I'm told by various people who claim to be in the know that what we should do here at the clinic is to remove some of our receptionists and put iPad check-ins so that people don't have to talk to a human and I don't have to pay for a human and they can just come straight in and out of the waiting room.
I would secure the waiting room with a keypad so that other people who aren't supposed to be here can't get in. Therefore, it would reduce human error, the cost of HR in wages and all the stuff that goes with having a reception team and make us accessible 24 hours a day, a bit like Puregym.
I'm inclined not to agree.
One of the wisest and most gifted people I ever worked with was Philip Hollows. He was my registrar in Oral and Maxillofacial surgery back in the day, in another millennium, and he became a consultant at a local hospital, and I worked with him for years.
He is/was an entirely brilliant individual.
One of the times I was working with him in the hospital, we went to take out a set of wisdom teeth under general anaesthetic. I had done quite a lot of this, but certainly not as much as Phil had.
I think at that time I was being a bit cocky or blasé or thinking this wasn't such a big deal as doing a head and neck cancer operation, and Phil tore a strip off me and reminded me that although it wasn't the first time that I'd taken a wisdom tooth out, it was definitely the first time the patient had had a wisdom tooth out.
I was reminded of that today.
As I write this, I've got a big surgery to do this afternoon (well, big for me, maybe not big for other people). I saw the gentleman before I wrote this blog as someone else was sedating him, and he was scared and a little bit anxious and a little bit angry, as sometimes people get when they're scared.
I realised I've done this type of stuff lots of times before, and I'd be quite happy when it gets to five or six o'clock tonight, and I'm finished, and hopefully, I've done a good job, but as I spoke to him, I realised that this was the first time (and hopefully the last time) he'll have this done.
It made me come upstairs, give myself a bit of a slap, and go back down and remember that I have a responsibility of the highest order to every single person sitting in front of me and I should never forget that.
I should never forget the importance of humanity, and I should never ever put an iPad check-in in my reception to try and reduce people speaking to my reception team when they're anxious or frightened or worried or just want a conversation when they come.
Some people will go in a different direction and go all tech.
I will not do that, and maybe it's my age.
I will use technology to make us more human until that's no longer appropriate, and then I will not do it anymore.
Blog Post Number - 3723
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