How many people can you fit in an outpatient appointment

This afternoon we were in the dermatology outpatients clinic. In a small room about. As someone who used to work on ENT outpatients it is very interesting to see the quite major differences. In a 3mx3m consulting room there were 20 people (very hot and not much oxygen) which included a patient and 2 relatives, a consultant, 5 overseas students (us) and 11 medical students. The Chinese seem very used to this and don't really bat an eyelid! It made me think about how indulgent we are in the UK and how obsessed we are with privacy, personal space and dignity. With 1 billion people, the Chinese can't afford to have these luxuries. For them medicine is a necessity where they are on a conveyor belt. They just get on with it. Maybe if we didn't have these demands our outpatient clinics wouldn't be so chocca block. Our egos demand so much attention in the west. 

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