It is easier to cure cancer than to transfer a patient from one department to another.
The procedure is misleadingly simple on paper - Department A, which is looking after the patient, says "Kindly transfer the patient to Department B", and Department B writes "Yes, please" on the case sheet.
But then, as with all procedures that are this complex, there are bound to be a few complications.
One particular patient, being treated by Department A, had the misfortune of having Department B request the transfer, which was a serious breach of protocol. This led to a heated half-hour debate within Department A about who gets to say "Yes please".
The doctor who was on duty that day felt that since the transfer was requested by the other department, we had to say "Yes please". But the Staff Nurse opined that we had to completely disregard their request, and write another request of our own, saying essentially the same thing, except that they get to say "Yes please" instead of us. The Head of the Department, who by then had to be involved in this logistical catastrophe, also agreed that it was definitely us, NOT them, that gets to say "Yes please".
After further deliberations, it was ultimately decided that the best thing to do would be to just discharge the patient and let him go to Department B later. If he wanted to. Of his own accord. But definitely not because they requested it.
This whole episode has taught me one thing. If somebody asks me to oversee a patient-transfer in the future, I'm going to say "No thank you".
The procedure is misleadingly simple on paper - Department A, which is looking after the patient, says "Kindly transfer the patient to Department B", and Department B writes "Yes, please" on the case sheet.
But then, as with all procedures that are this complex, there are bound to be a few complications.
One particular patient, being treated by Department A, had the misfortune of having Department B request the transfer, which was a serious breach of protocol. This led to a heated half-hour debate within Department A about who gets to say "Yes please".
The doctor who was on duty that day felt that since the transfer was requested by the other department, we had to say "Yes please". But the Staff Nurse opined that we had to completely disregard their request, and write another request of our own, saying essentially the same thing, except that they get to say "Yes please" instead of us. The Head of the Department, who by then had to be involved in this logistical catastrophe, also agreed that it was definitely us, NOT them, that gets to say "Yes please".
After further deliberations, it was ultimately decided that the best thing to do would be to just discharge the patient and let him go to Department B later. If he wanted to. Of his own accord. But definitely not because they requested it.
This whole episode has taught me one thing. If somebody asks me to oversee a patient-transfer in the future, I'm going to say "No thank you".
