Our surgery professor used to tell this story.
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It was not a great way t start a busy outpatient clinic.
"Where are 7.5 size gloves?" I asked the attendant.
"Sister has not given any" she said.
"Sister, why do we not have 7.5 size gloves for examining patients?" I asked when the sister arrived on the scene after I called her.
"The stores clerk said there were no gloves of that size" she said.
"So what did you do about it?" I asked. "I cannot examine patients for four hours with smaller gloves."
"What could I do?" she asked.
"You could have let me know then, rather than I discovering it now."
There was no pint in calling the stores clerk. It was 9:00 A.M. The time of arrival of the clerk was 10:30 A.M., and the expected time of arrival was not before 11:00 A.M., if one went by past experience of other clerical personnel. I called the administrative office.
"The person who looks after the purchase of gloves has not yet arrived" I was told. "I will tell her as soon as she does."
"Do I not work until then?"
"........"
"In an emergency, I have used even size 6 gloves. I have put left hand glove on my right hand and worked too" I said. "The economy of this place has made me do that a number of times. But this is not an emergency. I have to see patients one after another. I cannot do that meaningfully with my hand in cramps. Since I am head of the unit, I have to see my share of all patients, plus all patients that my juniors want me to see and opine on. If you cannot supply gloves, we will have to prescribe a pair to each patient I examine."
"I will try and get 7.5 size gloves from somewhere, and see that new ones are purchased" I was promised.
Some gloves were brought from a place that had stopped functioning for last 6 months for reasons other than nonavailability of gloves..
"Sister, if you do not get gloves in future, write a call to the purchase officer and ask for permission to prescribe gloves to patients. She gives us gloves or she gives us a permission to prescribe them to patients" I said.
"Yes, Sir" the sister said.
This method seems to have worked. I get gloves of 7.5 size now quite regularly.
_________________________________________________________________________________
It was not a great way t start a busy outpatient clinic.
"Where are 7.5 size gloves?" I asked the attendant.
"Sister has not given any" she said.
"Sister, why do we not have 7.5 size gloves for examining patients?" I asked when the sister arrived on the scene after I called her.
"The stores clerk said there were no gloves of that size" she said.
"So what did you do about it?" I asked. "I cannot examine patients for four hours with smaller gloves."
"What could I do?" she asked.
"You could have let me know then, rather than I discovering it now."
There was no pint in calling the stores clerk. It was 9:00 A.M. The time of arrival of the clerk was 10:30 A.M., and the expected time of arrival was not before 11:00 A.M., if one went by past experience of other clerical personnel. I called the administrative office.
"The person who looks after the purchase of gloves has not yet arrived" I was told. "I will tell her as soon as she does."
"Do I not work until then?"
"........"
"In an emergency, I have used even size 6 gloves. I have put left hand glove on my right hand and worked too" I said. "The economy of this place has made me do that a number of times. But this is not an emergency. I have to see patients one after another. I cannot do that meaningfully with my hand in cramps. Since I am head of the unit, I have to see my share of all patients, plus all patients that my juniors want me to see and opine on. If you cannot supply gloves, we will have to prescribe a pair to each patient I examine."
"I will try and get 7.5 size gloves from somewhere, and see that new ones are purchased" I was promised.
Some gloves were brought from a place that had stopped functioning for last 6 months for reasons other than nonavailability of gloves..
"Sister, if you do not get gloves in future, write a call to the purchase officer and ask for permission to prescribe gloves to patients. She gives us gloves or she gives us a permission to prescribe them to patients" I said.
"Yes, Sir" the sister said.
This method seems to have worked. I get gloves of 7.5 size now quite regularly.
