"That's not my job" - an attitude I find troubling among physicians

I strongly believe that hospital— really all—systems should aim to have workers operate at the top of their license. In other words, doctors should be mostly doing procedures/ performing top level cognitive tasks/ chatting with patients and families. And the same for all team members.

But sometimes, you are in a patient’s room, and they ask for a glass of water. I am shocked to see how often fellows, residents, or students say, “We will let your nurse know.” When I round by myself and I am asked, I almost always say, “Ok, one sec, brb” and then I step out and return 45 seconds later with a glass of water.

Why? Because it is a nice thing to do. It’s a basic human courtesy. It is what I would wish someone would do for my mother— or for me when I am unwell. Because it is no big deal, really, it takes two seconds, and honestly, half the time, I get 2 glasses of water because I am thirsty too.

So I am dismayed when I see this attitude in medicine. In this case by an attending physician in Boston who teaches trainees.

What do I think a doctor can do about cold coffee or a broken shower?

IDK, in the first case, move their ass to walk to the nutrition room, and refill the cup with some hot coffee— which is what any one of us would do for our mother. And second of all, when you step out of the room, speak to the floor manager and ask them to summon maintenance or switch the patient’s room because if a patient wants to take a shower— and has no medical contra-indication— a broken shower is absolutely unacceptable.

When I am rounding with a team of 5 people, and the resident or student says, “we will let your nurse know” about the request for water. I often turn to the person who’s patient this isn’t (teams usually divide the patients), and say, as kindly as I can muster, “do you mind grabbing him a water?” All the while thinking… why do I have to say this.

At times however, there is a student or resident who leaps to the task, asking only, “do you want ice?” and I feel proud of them.

I am the one puzzled when doctors are surprised that medicine is a customer service industry. Have you ever been a patient? That’s why I wear a suit and not pajamas (sadly increasingly popular these days). That’s why I smile, and am nice. That’s why I try to explain my decisions as patiently and thoughtfully as possible. That’s why I field questions for as long as it takes. Of course, it is a customer service industry.

I continue to believe that being a waiter is a better preparation for medical school than doing years of useless pipetting.

So I absolutely agree that medicine should be less about requesting outside records, less about calling radiology to schedule something, less menial labor, and more critical thinking, but when you are in the room and someone who is sick or dying asks for a hot cup of coffee, I am either going to go, or send someone out, and if you tell me that is why medicine is “lot less fun” than you’d expect, it will take every ounce of patience in my body to not tell you that you are fundamentally missing what we are doing here.