Speed

Went to Macau with LS - we were both invited to give a brief talk in a scientific conference there.

We chatted on almost everything and somehow our discussion fell on to the out-patient clinic:

"Some residents are just too slow. If we have 80 cases and 5 doctors, and you see just five or six cases in a clinic, how could we survive ?" She sighed.

"But could you ask them to speed up ?" I suggested.

She asked back, "Can I ask you to slow down in your clinic ?"

"No way. That would cost my life. But I could speed up no problem !" I must admit, on average, I spend 7 to 8 minutes for each out-patient, and I could do it in 5 minutes if necessary, but it would be an intolerable torture if I have to face the same patient for more than 15 minutes.

"Exactly !" The rheumatologist explained, "You are the quick type and you could speed up further. They are the slow type and could go only slower ..."

Alas, I see her point. It is in fact the Newton's First Law.

And it reminds me of the teaching by the King of the Round Table: A quick surgeon may not be a good surgeon, but a slow surgeon must be a lousy one.