Every Wednesday, I work in a surgery center on the east side of the city with a private practice doctor. In order stay on time we keep a pretty tight schedule, operating as efficiently as possible and then packing hundreds of other tasks (signing forms, returning calls, reviewing labs and imaging and pathology reports, dictating notes, sending prescriptions) into the few minutes between cases while the room staff sets up for the next surgery. Relentless multitasking is the only way to survive. There's an unspoken policy of don't-eat-don't-stop-don't-use-the-bathroom-just-plough-onward.
Last week between cases, I hustled into the workroom to grab some paperwork and finalize an operative report, and there on the desk I encountered this thing:
It's a pen and a spoon joined together by tape and labeled with the word "Dictation."
What does it mean? What is it for?
Is it a sad little sculpture, imploring us to remember to eat? An ironic acknowledgement that we're skipping breakfast and/or lunch and/or dinner because there are notes to dictate and paperwork to do instead? Is it a multitasking tool enabling us to sign charts -AND- stir beverages at the same time?
Realistically, it's probably just someone's attempt to keep the pens in the dictation room from getting accidentally pocketed or lost. But for a moment when I saw it on the desk, it seemed like the very essence of what it means to be a tired-busy-overbooked surgeon with a full bladder, an empty stomach, and an endless mountain of work to do.
So here's to the SpoonPen! Symbol of my life.
