Snow

Mary: "Dr. Grumpy's office, this is Mary."

Mr. Flurry: "Hi, I have an appointment later this morning, but am trapped at home by all the snow."

Mary: "I understand, we can certainly reschedule it for later this week, or next. What times of day work best for you?"

Mr. Flurry: "No, I'd really like to make this appointment. Isn't there some special doctor's line you can call or something, where they direct snow plows to my house and clear a route so I can get to the appointment?"

Mary: "No sir, there is no such phone number."

Mr. Flurry: "That's ridiculous. He's a doctor. Doesn't he know the governor, or mayor, or someone who can do that?"

Mary: "No."

Mr. Flurry: "This is stupid. I thought he was a good doctor, but obviously my appointments there have been a waste of time."

Grammar

Seen in a veterinary orthopedic course brochure:

 

Thank you, Webhill!

Bagels

I recently was at a hospital staff meeting where one of the administrative clowns got up to speak. He was trying to show us how grateful the hospital is to have all of us, and mentioned that the food in the doctor's lounge costs the hospital $350,000 a year, so we should be thankful.

I know this sort of thing varies between hospitals, but here's what mine supplies to doctors for that $350K:


Morning: bagels and donuts. Boxes of cereal and instant oatmeal. Granola bars. Little milk cartons in the fridge.

Lunch: Tray of deli meats and cheeses in the fridge. Irritatingly small cans of soda. A tray of cookies.

Dinner: Not supplied. Whatever is left over from breakfast and lunch.

Always available: coffee, tea, sliced bread, English muffins, little packets of peanut butter, jelly, butter, and honey.


So, I guess that's what $350,000 a year gets you. I'm sure you also have to figure in there the salary of the person who restocks & cleans it each day, frequent repairs to the heavily-used coffee machine, and a few other items. Plus, they probably fudge in how much money they're losing by not giving us the finger and turning the lounge into another endoscopy suite.


That's not a huge sum of money in the modern healthcare world, but since hearing that figure, I keep wondering how it might be better spent. Maybe a few more nurses in the rotation. Or respiratory techs. Or physical therapists.

I'm sure some doctors would whine, but realistically I think most would be happy with coffee and a bagel in the morning, since that's when most round, and the hospitalists buy their own stuff for lunch anyway.

There are certainly bigger wastes of money in modern healthcare: CEO bonuses (at my hospital his was around $7 million last year) and paying Press-Gainey to do surveys, to name two of them. And the people involved in those things don't care about patients, anyway (regardless of what their PR staff tell you).

But I do care about patients, and would be more than happy to give up a deli tray, cookies, or even a bagel, to improve their care.

That's provided the money actually went to that use. Realistically, it would probably just go to some administrator's year-end bonus for the money he saved by cutting coffee and bagels out of the doctors lounge.

Survey says

Dr. Grumpy: "So, I last saw you a week ago, when you were in the hospital for Transient Global Amnesia. How have you been doing?"

Mr. Percheron: "Fine, I guess, everything seems back to normal. I've returned to work."

Mrs. Percheron: "He's back to himself."

Dr. Grumpy: "Good."

Mr. Percheron: "I have a question, though."

Dr. Grumpy: "Go ahead."

Mr. Percheron: "What am I supposed to do with the survey the hospital sent me? It has all these questions about my stay, but I don't remember any of it."

Overheard on rounds

Nurse: "Have you had any previous heart issues?"

Patient: "I have a porcelain heart valve."

Nurse: "You mean porcine heart valve?"

Patient: "Whatever."