a
non-clinical task at the time. He sees the patient. He will then have to
sacrifice some of his free time after work to complete that non-clinical
task. For this extra time after work his only compensation will be the
satisfaction of having helped a colleague in need. I have done this myself
and will do it again. In fact, I am sure that the patient population will be
"compensated" for any delay the next time any of you here on the list
"accidentally" overstay your shifts, as wel all do.
The trick is to have an SpR/Consultant in the department who spends at least
some time on non-clinical tasks, which happens to be ALL SpRs and
consultants, so no problem there.
If a patient complains... This has happened to me before on a few occasions,
once even when a patient was pushed ahead in the "queue" merely because of
being more urgent (i.e. appropriate triage) and I only became aware of him
having been a doctor when another patient complained that it was THIS which
made him move faster! To all such complaints I gently explain that I am not
on clinical duty at the time and have merely chosen to donate some of my
free time to deal with "a few specific issues" - no-one is "losing out" on
my services at the time. If I feel guilty, I'll just revv up a gear to
compensate or stay later than my shift demands.
As for the idea of "telling" patients in the waiting area that I will now
delay them by treating a colleague... No logic in that either.
1. It will take too much time (and thus delays patients) to explain every
time you call ANY patient in that he may be pushing ahead in the queue in
front of all those who arrived before and were triaged for later.
2. It's confidential patient information.
3. It will not make ANYONE feel any better and may cause "harm" by ticking
people off.
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