There may be reasons why clinicians do not #sayhellotopatients
Dear Editor
Dr Launer makes a humane suggestion that staff should make eye contact with the patients they pass.
I remember this issue first arising for me in my first house job almost 30 years ago. I would stride down the long open "Nightingale"-style ward to fetch something. And I soon got the impression that the more eye contact I made, the more additional tasks I ended up with.
Was it patients who engaged me in conversation and made requests? Or was it my own conscience making me aware of additional tasks that needed doing for each patient? I don't remember now. But, rightly or wrongly, I remember feeling that staring straight ahead was a vital step in keeping my workload under control.
Of course, some may say that I should have "taken the hit" - that accepting potential extra tasks would have been a price worth paying for being able to rightly consider myself a friendly and helpful person. But it didn't look like a price worth paying at the time.
Rapid Response:
There may be reasons why clinicians do not #sayhellotopatients
Dear Editor
Dr Launer makes a humane suggestion that staff should make eye contact with the patients they pass.
I remember this issue first arising for me in my first house job almost 30 years ago. I would stride down the long open "Nightingale"-style ward to fetch something. And I soon got the impression that the more eye contact I made, the more additional tasks I ended up with.
Was it patients who engaged me in conversation and made requests? Or was it my own conscience making me aware of additional tasks that needed doing for each patient? I don't remember now. But, rightly or wrongly, I remember feeling that staring straight ahead was a vital step in keeping my workload under control.
Of course, some may say that I should have "taken the hit" - that accepting potential extra tasks would have been a price worth paying for being able to rightly consider myself a friendly and helpful person. But it didn't look like a price worth paying at the time.
Competing interests: No competing interests