A quick Friday post to mention the cordial tone which permeates hospital life. I watched a medical officer write several consults this week - all had a similar tone to this:

Dear Colleague,

I wonder if you could help us with the management of a [insert patient description here.] On our exam we found [our findings.] We would like [reason for the consult - i.e. what we want from you.] Thank you for your help in this matter.

Yours,

[Medical Officer]

I thought it was nice, and decided to try his style when I ordered an x-ray in clinic this week. So I wrote the radiographer a note on the x-ray order form, giving a description of my findings and my reasoning for ordering an expiratory film in addition to the standard AP and lateral views. When the patient walked back into clinic an hour or so later with the film, I received the following reply, with an arrow drawn pointing to the spot on the form where I'd requested the expiratory view.

"Tried my level best, but I think the experiment was just on a wrong patient, maybe if it was an adult patient it would have worked. Thank you, Angelina (Radiographer)"

I got a laugh out of the response. It was just such a pleasant reply, even if the answer was "Sorry, just couldn't do it."