Consciousness Raising Exercise #27

Dr. G is a very busy surgeon who sees patients at three facilities located within a 50-mile radius of his home. The proud father of four bright, young children who are all involved in extracurricular school activities, he has a lot of trouble managing his time.

Two years ago, one of the facilities where Dr. G treats patients signed a contract with a local transcription agency that uses a digital dictation system. Dr. G and the other 50 physicians on staff were given customized manuals explaining how to use the digital dictation system with explicit instructions on how to use a certain command to close out one report and start another during the course of one phone call.

Recently, Dr. G tried to dictate from his car phone while driving between facilities, but his dictation was ruined by poor sound quality. A large segment of one report was totally inaudible because Dr. G continued to dictate as he drove through a tunnel.

When the transcription agency reminded Dr. G that, by dictating over his car phone, he was violating the confidentiality of the physician/patient relationship, Dr. G flew into a rage -- stating that he had too little time to do the things he wanted to do in life, much less dictate reports.

Dr. G haughtily informed his practice manager that he didn't care what the other doctors were doing. If he couldn't use his car phone, he would dictate into a hand-held tape recorder while driving, give the tape to the practice manager, and the practice manager could then dial into the digital dictation system and play the goddamned tape into a speaker phone!

When the practice manager spoke to the owner of the transcription agency, he was advised that:

If the practice manager attempted to play a tape into the speaker phone, the sound quality would be so poor that trying to transcribe Dr. G's reports would be a total waste of time and money.

There were no provisions in the agency's contract with the clinic for transcribing tapes.

The agency had no intentions whatsoever of accepting tapes from Dr. G.

What Dr. G is proposing would completely destroy the tracking system the agency uses for all of its transcribed reports.

If Dr. G really cared about his patients, he might keep both hands on the wheel and pay closer attention to traffic conditions while driving.

Dr. G is now demanding that the transcription agency modify the software and hardware on its digital dictation system to accommodate his needs and eccentricities.

In 100 words or less, explain what is wrong with this picture.