IF you want to keep the intimate details of your appendectomy, vasectomy or splenectomy secret, don鈥檛 have your operation in a high-rise hospital. A study carried out in five hospitals in the Pittsburgh area reveals that hospital staff from surgeon down have a tendency to tell all when they take the lift.
鈥淧eople who don鈥檛 work in hospitals don鈥檛 realise what goes on in the elevators,鈥� says Peter Ubel of the University of Pennsylvania in the latest issue of The American Journal of Medicine.
Ubel and his team made 259 journeys by lift in the five hospitals, eavesdropping on conversations. They found that doctors and other hospital staff made 鈥渋nappropriate comments鈥� in 14 per cent of the trips, a 鈥渄isturbing frequency鈥�, they say.
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The most common offence was to disclose confidential information about a patient, discussing the results of laboratory tests, for example. On one occasion, two doctors debated whether to remove tissue from one or both of a patient鈥檚 lungs.
Other things that should have gone unsaid were derogatory comments about the quality of patient care. One hospital administrator told another that a certain patient鈥檚 death was the hospital鈥檚 fault 鈥� bringing all conversation in the packed lift to a halt. One nurse complained that another 鈥渕ust have been on drugs last night; he couldn鈥檛 even read a chart鈥�. Such comments could cause 鈥渦nnecessary stress and anxiety鈥� to patients and their families, who travel in the same lifts as staff.
Hospital staff also made comments that gave a poor impression of the hospital. 鈥淚 worked 16 hours yesterday, went home, had some beer, and before I knew it, I was back here. I don鈥檛 think I can make it all night,鈥� complained one. And, with little regard for who might be listening, a doctor proclaimed: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 it, I鈥檓 getting out of here. I鈥檓 going where I can make big bucks. No more running after patients.鈥�
Some staff even made nasty comments about patients and their families, in one case criticising the clothes they wore.
Ubel says he thinks that staff are sloppy rather than malicious. 鈥淵ou just forget that you鈥檙e in a public space,鈥� he says. Many conversations start in the privacy of an office and continue into the corridor and on into the lift, he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to be careless because it鈥檚 where you鈥檙e working.鈥�
Encouraging people to be discreet when travelling in lifts will not be easy. Some hospitals have posted signs in lifts reminding doctors not to discuss patients. But even Ubel has caught himself doing it. 鈥淲e just have to keep reminding ourselves not to do it,鈥� he says.