Mind Your Manners
When you were a child, your parents most likely taught you how to use the word "please" (and like many young kids, at the time you probably cutely said "peas" instead). And I'm sure as you've gotten older, you've realized the importance of what your parents have taught you. Saying "please" can go a long way. It helps you get what you want and maintain a peaceful and professional persona. "Please" works everywhere -- at home, the airport, the mall and, especially, at work.
I believe saying please, and using good manners in general, is especially important at work. If you are asking your coworkers to help you with something, of course you would tack a "please" onto the end of your sentence.
"Please" is becoming problematic at a hospital in England. At Worthing Hospital, physicians are required to write the word "please" on blood test request forms. Apparently, if the magic word isn't on the form on the weekends, healthcare personnel don't have to fulfill the request. The word "please" indicates whether the blood test is essential.
An anonymous doctor from the hospital believes this is a way for the hospital to save money, which is another issue entirely. He was pretty cranky, to put it lightly, when he forgot to write "please" on his forms and then had to do take all the blood himself, along with the help of a nurse. "Doctors are wasting time doing the job of the technicians," he said. Ouch.
He may be mad at having to do the extra work, but this doctor does have a point about this policy potentially putting patients' lives at risk. Saying "please" is always nice and the optimum way to ask someone to do something. And of course, doctors should respectively ask lab professionals for their help by using their manners (and vice versa). But in a high pressure, fast-paced atmosphere like a hospital, is "please" always necessary? Would you not take a patient's blood if the word "please" wasn't on a form?
What are your thoughts on Worthing Hospital's "please" policy and manners in the healthcare workplace in general?