But just like staff in restaurants, medical personnel have to focus on their clients, the patients whose interests are foremost. Staff shortages are often used to counter any suggestions that there might be a problem. Hospitals in some European countries rely on family members or hired private nurses to tend to their inpatients. The pros and cons of this setup are beyond the scope of this discussion. Radiology is a short-term service enterprise.
Customers usually arrive, undergo an examination, and leave within an hour.
He or she is welcomed by a grunting receptionist and told to sit down on a vacant chair. The walls of the waiting room are painted in pissoir green, while chairs and tables are marred and scored. The patient waits without any further explanation for an hour and told that he or she should have taken a numbered ticket from a ticket distributor on the wall of the corridor. A nurse then suddenly arrives to usher the patient to a changing cubicle, but it is occupied already by a half-naked elderly woman. I guess they have forgotten that I am here.