Last week, I was talking with the wife of a hospitalized patient. Her husband, who has been in three different hospitals since Christmas Eve, had just had surgery and the surgeon came up to his room to speak with her.  She said to me, "He came in the room and sat down on the chair and I thought, "Uh oh, this isn't going to be good news." 

Turned out, the surgeon was actually JUST sitting down, probably after a long day in the operating room, to take the necessary time to speak with her, to explain what he had done to her husband, and to answer her questions.  How scary is that!??  Here she had been anticipating the worst news and it turned out to be a wonderful example of good practice and perhaps simple human kindness. 

Photo of Physicians ChairAfter that conversation with the wife, I was telling a physician friend the story.  He shared with me that in his hospital, Administration actually bought plastic chairs for each patient room.  They hung the chairs (photo) on the back of the doors in all the patient rooms and labeled them 'Physician Use Only."   His guess was that the chairs are not getting used much, but it was a nice try on the part of the hospital administration.  

Next time you're a patient in the hospital of visiting someone and a physician stops in, offer them a seat.There just might be one hanging on the back of the door!