Our patient is led to another cubicle but does not know whether to undress or which clothes to remove. He or she waits with bare feet on the cold floor for 20 minutes, then is examined without any explanation. Returning to the changing cubicle, the patient does not know whether to dress or to wait. He or she finally dresses, leaves the cubicle to ask the receptionist what happens next, and is sent home with no information about the outcome of the study. Meanwhile, the patient's car parked in front of the hospital has been towed away or the last bus has left, and the babysitter has gone home.
Many patients are fearful of and confused by procedures at hospitals and medical clinics.
Comprehensive details on any topic may be available in our information society, but that does not mean that people really know about it. Even our medical colleagues have only a basic understanding of modern imaging. It can be difficult for patients to find their way around hospitals. What used to be called the Roentgen or the x-ray department has turned into the diagnostic imaging department, divided into subsections that are dubbed with strange acronyms. The reception areas often look like administrative offices for tax officials or the police.