Amenity

One hot topic that keeps coming up in our professional casual chat (the term is self conflicting, I know) is the ban on ward stock of all antibiotics, with the resultant delay in availability of antibiotic for patients admitted through the emergency department.

To be fair, the ban is not without a reason; there had been quite a number of mishaps in the ward because antibiotic was given to someone with a known history of allergy. The solution adopted was to make sure all dispensing must go through the pharmacy, who would check on the history of allergy - and do away with the drug stocking in ward.

Inevitably, the price to pay is there would be some delay in given the drug (using the jargon of our cardiologist, the "door-to-injection time") - even for the vast majority of the patients without a history of allergy.

I shall not give my opinion here. Nonetheless, I am impressed with the comment of Charles, the cynical friend of Coemgenus, when the two discussed the traffic jam indirectly caused by blocking the road for the investigation of a traffic accident:

"Considerations of safety may have a higher priority than amenity but can never override it absolutely as the latter is what enriches life. I would ask the police whether the benefit to them in investigation, whether it be to satisfy those affected, to prepare for intended prosecution, or merely to cover their backs, always justifies the extent of the disruption to the lives of others that it causes."

Go read The Unknown Motorist in Clinical Medicine 2009; 9: 635-636.