Sunday, May 22, 2011

If this is an emergency...

This month, I've been working at a smaller, community hospital affiliated with the large academic center where I mainly spend my time as a Urology resident.

It's really different here -- everyone knows everyone, the ancillary staff takes a ton of initiative to solve problems before running them up the chain, there is less paperwork, the nurses take verbal orders, the patients are less sick...it's a pretty sweet deal all around.

I discovered one of my favorite aspects of this smaller hospital late one night when I was on call.  I had a medication question and I asked the switchboard to connect me with the pharmacy.

The phone greeting went like this:  "You have reached the overnight Pharmacy line.  Please listen to the following list of telephone options; however, if this is an emergency or you are a physician, please dial 1 now to speak with a pharmacist immediately."

I have never felt more important in my life.

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