Rethinking ward rounds

Somewhere along the course of my life, I recall the introduction of
"point form" and "lists", as opposed to sentences - by people called
"teachers". Prior to that time, one was expected to be able to make
sentences, and point form would have been dismissed as inadequate English.
But since that time, point form has taken over. Thus the blind faith in
checklists which are of course, "point form" by another name. This blind
faith is built on an equally blind faith in education itself which has
become a means to employment, without which, poverty and unemployment are
assumed.

"Flow charts" too are very "in". We have one where I work, and it
goes on the back face of the insulin prescribing and administration chart
- it looks as complicated as a detailed map of London, and any clinician
who can stand at the bedside and find the time to decipher it, deserves to
be lost.

Competing interests:
None declared